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Base-cation saturation ratio (BCSR) is a method of interpreting soil test results that is widely used in sustainable agriculture, supported by the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service (ATTRA) [1] and claimed to be successfully in use on over a million acres (4,000 km 2) of farmland worldwide.
Volumetric water content, θ, is defined mathematically as: = where is the volume of water and = + + is equal to the total volume of the wet material, i.e. of the sum of the volume of solid host material (e.g., soil particles, vegetation tissue) , of water , and of air .
Soil aeration maintains oxygen levels in the plants' root zone, needed for microbial and root respiration, and important to plant growth. Additionally, oxygen levels regulate soil temperatures and play a role in some chemical processes that support the oxidation of elements like Mn 2+ and Fe 2+ that can be toxic.
Cation-exchange capacity (CEC) is a measure of how many cations can be retained on soil particle surfaces. [1] Negative charges on the surfaces of soil particles bind positively-charged atoms or molecules (cations), but allow these to exchange with other positively charged particles in the surrounding soil water. [2]
The rate at which a soil can absorb water depends on the soil and its other conditions. As a plant grows, its roots remove water from the largest pores (macropores) first. Soon the larger pores hold only air, and the remaining water is found only in the intermediate- and smallest-sized pores . The water in the smallest pores is so strongly held ...
In 1907, Edgar Buckingham created the first water retention curve. [2] It was measured and made for six soils varying in texture from sand to clay. The data came from experiments made on soil columns 48 inch tall, where a constant water level maintained about 2 inches above the bottom through periodic addition of water from a side tube.
The moisture content of grains is an essential property in food storage. The moisture content that is safe for long-term storage is 12% for corn, sorghum, rice and wheat and 11% for soybean [ 1 ] At a constant relative humidity of air, the EMC will drop by about 0.5% for every increase of 10 °C air temperature.
A relatively low rate of change indicates when macropore drainage ceases, which is called Field Capacity; it is also termed drained upper limit (DUL). Lorenzo A. Richards and Weaver [5] found that water content held by soil at a potential of −33 kPa (or −0.33 bar) correlate closely with field capacity (−10 kPa for sandy soils).