EI-1 (Chapter-2)

2.
Soil-water-plant relationship
Introduction
• Soil-Water-Plant Relationships relate the
properties of the soil that affect the movement,
retention and use of water
• It can be divided & treated as:
Soil-Water relation
Soil-Plant relation
Plant- Water relation
• Irrigation water and rainwater is stored in
different classes of soil pores (fine, medium and
large pores) By Zewdu T. 1
Introduction …
• The water stored in the soil pores constitutes the
soil water
• Only 1.0 to 1.5% of the volume of water absorbed
by roots is used for building vegetative structures,
performing physiological & biochemical activities
• The rest of water is lost through transpiration of
plants
• “when to irrigate and how much to irrigate”
depends on soil-water-plant-atmosphere
relationships
• Both excess and deficit of soil water affects the
plant growth and results in yield reduction
By Zewdu T. 2
Introduction…
Soil
• The storehouse of water, nutrients and air. Hence,
natural medium for plant growth on land
• A three-phase system constituting solid, liquid and
gases
• Soil is formed by a combination of:
- Climate (Temperature, moisture, e.t.c)
- parent material (rock alluvial
- Topography (slope, aspect
- biotic factors (animals, plants, microorganisms)
- Time Soils consist of one or more distinct layers called
horizons
By Zewdu T. 3
Introduction…
• Soil is made up of four components & three phases

A) Mineral matters consists of small mineral particles of
either:
- sand (0.05 – 2.00 mm)
- silt (0.002 – 0.05 mm)
- clay (< 0.002 mm) By Zewdu T. 4
Introduction…
B) Organic matter is made up of decaying plant
and animal substances.
- Minerals & organic matter together constitute
the solid phase
C) Pore spaces store air and water in the soil
In completely dry soils, all pores would be filled
with air, and in completely saturated soils, water
would fill all pore spaces
The fraction of total soil volume occupied by
solid and that occupied by the pore space has
significant effect in limiting ability of soil to store
water By Zewdu T. 5
Introduction…
a) b) c)
Interaction among 4 components and three phases for

(a) moist, (b) water-saturated, and (c) completely dry soil
By Zewdu T. 6
Introduction…
Functions of soil
Supports the growth of plants (a medium for
plant roots and supplies nutrients)
 Serves as nature's recycling system
 Provides habitats for biota and a vast gene pool
or a seed bank for biodiversity
Serves as an engineering medium (foundation for
civil structures)
Serves as a source of raw material for industrial
uses
Preserves archeological and geological records
By Zewdu T. 7
Soil physical properties
Soil physical properties
Characteristics that can generally be seen or felt
Success or failure of agricultural and engineering
projects often hinges on the physical properties of
the soil used
 influence:
- water and nutrient holding capacity,
- aeration
- water infiltration and ease of root penetration
Thus, soil productivity, crop growth and success of
a farm often depend on soil physical
characteristics By Zewdu T. 8
Soil physical properties…
A. Soil texture
• The relative proportion of sand, silt and clay in a
soil mass
• Refers to the composition of the soil and it is
reflected by the particle size.
• Soils may be broadly classified as light, medium
and heavy textured soils.
• The light textured soils contain very low content
of silt and clay and hence these soils are coarse or
sandy.
• The medium textured soils contain sand, silt and
clay in sizable proportions e.g loam
By Zewdu T. 9
• The heavy textured soils contain high content
of clay. Thus, clayey soils are tight
• The United States Department of Agriculture

(USDA) and the International Soil Science
Society (ISSS) proposed texture limits
By Zewdu T. 10
Size limits of soil separates
Soil separates Particle diameter (mm)
USAD ISSS
Very course sand 2.0 - 1.0 -
Course sand 1.0 - 0.5 2.0 - 0.2
Medium sand 0.50 - 0.25 -
Fine sand 0.25 - 0.10 0.20 - 0.02
Very fine sand 0.10 - 0.05 -
Silt 0.05 - 0.002 0.02 - 0.002
Clay < 0.002 < 0.002

By Zewdu T. 11
Nature of Soil Separates
Sand
• Individual grains are easily seen with naked eye or
felt
• Feels gritty between fingers & the voids between
particles are relatively large
• Forms relatively simple capillary systems with a
large volume of non-capillary pore spaces.→
ensure good drainage and aeration
• Has relatively low specific surface area → hold
little water → are prone to drought
• Relatively inert chemically, loose and non-cohesive
• Has usually a low cation exchange capacity
By Zewdu T. 12
Silt
• Individual particles are not visible to the naked eye
• They do not feel gritty when rubbed between
fingers
• The pores between silt particles are much smaller
in size but numerous than those in sand → silt
retains more water and lets less drainage than
sand
• Even when wet, silt does not exhibit much
stickiness or plasticity→ easily washed away by
flowing water
By Zewdu T. 13
Clay
• Particle size: smaller than 0.002 mm
• Have a very large specific surface area→
tremendous capacity to adsorb water and other
substances
• When wet, clay is sticky and can be easily molded
• Pores between clay particles are very small in size
but much more in number → movement of air
& water is smaller than sand & silt
By Zewdu T. 14
Assessment of particle size fractions/size analysis
• The process of determination of particle size
distribution is called mechanical analysis
• The procedure has two-steps: dispersion and
fractionation
• Dispersion involves removal of cementing material
to break secondary particles into primary particles
• Fractionation is the process of physically
separating the particles into different size ranges
• Two most commonly used fractionation
procedures in laboratory are sieving &
sedimentation By Zewdu T. 15
Sieving
• Involves passing the dispersed soil suspension
through a nest of sieves of different sizes
• primarily suited for separating coarse fractions
Sedimentation
• based on the rate of fall of particles through a liquid
• depends on particle size and properties of the liquid
• suited for separating silt and clay in a tall cylinder of
water mixed with a dispersing agent
• “The resistance offered by a liquid to the fall of a rigid
spherical particle varies with the radius of the particle
and not with its surface.” → Stokes law
By Zewdu T. 16
• A freely falling particle in a fluid experiences three
forces: friction or resistance (Fb↑), buoyant (Fb↑)
gravity (Fg)
• When the sum of gravity, buoyant and friction
forces is equal to zero, the particle attains a
constant velocity, called the terminal velocity
• The settling equation is given by V=kd2 where: K is
constant & d is particle size
• The velocity of a settling particle is proportional to
square of a particle’s diameter→ the bigger they
are, the faster they fall
By Zewdu T. 17
• Particle size analyses results are commonly
expressed as: textural classes & summation curve
• Soil texture is determined by the percentage by
weight of the three soil fractions
• For agricultural purposes, results of mechanical
analysis are expressed into different textural
classes based on textural triangle
• The soil textural triangle shows the different
textural classes and percentage by weight of each
soil fraction
By Zewdu T. 18
Q1. A soil sample has 72% sand, 3% silt, and 25% clay.
Determine the textural class of this soil using textural
triangle
USDA Textural
Triangle
By Zewdu T. 19
• Besides laboratory, soil textural classes can also be
identified roughly in the field by feel methods:
• The feel method is based on feeling the texture while
rubbing moist soil between thumb and the finger
• Feel method is highly subjective and requires
experience. Thus, results are extremely approximate
Moist cast test
- Squeeze some moist soil
- If the soil holds together (forms a cast), test the
strength by tossing it from hand to hand
- The more durable it is, the higher the clay content
By Zewdu T. 20
Moist cast test at 75% moisture content
Sand silt clay

Ribbon test
• Moist soil is rolled into a cylindrical shape and
then squeezed out between the thumb and
forefinger
• The length of the ribbon is observed. Clay forms
the longest, thinnest ribbons
By Zewdu T. 21
Ribbon test
a) gritty, non-cohesive, short ribbon (sand loam) b) Smooth, dull & crumbly ribbon (silt loam)
c) Smooth, shiny & long, flexible ribbon (clay)

By Zewdu T. 22
Feel test: Graininess & Stickiness are tested
Graininess
• Soil is rubbed between the thumb and forefinger
to assess its roughness & smoothness
• Sand has a grainy feel, silt feels slippery, clay more
slippery
Stickiness test:
• Soil is moistened and compressed between the
thumb and forefinger.
• It is noted how strongly it adheres to the thumb
and forefinger upon release of pressure, and how
much it stretches By Zewdu T. 23
Feel method of determining soil texture class
By Zewdu T. 24
Generalized influence of texture on soil attributes
By Zewdu T. 25
B. Soil structure
• The arrangement of individual soil particles and the
aggregates with respect to each other
• Has a pronounced effect on erodibility, porosity,
hydraulic conductivity, Infiltration, and Water holding
capacity
• Good quality structure is well aggregated, porous,
cohesive & permeable to water & air
• Soil structure may be:
 Granular, blocky (angular & sub angular), platy,
columnar & prismatic, single grain(non-structure)
and massive (non-structure)
By Zewdu T. 26
Soil structure & its effect on permeability

By Zewdu T. 27
C. Volume & Mass relationships of soil constituents
Vt  Vs Vw Va
Mt  M s  M w  M a By Zewdu T. 28
Bulk density (g/cm3)
• The weight of oven dry soil sample per unit total
volume
• sometimes referred to as apparent specific gravity

• indicate whether a soil layer is too compacted to allow
root penetration or adequate aeration
• affected by soil texture, organic matter content and
tillage practices
• decreases with an increase in looseness of soils and
increases with compaction of soil
• Typical values: 1.1-1.8g/cm3
By Zewdu T. 29
Particle density (g/cm3)
• Mass of soil solid per unit volume of soil solid
• It is constant for a given soil & does not change

with tillage or cropping practices
• Typical values: 2.2 – 2.7 g/cm3
Porosity (%)
• the ratio of the volume of pores (voids) to the total
volume of soil
• It is the volume of soil occupied by air and water
By Zewdu T. 30
Values range: 30-60%
• To determine porosity, soil samples are placed in a

pan of water until completely saturated
• The samples are weighted after saturation
• The saturated samples are oven dried, re-weighed
• Difference in weight between saturated and oven
dried soil represents a volume of the pore space
• Can also be calculated from the bulk density and
particle density as:
By Zewdu T. 31
Void ratio (e)
• The ratio of volume of voids to volume of solids
Water in soils
• Soil water content is expressed on mass basis or
volume basis
Mass water content/mass wetness (w)
- referred as gravimetric water content/soil wetness
- ratio of mass of water to the mass of oven dried
soil expressed in fraction
By Zewdu T. 32
Volume Wetness (θ)
- Often termed as volumetric water content or
volume fraction of soil water
• Mass wetness and volume wetness are related as:
where: ρw is the density of water =

• Since ρb>unity & ρw= 1g/cm3   >w
Degree of saturation (s)
• The volume of water present in soil relative to the
volume of pores (usually in %)
By Zewdu T. 33
Soil water measurement
a) Gravimetric
• Measures mass water content (w)
• Take field samples  weigh  oven dry  weigh
• Most common & used for the calibration of other
methods
• Advantages: accurate; Multiple locations
• Disadvantages: laborious; Time delay
b) Feel and appearance
• Take field samples and feel them by hand
• Advantages: low cost; Multiple locations
• Disadvantages: experience required; Not highly
accurate By Zewdu T. 34
Soil water measurement…
c) Neutron scattering (attenuation)
• Measures volumetric water content ()
• Fast-moving neutrons are emitted by a
radioactive source
• Hydrogen slows down neutrons more than
others
• A detector counts the slowed-down reflected
(thermal) neutrons
–Advantages:
• Samples a relatively large soil sphere
• Measures rapidly & repeatedly at the same
place
• Relation between count ratio(R) and soil-
water content is linear,   a  b R
• Temporal water content changes can easily
be followed By Zewdu T. 35
Disadvantages:
• High cost of
instrument
• Radioactive can
pose health risks
• Not reliable near
the soil surface
• Counts have a high
variability
• Measurements are
interfered by other
soil constituents
By Zewdu T. 36
d) Capacitance methods
• The relative permittivity (dielectric constant) of
water is large compared with that of the soil
matrix & air
• Capacitance probe with conductive plates or rods
surrounded with soil
• A change in the water content of a soil will cause a
change in the relative permittivity, and
consequently in the capacitance of the capacitor
By Zewdu T. 37
A
• Capacitance probe consists
(a) a holder b) 3 electrodes
c) a cable d) a connector
d) Time-Domain
Reflectrometry (TDR)
• Uses the dielectric
properties of the soil
• The propagation time of a
pulse travelling along a
wave guide is measured
• This time depends on the
water content of the soil
By Zewdu T. 38
Soil - Water Relationship
Water holding capacity of soils
• Dominant factor influencing irrigation
• Mainly depends on its porosity
• Capillary pores induce greater water holding
capacity while non-capillary pores induce
drainage and aeration
• The relative magnitude of these types of pores in
a soil depends on its texture and structure
• An ideal soil for irrigation is soil that has
proportional number of capillary and non-
capillary pores. e.g loam
By Zewdu T. 39
Soil - Water Relationship…
Classification of soil water
(i) Gravitational water
• Soon after irrigation (or rainfall), the soil pores are
completely saturated
• The portion of water which drains down under the influence
of gravity is gravitational water
• It is not useful for plants as it flows out rapidly
• Soil contains the maximum possible water content
(ii) Capillary water
• Water content retained in the soil after the gravitational
water has drained off
• Held within soil pores due to the surface tension forces
against gravity
• Useful for plants & goes on reducing due evaporation &
transpiration
• Influenced by structure, texture
By Zewdu T. and organic matter of soil
40
(iii) Hygroscopic water
• Water held as a very thin film on the surface of the
soil particles due to adhesion
• Cannot be extracted by plants & can be removed only
by heat
• Water content below permanent wilting point
Field capacity (FC or fc ):
• Maximum amount of moisture that can be held by the
soil against gravity
• Soil water at field capacity is available to plants and
sufficient air for root and microbial respiration
• FC is upper limit of moisture content that a soil can
hold
By Zewdu T. 41
Coarse Sand Silty Clay Loam
Dry Soil
Gravitational Water
Water Holding Capacity
Available Water
Unavailable Water
By Zewdu T. 42
Volumetric Water Content & Equivalent
Depth
Typical Values for Agricultural Soils
Soil Solids (Particles): 0.50

50%
1
Very Large Pores: 15%

Total Pore (Gravitational Water) 0.15
Space: Medium-sized Pores: 20%

0.20
50% (Plant Available Water)
Very Small Pores: 15%
0.15
(Unavailable Water)
By Zewdu T. 43
Permanent wilting point (WP or wp)
• Moisture content level at which the plants are
water stressed and irreversibly wilt
• Plants can no longer exert enough force to extract
moisture at PWP
• Applying additional water after this stage will not
relieve the wilted condition
• The soil moisture tension at this condition is
around -15 bars of soil water potential
• Depends upon the nature of crop
By Zewdu T. 44
Classification of soil water  Available water
• Water held in the soil
b/n FC and PWP
Available Water Capacity
AWC = fc-wp,
Fraction or %
SWD Readily available water
• Portion of available
water which is most
easily extracted by roots
• It is approximately 75%-
80% of the available
By Zewdu T.water 45
Total Available Water (TAW)
• Total available water in terms of depth within the
plant root zone. It is given by: TAW = (AWC) (Rd)
Where: Rd = depth of soil layer/root zone
• If different soil layers have different AWC’s, we need
to sum up the layer-by-layer TAW’s as:
TAW = (AWC1) (L1) + (AWC2) (L2) + . . . (AWCN) (LN)
where:- L = thickness of soil layer
1, 2, N: represent each successive soil layer
Soil water deficit (SWD)
• The water required to bring the soil water content of
a given soil to its field capacity
• SWD= (fc - v), if in depthSWD= (fc - v)* Rd
Where: v is existing volumetric water content
By Zewdu T. 46
Available water remaining (soil water balance)
SWB= (v - wp), if in depth  SWB=(v - wp)*Rd
Fraction available water depleted (fd)  fc  v 
fd   
Where:  fc  wp 
– (fc - v) = soil water deficit (SWD)
– v = existing soil volumetric water content
Fraction available water remaining (fr)
 v  wp 
fr   
 fc  wp 
– (v - wp) = soil water balance (SWB)
By Zewdu T. 47
Energy concept of soil water
Forces acting on soil water
• Soil water is subject to several forces
• Water in the soil moves constantly in the direction of
decreasing potential energy
• The relative level of energy in different regions within the
soil is very important than the absolute amount of energy
“contained” in the water
a) Matric potential (M. forces)
• Force placed on the water by the soil matrix
• Has the greatest effect on release of water from soil to roots
• Matric forces consist of adsorptive & capillary forces
• Adsorptive forces cause water molecules adsorbed on clay
particles
• Capillarity is the adhesive force that acts in the boundary
layers between phases
By Zewdu T. 48
Energy concept of soil water…
• The rise in height ‘h’ of soil water due to capillarity
is given by:
• The smaller the tube, the higher the capillary rise
• The tension or suction created by small soil pores
is greater than that created by large soil pores
h is inversely related to
tube diameter
By Zewdu T. 49
• Molecules of cohesion water, compared to

adhesion water have greater energy and move more
readily
• Adsorption of water on the surface of soil
produces reduction in the energy of the water
By Zewdu T. 50
b) Osmotic potential (Osmotic force)
• Soil water contains certain amount of dissolved salts
and other solutes
• The force exerted on soil water due to the difference
in salt concentration across a semi-permeable
membrane, such as a plant root
• Presence of solutes in soil water decreases the
potential energy of water in the soil
• Water tends to diffuse into the concentrated solution
• The osmotic potential has little effect on the mass
movement of water in soil
• Its major effect is on the uptake of water by plant root
By Zewdu T. 51
c) Gravitational potential
• The force acted by gravity on soil water
• This energy depends on the body’s position in the
gravitational force field
• It will have effect on soil water only if it exceeds
the combined effects of matric & osmotic suctions
• When the soil gets wet after irrigation or rain, the
combined matric and osmotic forces decrease
• Finally, at saturation, gravity exceeds the forces
holding water in the soil matrix  water moves
downwards
By Zewdu T. 52
• The total soil water potential is the sum of
potentials resulting from different force fields
• can be written as:
where:
•
By Zewdu T. 53
SWP (ψt):
– Measure of the energy status of the soil water
– Important because it reflects how hard plants
must work to extract water
– Units of measure are normally bars or
atmospheres
– Soil water potentials are negative pressures
(tension or suction)
– Water flows from a higher (less negative)
potential to a lower (more negative) potential
By Zewdu T. 54
Soil moisture characteristics
Soil moisture retention
• Soil’s moisture content is defined as the water that
may be evaporated from soil by heating at 105°C
to a constant weight
• The relationship b/n soil’s moisture content (θ)
and soil-matric potential (ψm) or pressure head is
called “soil moisture characteristics,” “soil
moisture characteristic curve,” or “pF curve.”
• wetness increases with decrease in soil matric
potential from a high negative value (for dry
condition) to a near zero suction (for saturated
state)
By Zewdu T. 55
• Adsorptive (cohesion and adhesion) and capillary
forces hold water in the voids b/n soil particles
• Matric forces must be overcome to remove water
from a soil
• The min. force required to remove water from a
soil varies with the amount of water in the soil
• As the soil approaches saturation, the matric
forces approach to zero
• As the water content of the soil approaches zero,
the matric forces approach negative infinity
By Zewdu T. 56
• The pressure head (h) vary from 0 cm (for
saturation) to 107cm (for oven-dry conditions)
• pF is the logarithm of the tension or suction in cm
of water. It is given by:
• Heaver soils retain greater quantity of water at
any particular tension in comparison to a coarser
soil (because of large number of small pores)
• Greater amount of silt and clay in soil encourages
retention of more water at any particular suction
By Zewdu T. 57
Soil-water retention curves for different soil types

By Zewdu T. 58
Movement of water in the soil
Infiltration:
• The entry of water into the soil matrix through air-soil
interface
• Important property of soil which affects surface
irrigation
• The infiltrated water first meets the soil moisture
deficiency, if any, & the excess moves vertically
downwards or goes off as surface runoff
• Vertical movement of water is largely due gravity &
horizontal movement is due capillarity
Infiltration rate:
• The entry of water into the soil
• In dry soils, infiltration rate is high at the beginning of
rain/irrigation (due to suction gradients) but rapidly
decreases with time until a fairly steady state is reached
By Zewdu T. 59
• Infiltration capacity: the maximum rate at which a soil in
given condition is capable of absorbing water & given by
Horton's equation:
• Cumulative infiltration: Accumulated depth of water

infiltrating during given time
By Zewdu T. 60
• Sc
By Zewdu T. 61
• Infiltration rate & cumulative infiltration is
measured by infiltrometers
Single ring double ring

By Zewdu T. 62
Infiltration Rate vs. Time
For Different Soil Textures
By Zewdu T. 63
Cumulative Infiltration Depth vs. Time
For Different Soil Textures
By Zewdu T. 64
Factors affecting infiltration
• Soil texture
• Initial soil water content of the given soil
• Surface sealing (structure, etc.)
• Soil cracking
• Tillage practices
• Method of application (e.g., Basin vs. Furrow)
• Water temperature
• Soil compaction
By Zewdu T. 65
Water flow in the soil:
• Soil water is dynamic and moves constantly in the soil
medium
• Downward and lateral movement of water occurs
during irrigation or rainfall
• Upward movement takes place when upper soil layers
start drying up
Flow in saturated soil
• Water is not under tension
• Water flow follows Darcy’s law which states that the
velocity of water flow is directly proportional to the
difference of hydraulic heads and inversely
proportional to the flow length
By Zewdu T. 66
Flow in unsaturated soil
• Only the pores which contain water can contribute to
the flow of water the hydraulic conductivity of
unsaturated soils is smaller than that of saturated
soils
Water extraction & moisture stress of plants
• Plants have normally a higher concentration of roots
in the upper part of the root zone
• About 40% of the water need is met from the first
25% of the root zone
• As the available water from upper layers decreases,
plants extract more water from lower depths
By Zewdu T. 67
• A greater portion of roots of most plants remains
within 45 to 60 cm surface soil layers
By Zewdu T. 68
Moisture extraction
A Pathway of water in soil-plant-atmosphere system
• Soil →root (epidermal cell) → conductive system of
xylem →leaf cells (intercellular space in the leaf)→
stomata cavities → air layer in the immediate vicinity of
the leaf
Moisture stress of plants
• When there is moisture stress in the root zone, the plant
will reduce the amount of water lost through
transpiration by partial or total stomata closure.
• Closure of stomata decreased photosynthesis since the
CO2 required for this process enters the plant through the
stomata.
• Decreased photosynthesis reduces biomass production
By Zewdu T. 69
and results in decreased yields.
By Zewdu T. 70

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2.

• Soil is made up of four components & three phases

Interaction among 4 components and three phases for

• The United States Department of Agriculture

Very course sand 2.0 - 1.0 -

Course sand 1.0 - 0.5 2.0 - 0.2

Medium sand 0.50 - 0.25 -

Fine sand 0.25 - 0.10 0.20 - 0.02

Very fine sand 0.10 - 0.05 -

Silt 0.05 - 0.002 0.02 - 0.002

Clay < 0.002 < 0.002

Sand silt clay

c) Smooth, shiny & long, flexible ribbon (clay)

Soil structure & its effect on permeability

• sometimes referred to as apparent specific gravity

• It is constant for a given soil & does not change

Values range: 30-60%

• To determine porosity, soil samples are placed in a

• Mass wetness and volume wetness are related as:

where: ρw is the density of water =

Coarse Sand Silty Clay Loam

Soil Solids (Particles): 0.50

Very Large Pores: 15%

Space: Medium-sized Pores: 20%

• Molecules of cohesion water, compared to

Soil-water retention curves for different soil types

• Cumulative infiltration: Accumulated depth of water

Single ring double ring

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