NAME: Versano, Imy Joy A.

YEAR & COURSE: 3-BSABE-B

INSTRUCTOR: Engr. Razel Allan R. Valleser DATE: March 20, 2021

Laboratory Activity 1
Soil Moisture Reduction Rate

I. Introduction

The amount of water held in soil is an important component of biological and

ecological processes, and is used in applications such as farming, erosion prevention, flood
control, and drought prediction.

Soils typically contain a finite amount of water, which can be expressed as the soil
moisture content. Moisture exists in soil within the pore spaces between soil aggregates,
called inter-aggregate pore space, and within pores in the soil aggregates themselves, called
intra-aggregate pore space. If the pore space is occupied entirely by air, the soil is completely
dry. If all of the pores are filled with water, the soil is saturated. The measurement of the
amount of water held within the soil, or the soil moisture content, is essential to the
understanding of soil characteristics and the types of plants and microorganisms that reside in
it.

In this laboratory, I will conduct a 10 day monitoring to 2 different kinds of soil

texture which is manifested by a feel and appearance method and a day to day weight
monitoring to note the reduction rate of the soil thus, direct sunlight is the main medium for
drying.

II. Objectives:

1. Conduct experiment on determining the soil moisture reduction rate in two different type
of soil
2. Determine the soil moisture reduction rate
3. Compute the soil moisture reduction rate
4. Discuss the findings

III. Material and Instruments needed

- Weighing scale (digital or analog, depends on what is available in your location)
- Shovel/bolo or any tools that can be used to dig soil
- Soil sample (two-type of soil texture), it could be a clay soil, and sandy soil (depends
on what are available in your location
- Container for the soil sample
- Water
 IV. Procedures

Note: Photo document or show photo documentation that you’re conducting this
laboratory activity

1. Preparation of all needed materials, tools, and instruments

2. Preparation of soil sample, 1-sample for one-type of texture, and 1-another sample for
another type of texture. You can source your soil sample in areas near your location Do the
following procedures in gathering your samples:
- Dig the soil, then wet the soil to field capacity
 - Gather enough soil sample, make sure have enough sample of not less than 200 grams
gathered from the field per type of texture, make sure also that excess or gravitational
water is removed from your sample.

SANDY CLAY SAND

LOAM

3. Using the soil sample gathered from field, prepare 200 grams soil sample (weigh with the
used of your weighing instrument), place it in a container (plastic). Note: one (1) – 200
grams sample to be prepared per texture type

SANDY CLAY SAND

LOAM

(In these images, it weighs 214 because the weight of the container is added which is 14 grams.)
4. Dry the soil sample by exposing it to direct sunlight, spread the soil sample above the plastic
sheet or cellophane, make sure that thicknesses are of uniform

5. Daily monitor the weight (mass) of the soil sample. Cover it when time of rain, or gather it
or place it away from rainfall. Also gather your sample during night, and return it back on
the next day. You are given freedom as to in choosing the time for monitoring the weight of
your sample in a day.

6. Repeat the daily weight monitoring process until you notice that changes in weight of the
sample is no longer observed.

7. Record your observation in the Table 1 shown below:

 Table 1. Weight of soil sample at time of observation.

Weight of sample during the time of monitoring

Days Date Soil type: __Sand___ Soil type: Sandy Clay
Initial weight: 200 Loam_
grams Initial weight: 200 grams
0 1st day of 200 grams (initia 200 grams (initial
exposing weight) l weight)
the sample
to
sunlight

March 10

1 March 11 181 grams 165 grams

2 March 12 180 grams 164 grams
3 March 13 179 grams 163 grams
4 March 14 178 grams 162 grams
5 March 15 178 grams 162 grams

6. March 16 178 grams 162 grams

March 17 178 grams 162 grams
7.
8. Compute the daily percent soil moisture content loss. In this experiment we used
wetweight basis. Used equation below, and tabulate result in Table 2. Show your
computation.

𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑊𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 − 𝑊𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

𝑀𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = ( )100%
𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑊𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡

FOR SAND

Day 1:

200 grams – 181 grams

𝑀𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = ( )100%
200 grams
 𝑀𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = 0.095
Day 2: 200 grams – 180 grams
𝑀𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = ( )100%
200 grams
𝑀𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = 0.1

Day 3: 200 grams – 179 grams

𝑀𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = ( )100%
200 grams
𝑀𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = 0.105

Day 4-7: 200 grams – 178 grams

𝑀𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = ( )100%
200 grams
𝑀𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = 0.11

FOR SANDY CLAY LOAM:

Day 1:

200 grams – 165 grams

𝑀𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = ( )100%
200 grams
𝑀𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = 0.175

Day 2:

200 grams – 164 grams

𝑀𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = ( )100%
200 grams
𝑀𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = 0.18

Day 3:

200 grams – 163 grams

𝑀𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = ( )100%
200 grams
𝑀𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = 0.185
Day 4-7:

200 grams – 162 grams

𝑀𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = ( )100%
200 grams
𝑀𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = 0.19

Table 2. Percent daily moisture content lost of the soil sample.

Days Percent Moisture content lost

Sample 1: Type of soil: _Sand__ Sample 2: Type of soil: Sandy Clay Loam

0 0 0
1 0.095 0.175
2 0.1 0.18
3 0.105 0.185
4 0.11 0.19
5 0.11 0.19
6 0.11 0.19
7 0.11 0.19
V. Result Discussion
(Present your result in graphical, discuss the trend of daily moisture reduction, is it linear? (yes or no,
why?), Is the reduction of moisture same with other type of texture? (yes or no, why?). Discuss the
significance of moisture reduction in the two type of soil sample in relation to irrigation).

 GRAPHICAL RESULT OF MOISTURE CONTENT LOSS OF SAND

6
PERCENT MOISTURE
5 CONTENT LOST

4 WEIGHT OF SAMPLE
DURING THE TIME OF
3 MONITORING
2

1
 GRAPHICAL
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RESULT OF
MOISTURE
CONTENT LOSS
OF SANDY CLAY LOAM

6
PERCENT MOISTURE
5 CONTENT LOST

4 WEIGHT OF SAMPLE
DURING THE TIME OF
3 MONITORING
2

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
DISCUSSION

In the task given, the reduction of soil moisture is different since different soil texture absorbs
different amount of water. Thus, the heat energy given is directed from sunlight. On the other hand, the
graph shows that the reduction rate of the soil moisture is linear. Soil moisture reduction is essential in
irrigation in terms of controlling the exchange of water and heat energy between the land surface and
the atmosphere through evaporation and plant transpiration. Indeed, it is important in development of
weather patterns and the production of precipitation.