Premium
Development and Testing of Root Effectiveness Function for Soil Water Uptake
Author(s) -
Malik R. K.,
Narda N. K.,
Murty V. V. N.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
journal of agronomy and crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.095
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1439-037X
pISSN - 0931-2250
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-037x.1989.tb00699.x
Subject(s) - agronomy , dns root zone , crop , soil water , environmental science , growing season , mathematics , soil science , biology
For soil water uptake studies under cropped conditions, root effectiveness for soil water absorption is of great significance. For development of root effectiveness function, information on the age of roots present at any soil depth at any time during the crop growth period is needed. For estimation of root age and root effectiveness function, a methodology has been developed. Wheat crop was used as a test crop. It has been observed that root effectiveness for water uptake remains constant during the early period of root growth and thereafter it decreases exponentially with root age. The application of the proposed root effectiveness function was tested successfully using macroscopic model of soil water dynamics which yielded 7 .83 per cent variation between observed and simulated soil water content on overall basis in the crop root zone for the entire crop growth season.