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Soil Sampling for Moisture Determination in Irrigation Experiments 1
Author(s) -
Allmaras R. R.,
Gardner C. O.
Publication year - 1956
Publication title -
agronomy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1435-0645
pISSN - 0002-1962
DOI - 10.2134/agronj1956.00021962004800010004x
Subject(s) - bluff , irrigation , water content , mathematics , agronomy , horticulture , engineering , biology , geotechnical engineering , mathematical economics
NE of the most frequent soil determinations made in 0 agronomic research is for percent moisture. In irrigation experiments the number of such determinations required to obtain reliable estimates of water use is large, and the work involved is time-consuming during the growing season. An experiment consisting of 13 irrigation treatments designed to study. the effects of frequency and time of irrigation on corn production was initiated at tht Scotts Bluff Experiment Station, Mitchell, Nebr., in 1952. In order to measure the water use by corn plants, the percent moisture of the soil on an oven-dry basis was estimated for each plot at the beginning of the season, before and after each irrigation, and at the end of the season. The number of soil samples required to obtain reliable estimates of water use was, consequently, very large. The purpose of this paper is (I) to outline the sampling technique originally followed, and (2) to show that by analyzing the various sources of variation encountered in the original procedure, considerable time and expense could be saved and greater efficiency could be gained by altering the sampling scheme. The literature pertaining to soil sampling is not very extensive. Cline (1) discussed the principles involved in soil sampling and reviews the literature prior to 1944. Rigney and Reed ( 5 ) and Reed and Rigney ( 4 ) illustrated how the components which contribute to total variation may be estimated and utilized in designing an efficient sampling procedure .for determining certain chemical properties of soil. Literature on sampling procedures for determining soil moisture is not extensive. However, the principles involved in sampling to determine chemical properties may also be applied to sampling for moisture determination.