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The Practical Use of the Energy Concept of Soil Moisture
Author(s) -
Kohnke Helmut
Publication year - 1947
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj1947.036159950011000c0012x
Subject(s) - citation , computer science , energy (signal processing) , library science , agricultural engineering , information retrieval , mathematics , engineering , statistics
E introduction of the term pF into the literature J. on soil moisture by Schofield (s) has done much to make soil men conscious of the energy relations between soil and water. The pF, as we interpret Schofield's definition, is the logarithm of the total soil moisture tension measured on a gravity scale, irrespective of the forms of energy involved. It is the purpose of this paper to urge the popular • acceptance of the pF concept as it is felt that it could serve to great advantage all persons dealing with thesoil. Soil acidity has received the close attention of plant physiologists, agronomists, and farmers only after the pH concept had been accepted. Expressing the hydrogen-ion concentration in per cent of the soil weight could not be expected to result in an appreciation of its effect on soil solution and plant growth, but we continue to publish papers in which we express soil moisture in per cent of the soil weight. ' It appears that two methods of recording soil moisture conditions are needed: