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Water Transfer from Soil to Seed
Author(s) -
Wuest Stewart B.
Publication year - 2002
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/sssaj2002.1760
Subject(s) - imbibition , water content , soil water , water transfer , environmental science , agronomy , moisture , water vapor , water transport , soil science , chemistry , germination , water flow , geology , biology , geotechnical engineering , water resource management , organic chemistry
Mixed solid‐water‐gas media such as soil can supply water to a dry object as both liquid and vapor. Modelers and agricultural engineers have commonly assumed liquid transport dominates imbibition by seed. This study tests the hypothesis that vapor is the major source of water for imbibition under normal soil moisture conditions. Water uptake was measured under varying degrees of seed‐soil contact. Wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) seeds were suspended in holes in blocks of moist soil (average water potential −0.16 MPa). Hole diameter varied from 13 to 0 mm (no hole), so that the distance between the moist soil and the seed varied from a maximum of 5 mm to intimate seed‐soil contact. The amount of water absorbed by seed in 24 h increased from 15 to 17 mg seed −1 as seed‐soil contact increased from none to maximum contact, indicating that at least 85% of the water absorbed by seed in intimate seed‐soil contact could be attributed to vapor alone. Reevaluation of the role of vapor transport should result in improved multiphase transport models in soil and other media.