Division: SSSA Division: Soil Physics

Title: Soil Sensing for Crop Water Management: I

Lead Community Sponsor:
Cosponsor: Climatology & Modeling
Community Cosponsor: Sensor-Based Nutrient Management Community, Agroclimatology and Agronomic Modeling Community
Format: Oral Topical Session
Keywords: EvapotranspirationSensorsSoil water contentWater use efficiency

Session Description: Evaluating and managing water use for crop production using soil sensing has the potential to improve crop water productivity under a wide range of environmental/edaphic conditions. However, current limitations in sensing technologies hamper adoption on a production scale. Sensor deployment is typically of limited spatial extent and may not be representative of field scale crop water use and spatial variability. Supplemental use of other ad hoc measurements may be required. Developments in wireless sensor technology are also required to provide real-time information for water managers. Lastly, sensor response may be influenced by soil salinity and other factors that may compromise the correct interpretation of water use. We seek contributions related to soil sensing technology and applications that can be used to improve crop productivity related to water and other limiting soil factors such as salinity. We envision two tracks for the symposium. One is related to sensing of soil properties that affect crop productivity (including but not limited to salinity, fertility, soil water availability), and particularly the spatial variation of these properties and the affected crop productivity. The other track is related to crop water productivity, which involves using soil water sensing in solutions of the soil water balance to estimate crop water use, which in turns allows calculation of the water use efficiency or crop water productivity.

Reviewer's Comments: