Soil Water Potential

Soil Water Potential

The retention and movement of water in soils, its uptake and translocation in plants and its loss to the atmosphere are all energy related phenomenon. The more strongly water is held in the soil the greater is the heat (energy) required. In other words, if water is to be removed from a moist soil, work has to be done against adsorptive forces. Conversely, when water is adsorbed by the soil, a negative amount of work is done. The movement is from a zone where the free energy of water is high (standing water table} to one where the free energy is low (a dry soil). This is called soil water energy concept.

Free energy of soil solids for water is affected by

i) Matric (solid) force i.e., the attraction of the soil solids for water (adsorption} which markedly reduces the free energy (movement} of the adsorbed water molecules.

ii) Osmotic force i.e., the attraction of ions and other solutes for water to reduce the free energy of soil solution.

Matric and Osmotic potentials are negative and reduce the free energy level of the soil water. These negative potentials are referred as suction or tension.

iii) Force of gravity: This acts on soil water, the attraction is towards the earth's center, which tends to pull the water down ward. This force is always positive. The difference between the energy states of soil water and pure free water is known as soil water potential. Total water potential (Pt} is the sum of the contributions of gravitational potential (Pg), matric potential (Pm) and the Osmotic potential or solute potential (Po).

Pt = Pg + Pm + Po

Potential represents the difference in free energy levels of pure water and of soil water. The soil water is affected by the force of gravity, presence of soil solid (matric) and of solutes.

Methods of expressing suctions: There are two units to express differences in energy levels of soil water.

i) PF Scale: The free energy is measured in terms of the height of a column of water required to produce necessary suction or pressure difference at a particular soil moisture level. The pF, therefore, represents the logarithm of the height of water column (cm) to give the necessary suction.

ii) Atmospheres or Bars: It is another common mean of expressing suction. Atmosphere is the average air pressure at sea level. If the suction is very low as occurs in the case of a wet soil containing the maximum amount of water that it can hold, the pressure difference is of the order of about 0.01 atmospheres or 1 PF equivalent to a column of water 10 cm in height. Similarly, if the pressure difference is 0.1 atmosphere the PF will be 20. Soil moisture constants can be expressed in term of PF values. A soil that is saturated with water has PF 0 while an oven dry soil has a PF 7.