Numerical calculation of soil water potential in an irrigated 'conference' pear orchard

作者：Janssens Pieter^*; Diels Jan; Vanderborght Jan; Eisen Frank; Eisen Annemie; Deckers Tom; Vandendriessche Hilde

来源：Agricultural Water Management, 2015, 148: 113-122.

DOI：10.1016/j.agwat.2014.09.023

• Root distribution
• Watermark sensor
• HYDRUS
• Stem water potential (Psi(stem))
• Sap flow

Irrigation in Belgian 'Conference' pear orchards is often managed by soil water potential (Psi(soil)) sensors. The most widespread sensor among fruit growers in Belgium is the Watermark sensor (Irrometer Co., USA). To gain better insight into the use of the Watermark soil sensor for irrigation scheduling in pear orchards the water extraction pattern of the 'Conference' pear trees was acquired by a numerical calculation of Psi(soil) in three experimental plots. A reasonable accordance between calculated and measured Psi(soil) was observed with R-2= 0.56 and RMSE = 13.4 kPa over 1320 observations. Furthermore the sensitivity of the numerical calculation to the selected root distribution was shown. The Psi(soil) calculation with the root distribution parameterized by site specific fine root length observations gave satisfactory results for all plots, in contrast to Psi(soil) calculation based on other root distributions.

• 出版日期2015-1-31