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Using Subirrigation to Maintain Soil Moisture Content in Greenhouse Experiments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2017

Melinda L. Hoffman ,
Jack W. Buxton  and
Leslie A. Weston
Melinda L. Hoffman
Affiliation:
Dep. Hort., Univ. of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546
Jack W. Buxton
Affiliation:
Dep. Hort., Univ. of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546
Leslie A. Weston
Affiliation:
Dep. Hort., Univ. of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546
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Abstract

In greenhouse studies, overhead watering or subsurface irrigating soil can cause fluctuating moisture content, as can treatments such as surface application of residue used in cover crop research. This paper introduces a method of capillary mat subirrigation that maintained soil moisture at about field capacity for 16 d while no moisture could be detected after 6 d in soil placed under similar conditions that was not irrigated. In another study, subirrigation eliminated differences in soil moisture due to the presence of surface-applied residue and moisture supplied by hand watering from overhead was apparently removed from subirrigated treatments, which never differed in soil moisture content.

Keywords

Capillary matoverhead wateringsubsurface irrigation
Type
Special Topics
Information
Weed Science , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , June 1996 , pp. 397 - 401
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 by the Weed Science Society of America 

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References

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