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On-the-Go Capacitance Sensing of Soil Water Content

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  Paper number  MC09201,  2005 Special Meeting Papers. (doi: 10.13031/2013.29481) @2009
Authors:   Viacheslav I Adamchuk, Charles R Hempleman, Daniel G Jahraus
Keywords:   Soil moisture; water content; frequency domain capacitance; on-the-go sensors; precision agriculture

When analyzing the moisture-related spatial heterogeneity of crop-growing conditions, mapping soil water content is a potentially beneficial practice. Using commercially available point-based sensors is labor-intensive and often fails to generate maps with appropriate measurement density. The capacitance-based sensor analyzed in this paper is a suitable alternative that allows high-density on-the-go measurements obtained at a predefined depth. Laboratory sensor evaluation revealed an error of approximately 3% when predicting volumetric water content as well as giving a similar accuracy of gravimetric water content for limited soil density fluctuations across a wide range of Nebraska soils. Soil moisture maps obtained using this sensor can complement recently popularized soil mechanical resistance maps and other spatial data layers involved in the decision-making strategies now being developed.

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