2.4 Soil Water

SOIL WATER
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Introduction
• Vital component for living things (exp. Function of
water: solvents of food and nutrients, temperature
buffer, i.e water having higher specific heat
transfer capacity, metabolite, living environment)
• One of nature’s simplest chemical, it has unique
properties that promote a wide range of physical,
chemical and biological processes
• Plants are on liquid diets; absorbs nutrient from soil
solution. 100 to 500kg water for 0.5 kg dry matter
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• Influence almost every aspect of soil behavior
• Intimately associated with solid particles
• Causes soil particle to swell or shrink, to adhere to each

other and to form structural aggregates
• Participates in numerous chemical reaction
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Roles of water for plant growth
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Soil Water
Adhesion Water (hygroscopic water)- water attracted to solid surfaces
• held by strong electrical forces -

low energy
(0.0002mm of soil surface)
• little movement- held tight by
soil
• exists as a film
• Hygroscopic water non-mobile.
• removed from soil by drying in
an oven
• Water-particle force become
non-existence beyond 0.06mm.
• Capillary actions may move this
water = capillary water.
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Cohesion water – water attracted to other water molecules
• held by hydrogen bonding
(–when + & - of water
molecules are close
together)
• liquid state in water film
• major source of water for
plants
• greater energy than
adhesion water
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Water Content
• Most common ways describing soil
water content in small samples are
gravimetric water content and
volumetric water content.
• Gravimetric – percent by weight
• Volumetric – percent by volume
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• Gravimetric water content is the mass
of water in soil as a percent of the
total mass of oven-dry soil:
• (wet mass – oven-dried mass)

X 100
(oven-dried mass)
= %w
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Volumetric water content of soil is the volume
of water in soil as a percent of the total soil
volume:
Volum. water cont. (%v)= (%w) x (Bulk Density)

Water density
Note: the (0/0w ) is the gravimetric water content

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Water Holding Capacity (WHC)
• A measure of the quantity of water that

can be retained or held by a soil i.e
amount of water can a particular soil
retain & make available to plants
• Not all the water film surrounding the

soil can be drawn by plants, so only a
portion of the total WHC of a soil can be
said to be plant available
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Factors affecting WHC of soil
Texture
i. The finer the texture the higher WHC
ii. WHC of clay is higher than sand
Soil mineralogy
i. Soils containing clay minerals eg.
Montmorillonite & vermiculite have higher WHC
than those containing kaolinite & geothite
Organic Matter content

i. High OM, high WHC because OM can absorb
water up to 30 times its weight
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State of Soil Water/ water availability
(Stages of water holding capacity)
1. Saturation
2. Field capacity
3. Wilting point
• Depending on the water content of

the soil
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Saturation
• When all soils pores are filled with
water from rain/irrigation
• The soil is said to be saturated, i.e.

100% pores filled with water
• The soil is at its maximum retentive

capacity
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Effect of Excess water
• Excess moisture displaces air from soil pores.

• Small amount of O2 dissolved in water all used up by
soil organism.
• While O2 can diffuse through water filled pores but
very much slow (10,000 times slower) than air filled
pores. So wet soil become O2 deficient. – become
anaerobic.
• Plant roots also become lacks of oxygen for
respiration. And inhibit uptake of nutrients; plant
become nutrients deficiency – even wilt.
• Fungal disease also may attack damage roots –
causing root rots.
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Field Capacity (FC)
• 1-2 days after the rain/irrigation the rapid
downward movement of water through the soil
become negligible
• The soil is then is said to be at its FC, i.e.

50% of PS (pore space) filled with water soil
• Water has moved out of the macro PS and its

place has been taken by air
• The micro PS are still filled with water and

will supply the plants with needed water
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Wilting Point (WP)
• The water content or potential at which

a plant is unable to extract water from
the soil
• Water availability in soil for plant

growth becomes insufficient to supply
adequate plant turgor
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Effect of water stress
Water stress is caused by a shortage of water in

plant tissue.
Stress occurs even at moisture levels that do not
cause wilting because as the soil dries, it becomes
increasingly difficult for a plant to absorb moisture.
As the plant becomes deficient in water, guard cells
begin to close the stomata, slowing down the
exchange of O2 and CO2.
Reduced exchange of two gases slows
photosynthesis and plant growth is inhibited.
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Effect of water stress
Water deficient cause plant to begin lose water

faster than it can be absorbed and it temporarily
wilts.
 Temporary wilting point – the plant recovers
when conditions improve.
Permanent wilting point reached when soil
become too dry for plant to access any water. The
plant now will not recover even if conditions
improve.
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Water Retention of Several Soil Textures
Texture Field capacity Permanent Available
In./ft wilting point water
In./ft In./ft
Fine sand 1.4 0.4 1.1 (71%)

Sandy loam 1.9 0.6 1.4 (68%)
Fine sandy loam 2.5 0.8 1.8 (68%)
Loam 3.1 1.2 1.95 (62%)
Silt loam 3.4 1.4 2.03 (59%)
Clay loam 3.7 1.8 1.95 (52%)
Clay 3.9 2.5 1.4 (36%)
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Soil Water Movement
• The flow of liquid water is due to a

gradient in potential from one zone to
another
• The direction of flow is from a zone of

lower water potential to higher
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Soil Water Movement
 What causes water to infiltrate into the soil
• Capillary
• Gravity
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Water movement
CAPILLARY
•Attraction of water due to matrix
potential pulls water into the pores.
•Force pulls water horizontally and
vertically.
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Water movement
GRAVITY
•Force of gravity pulls water into and
through the soil pores.
•Force pulls water vertically through the
soil.
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Water potential
NOTE:
1 bar = 100kPa
1 kPa = 10 cm water
1 bar = 1020 cm water
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Determining the diraction of water flow
• Water move from point of high energy

to point of low energy.
• (look for the higher energy)
• Point A – Point B
Note:
Positive : point A to Point B
Negative: point B to point A
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Water moves from areas of low potential (wet soil : -2 or
-4 KPa) to areas of high water potential (dry soil -8 KPa)
-.4 -3
-7
-8
-2
Root Soil
Soil
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• 1) Pore size is one of the most important
fundamental properties affecting how water
moves through soil. Larger pores as in sand or
in good structured soil conduct water more
rapidly than smaller pores in clay.

• 2) The two forces that allow water to
move through soil are gravitational forces and
capillary forces. Capillary forces are greater
in small pores than in large pores.
(note: capillary forces : h = 0.15/r, r is

radius).
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• 3) Gravitational and capillary forces act
simultaneously in soils. Capillary action involves
two types of attractions, adhesion and cohesion.
Adhesion is attraction of water molecules to solid
surfaces; cohesion is the attraction of water
molecules to each other. Gravity pulls water
downward when the water is not held by capillary
action. Thus gravity influences water in saturated
soils.
• 4) Sandy soils contain larger pores than clay

soils, but do not contain as much total pore space.
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• 5) Sandy soils do not contain as much water per
unit volume of soil as clay soils.
• 6) Factors that affect water movement

through soil include texture, structure, organic
matter and bulk density. Any condition that
affects soil pore size and shape will affect water
movement.
• 7) The rate and direction of water moving

through soil is also affected by soil layers of
different material. Abrupt changes in pore size
from one layer to the next affect water
movement. When fine soil overlies coarse soil,
downward water movement will temporally stop at
the fine coarse interface until the fine layer
above the interface is nearly saturation.
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Water Budget
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Percolation – the movement of water to the groundwater
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Soil-water relations determine the
ecological functions of soil
• The rate of water loss through leaching

and evapo-transpiration
• The balance between air and water in
soil pores
• The rate & kind of metabolism of soil
organism
• The capacity of soil to create & provide
water for plant growth
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SOIL WATER

• Intimately associated with solid particles

• Causes soil particle to swell or shrink, to adhere to each

• Participates in numerous chemical reaction

• held by strong electrical forces -

• Gravimetric – percent by weight

• Volumetric – percent by volume

• (wet mass – oven-dried mass)

Volum. water cont. (%v)= (%w) x (Bulk Density)

Note: the (0/0w ) is the gravimetric water content

• A measure of the quantity of water that

• Not all the water film surrounding the

Organic Matter content

• Depending on the water content of

• The soil is said to be saturated, i.e.

• The soil is at its maximum retentive

• Excess moisture displaces air from soil pores.

• The soil is then is said to be at its FC, i.e.

• Water has moved out of the macro PS and its

• The micro PS are still filled with water and

• The water content or potential at which

• Water availability in soil for plant

Water stress is caused by a shortage of water in

Water deficient cause plant to begin lose water

Fine sand 1.4 0.4 1.1 (71%)

• The flow of liquid water is due to a

• The direction of flow is from a zone of

• Water move from point of high energy

(note: capillary forces : h = 0.15/r, r is

• 4) Sandy soils contain larger pores than clay

• 6) Factors that affect water movement

• 7) The rate and direction of water moving

• The rate of water loss through leaching

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