Determination of soil meso-pores distribution via soil water retention curve

Tsvetina Paparkova

Abstract: The soil meso-pores distribution determines important indicators of soil pore structure. The aim of the current study was to determine the distribution of meso-pore in soil via soil water retention curve using two laboratory methods – suction plate method with hanging columns and TDR/MUX/mpts device for simultaneous measurements of matric potential and soil water content per volume. The analyses were performed on soil samples with different soil texture, soil organic carbon content and structure taken from the humic horizons of non-cultivated Deluvial-meadow soil, cultivated Fluvisol and non-cultivated and cultivated Haplic Cambisol. The volume of meso-pores in the cultivated soils was around 15% with less than 1% difference between the methods. The possibility of obtaining great amount of data in the range of soil meso-pore using the TDR/MUX/mpts device allowed to obtain information on different functional categories of pores and to present them as detailed differential curves. Although the measurements with TDR/MUX/mpts were done on disturbed soil, the method was indicative for changes in structure of soil porous system provoked by soil tillage in comparison to non-cultivated soil.

Keywords: laboratory TDR sensor; mini tensiometer; soil water retention curve; suction plate apparatus

Date published: 2021-11-12