Determinação da umidade do solo pelo método das pesagens

Abstract

Soil moisture determinations are of considerable importance to estimate the need for irrigation and to determine the amount of water to apply. There is a constant demand for a method to determine soil moisture content for irrigation purposes that is at one time reliable, rapid and inexpensive. The multiple-weighing method presented in this work was developed independently from the method proposed years ago by PAPADAKIS. It offers a few advantages over the method of PAPADAKIS which are discussed in detail. A comparison was made between the multiple-weighing method and the usual oven-drying method, for the determination of soil moisture of different soils. The data was statistically analysed. No significant difference was found between methods. A correlation coefficient of 0,99 was found between the two methods for each of the three soils.