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Soil Moisture Sensors for Agricultural Irrigation: An Overview on Sensor Types

ID

BSE-338P

Authors as Published

Authored by Julie Shortridge, Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist, Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech; and Wesley Porter, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia

This publication is available in an enhanced digital version and PDF

Irrigation scheduling is the process of deciding when and how much irrigation to apply to a field to ensure sufficient water availability for plants and avoid excess costs and environmental impacts associated with excess watering. Soil moisture sensors can support irrigation scheduling by telling you how much water is present in your soil at any time. The goal of this bulletin is to provide an overview on different methods for monitoring soil water content and obtaining the data provided by soil moisture sensors. By reading this document, irrigators and educators should gain a better understanding of different options for soil moisture monitoring.


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Publication Date

July 21, 2021