Moisture Available to Various Crops in Some New Jersey Soils
1953
Corey, A. T. | Blake, G. R.
Moisture available to wheat, potatoes, tomatoes, and sweet corn was determined by combining moisture retaining characteristics of soils, and depths to which crops exploit the water reservoir. Soil types on which some or all of the crops were grown included Sassafras and Nixon loams, Penn silt loam, and Collington loamy sand. Available water in a unit depth varied with soil type and with horizon in a given soil type. Effective rooting depth of a crop was defined as the maximum depth to which soil continued to lose moisture after a prolonged period of rainless weather. Moisture samples determined gravimetrically were each referred to a standard of 100 cm. water tension to give relative wetness values. When depth vs. relative wetness was plotted, effective rooting depth was a clearly defined point below which insignificant quantities of water were obtained by plants. Effective rooting depth of sweet corn varied with soil type from 11 to 35 inches. It also varied on a given soil with kind and age of crop. When differences in rooting depth were combined with moisture in unit depth, tomatoes had about four times as much water at their disposal in Sassafras loam as in Nixon loam. Wheat had less than half as much as tomatoes when both were growing on Sassafras loam.
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