Spatio-temporal variations in soil moisture and soil temperature under high density Guava orchard system

The knowledge and understanding of the spatio-temporal variability of soil water content and soil temperature is of great importance for determining a soil sampling strategy, for understanding and modeling of water and nutrient movement, and for many other investigations associated with the water and nutrient management in high density plantations. Keeping this in view, seasonal variations in soil moisture and soil temperature were monitored during 2011 at active root zone depth of 15 cm at 0.5 and 1.0 m away from tree trunk in twenty years old guava cultivar Allahabad Safeda planted at four different spacings (1.5 ×3.0, 3.0 ×3.0, 3.0 × 6.0 and 6.0 × 6.0 m). In-situ soil moisture dynamics over space and time scale existed in the high density guava orchard ecosystem and the variability was mainly governed by the climatic factors particularly rainfall, evaporation, temperature and wind speed. Lower moisture retention was observed in higher density as compared to low density plantation because of the root zone competition in closely spaced plants. Temporal variations in soil temperature was also revealed. This record was migrated from the OpenDepot repository service in June, 2017 before shutting down