Pedotransfer functions for estimating the water release curve and resistance to penetration curve of soils of Sante Fe - ArgentinaPedotransfer functions for estimating the water release curve and resistance to penetration curve of soils of sante fe - argentina

IMHOFF, S.; DA SILVA, ALVARO PIRES; PILATTI, M.A.; GHIBERTO, P.

Filadelfia

Congreso; 18th World Congress of Soil Science; 2006

ASSS

Pedotransfer functions (PTFs) are widely used to predict soil functioning in agricultural and environmental systems. The term pedotransfer function (PTF) is used to describe equations that express dependencies of soil properties on basic soil attributes available from soil surveys. A prerequisite for the development of PTFs is the availability of a source database that contains potential predictors. Most PTFs available in the literature use soil texture, bulk density, and organic matter contents as predictors. Although the soil water retention curve (WRC) is of great importance in present-day agricultural and environmental soil research, it is not an easily available soil property. The same can be stated for the soil resistance curve (SRC). The main reason is that their measurement are expensive, time consuming, and labor intensive. Therefore, models need to be developed to predict the WRC and SRC from more easily measurable and more readily available soil properties. This study tested the hypothesis that pedotransfer functions (PTFs) that describe the influence of soil properties and management on the WRC and the SRC could be determined from the information available at the soil survey of the State of Santa Fe, Argentina. The objectives were: i) to determine the water release curves and soil resistance curves for the main soil series of the Santa Fe State, ii) to develop PTFs for both soil properties.