Noninvasive Monitoring of Soil Water Dynamics in Mixed Cropping Systems: A Case Study in Ratchaburi Province, Thailand

Publikations-Art

Zeitschriftenbeitrag (peer-reviewed)

Autoren

Garré, S.; I. Coteur C. Wongleecharoen T. Kongkaew J. Diels J. Vanderborght

Erscheinungsjahr

2013

Veröffentlicht in

Vadose Zone J.

Band/Volume

12/2

DOI

10.2136/vzj2012.0129

Seite (von - bis)

1-12

Agriculture on shallow or steep soils in the humid tropics often leads to low resource use
efficiency. Contour hedgerow intercropping systems have been proposed to reduce run-off
and control soil erosion. However, competition for water and nutrients between crops and
associated hedgerows may reduce the overall performance of contour hedgerow systems.
Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) is a valuable technique used to assess the distribution
and dynamics of soil moisture noninvasively. In this study, we demonstrated its potential
to measure soil water depletion in the fi eld in distinct cropping patterns in Ratchaburi
province, Thailand. The measurements showed that the soils of our experimental plots
were very heterogeneous both along the slope as with depth. This observation highlighted
some constraints of the ERT method for soil moisture monitoring in the fi eld, such as the
diffi culty of defi ning a relationship between electrical conductivity and soil moisture in
very heterogeneous soils. Nevertheless, spatial analysis of the data revealed contrasting
water depletion patterns under monocropping and intercropping systems. In this way, ERT
provides access to information about the vadose zone moisture dynamics that would be
unavailable with classical soil moisture measurements.