Assessing soil water storage

This project aims to quantify how the diagnosis and management of soil constraints changes soil water attributes such as infiltration, storage, drainage, and crop interaction.

Through field site data collection, installation of sensors, use of proximal soil sensing and critical review, this project will develop calibrated soil water characteristic models for each site and the relevant systems-based treatments. This information will be collected at existing Soil CRC field sites.

The Soil CRC has field-sites where systems-based approaches and novel physicochemical approaches are being investigated in order to deliver high performing soil. There is an increasing demand to better understand how these various approaches are changing both soil water infiltration and storage, drainage, and root access to stored water and resources.

The data will be used to develop tools that support growers to manage their soil to increase access to soil water, as well as assess changes to soil water in the future. Long term forecasts will be developed for each site that can be validated throughout the lifetime of the Soil CRC.

The mechanisms that control soil water change the most will be identified. These will inform decision support tools and allow a level of forecast capability through crop modelling. These outcomes will provide more certainty around in identifying management practices for better soil water use and increased production.