Research Note: Estimation of Field Capacity and Wilting Point from Basic Soil Physical and Chemical Properties

In recent years, using pedotransfer functions to estimate hard-to-measure soil properties has become an attractive alternative to direct measurements due to savings in time and experimental costs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of pedotransfer functions in estimating field capacity and wilting point from soil texture, organic matter, and cation exchange capacity (CEC). Soil samples collected from the arid region of Isfahan, Iran, were used for this study. The results indicated a strong linear correlation between the field capacity and sand and CEC, and between wilting point and silt and CEC. We found that CEC was a more important factor for estimating field capacity and wilting point than clay and organic matter content, as the former incorporates the effects of both clay and organic matter content.