ScholarLens Back to search
2022•Soil Science Society of America JournalOpen access

Carbon‐sensitive pedotransfer functions for plant available water

Dianna K. Bagnall, Cristine L.S. Morgan, Michael Cope, G. Mac Bean, Shannon B. Cappellazzi, Kelsey L.H. Greub, Daniel Liptzin, Charlotte L. Norris, Elizabeth L. Rieke, P. W. Tracy, Ezra Aberle, Amanda J. Ashworth, Oscar Bañuelos Tavarez, Andy I. Bary, R. Louis Baumhardt, Alberto Borbón Gracia, Daniel C. Brainard, Jameson R Brennan, Dolores Briones Reyes, Darren Bruhjell, Cameron N. Carlyle, James J.W. Crawford, Cody F. Creech, Steve W. Culman, William M. Deen, Curtis J. Dell, Justin Derner, Thomas F. Ducey, Sjoerd W. Duiker, Miles Dyck, Benjamin H. Ellert, Martin H. Entz, Avelino Espinosa Solorio, Steven J. Fonte, Simon Fonteyne, Ann‐Marie Fortuna, Jamie L. Foster, Lisa M. Fultz, Audrey V. Gamble, Charles M. Geddes, Deirdre Griffin‐LaHue, John H. Grove, Stephen K. Hamilton, Xiying Hao, Zachary D. Hayden, Julie A. Howe, James A. Ippolito, Gregg A. Johnson, Mark A. Kautz, Newell R. Kitchen, Sandeep Kumar, Kirsten S.M. Kurtz, Francis J. Larney, Katie L. Lewis, Matt Liebman, Antonio López Ramírez, Stephen Machado, Bijesh Maharjan, Miguel Ángel Martínez Gamiño, William E. May, Mitchel P. McClaran, Marshall D. McDaniel, N. Millar, Jeffrey P. Mitchell, P. Moore, Amber Moore, Manuel Mora Gutiérrez, Kelly A. Nelson, Emmanuel C. Omondi, Shannon L. Osborne, Leodegario Osorio Alcalá, Philip Owens, E. M. Pena‐Yewtukhiw, Hanna Poffenbarger, Brenda Ponce Lira, Jennifer R. Reeve, Timothy M. Reinbott, Mark S. Reiter, Edwin L. Ritchey, Kraig L. Roozeboom, Ichao Rui, Amir Sadeghpour, Upendra M. Sainju, Gregg R. Sanford, William F. Schillinger, Robert R. Schindelbeck, Meagan E. Schipanski, Alan J. Schlegel, Kate M. Scow, Lucretia A. Sherrod, Sudeep S. Sidhu, Ernesto Solís Moya, Mervin St. Luce, Jeffrey S. Strock, Andrew E. Suyker, Virginia R. Sykes, Haiying Tao, Alberto Trujillo Campos, Laura L. Van Eerd, Nele Verhulst, Tony J. Vyn, Yutao Wang, Dexter B. Watts, David L. Wright, Tiequan Zhang, C. Wayne Honeycutt

Open full text 80 citations

Abstract

Abstract Currently accepted pedotransfer functions show negligible effect of management‐induced changes to soil organic carbon (SOC) on plant available water holding capacity (θ AWHC ), while some studies show the ability to substantially increase θ AWHC through management. The Soil Health Institute's North America Project to Evaluate Soil Health Measurements measured water content at field capacity using intact soil cores across 124 long‐term research sites that contained increases in SOC as a result of management treatments such as reduced tillage and cover cropping. Pedotransfer functions were created for volumetric water content at field capacity (θ FC ) and permanent wilting point (θ PWP ). New pedotransfer functions had predictions of θ AWHC that were similarly accurate compared with Saxton and Rawls when tested on samples from the National Soil Characterization database. Further, the new pedotransfer functions showed substantial effects of soil calcareousness and SOC on θ AWHC . For an increase in SOC of 10 g kg –1 (1%) in noncalcareous soils, an average increase in θ AWHC of 3.0 mm 100 mm –1 soil (0.03 m 3 m –3 ) on average across all soil texture classes was found. This SOC related increase in θ AWHC is about double previous estimates. Calcareous soils had an increase in θ AWHC of 1.2 mm 100 mm –1 soil associated with a 10 g kg –1 increase in SOC, across all soil texture classes. New equations can aid in quantifying benefits of soil management practices that increase SOC and can be used to model the effect of changes in management on drought resilience.

Open-access reader

About this research paper

What this paper is about

Abstract Currently accepted pedotransfer functions show negligible effect of management‐induced changes to soil organic carbon (SOC) on plant available water holding capacity (θ AWHC ), while some studies show the ability to substantially increase θ AWHC through management. The Soil Health Institute's North America Project to Evaluate Soil Health Measurements measured water content at field capacity using intact soil cores across 124 long‐term research sites that contained increases in SOC as a result of management treatments such as reduced tillage and cover cropping. Pedotransfer functions were created for volumetric water content at field capacity (θ FC ) and permanent wilting point (θ PWP ). New pedotransfer functions had predictions of θ AWHC that were similarly accurate compared with Saxton and Rawls when tested on samples from the National Soil Characterization database. Further, the new pedotransfer functions showed substantial effects of soil calcareousness and SOC on θ AWHC . For an increase in SOC of 10 g kg –1 (1%) in noncalcareous soils, an average increase in θ AWHC of 3.0 mm 100 mm –1 soil (0.03 m 3 m –3 ) on average across all soil texture classes was found. This SOC related increase in θ AWHC is about double previous estimates. Calcareous soils had an increase in θ AWHC of 1.2 mm 100 mm –1 soil associated with a 10 g kg –1 increase in SOC, across all soil texture classes. New equations can aid in quantifying benefits of soil management practices that increase SOC and can be used to model the effect of changes in management on drought resilience.

Why it matters

OpenAlex reports 80 citations for this work. Citation counts describe recorded attention and do not establish research quality.

Key contribution

A contribution statement is not available in the OpenAlex record.

Method / approach

Method details are not available in the OpenAlex metadata.

Main findings

Findings are not separately available in the OpenAlex metadata.

Limitations

Limitations are not available in the OpenAlex metadata.

Applications

Application details are not available in the OpenAlex metadata.

Available abstract

Abstract Currently accepted pedotransfer functions show negligible effect of management‐induced changes to soil organic carbon (SOC) on plant available water holding capacity (θ AWHC ), while some studies show the ability to substantially increase θ AWHC through management. The Soil Health Institute's North America Project to Evaluate Soil Health Measurements measured water content at field capacity using intact soil cores across 124 long‐term research sites that contained increases in SOC as a result of management treatments such as reduced tillage and cover cropping. Pedotransfer functions were created for volumetric water content at field capacity (θ FC ) and permanent wilting point (θ PWP ). New pedotransfer functions had predictions of θ AWHC that were similarly accurate compared with Saxton and Rawls when tested on samples from the National Soil Characterization database. Further, the new pedotransfer functions showed substantial effects of soil calcareousness and SOC on θ AWHC . For an increase in SOC of 10 g kg –1 (1%) in noncalcareous soils, an average increase in θ AWHC of 3.0 mm 100 mm –1 soil (0.03 m 3 m –3 ) on average across all soil texture classes was found. This SOC related increase in θ AWHC is about double previous estimates. Calcareous soils had an increase in θ AWHC of 1.2 mm 100 mm –1 soil associated with a 10 g kg –1 increase in SOC, across all soil texture classes. New equations can aid in quantifying benefits of soil management practices that increase SOC and can be used to model the effect of changes in management on drought resilience.

Key concepts: Pedotransfer function, Permanent wilting point, Soil health, Soil texture, Environmental science, Soil water, Field capacity, Soil carbon

Related papers

Related paper 1Related paper 2Related paper 3
Back to paper searchBrowse research topicsOriginal source
Carbon‐sensitive pedotransfer functions for plant available water — Research Paper | ScholarLens