Development of a novel dielectric tensiometer to deliver water savings in horticulture and agriculture

对英国和全球园艺和农业来说，质量充足、水量充足的可持续和安全的水供应是一个重大挑战。许多作物产区的蓝水抽取率已经是不可持续的，尽管有效安排灌溉的经济重要性，但几乎80%的英国灌溉者在决定何时灌溉时使用的判断不是基于测量。然而，无效的灌溉制度或“保险”灌溉导致土壤过湿，降低了产量和收获后的质量，增加了硝酸盐和其他养分的淋失。为了提高农场用水效率和水安全，种植者需要知道什么时候不应该灌溉。为了实现这一目标，将在该项目中开发和测试一种新的土壤湿度传感器，其精度在-5到-30 kpa范围内；目前市面上可用的探头没有一个在这个范围内足够准确，或者对种植者来说足够坚固。

The sustainable and secure supply of water of adequate quality and in sufficient quantity is a major challenge for UK and global horticulture and agriculture. Blue water abstraction rates in many crop production areas are already unsustainable and despite the economic importance of scheduling irrigation effectively, almost 80% of UK irrigators used judgement not based on measurement in deciding when to irrigate. However, over-wet soil resulting from ineffective irrigation scheduling or ‘insurance’ irrigation reduces yields and post-harvest quality and increases the leaching of nitrates and other nutrients. In order to improve on-farm water use efficiency and water security, growers need to know when not to irrigate. To achieve this aim, a new soil moisture sensor that is accurate in the -5 to -30 kPa range will be developed and tested in this project; none of the current commercially available probes are sufficiently accurate within this range or suitably robust for growers.