Soil Water Uptake by Alfalfa

Kohl, R.A. and Kolar, J.J. (1976) Soil Water Uptake by Alfalfa. Agronomy Journal. 68(3):536-538.

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Abstract

Water uptake patterns of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)
assist us in understanding proposed models governing
plant water uptake. The data in this paper are presented
to elucidate some details of passive water uptake from
profiles with nonuniform soil water distributions. Soil
water content under an alfalfa seed crop was monitored
with a neutron moisture probe. Alfalfa roots withdraw
soil water in the lower portion of the root zone (where
soil matric potentials were between —7 and —10 bars),
while the upper portion of the profile was above —2
bars. This indicates that for passive water uptake to
occur, large water potential differences must exist between
the root xylem and the soil in the upper, moist
portion of the profile. Plant water potential measurements
support passive uptake.

Item Type:	Article
NWISRL Publication Number:	0320
Subjects:	Irrigated crops > Alfalfa Soil > Soil water (soil moisture) Mass Import - autoclassified (may be erroneous)
Depositing User:	Dan Stieneke
Date Deposited:	20 Nov 2010 21:51
Last Modified:	15 Feb 2017 22:32
Item ID:	280
URI:	https://eprints.nwisrl.ars.usda.gov/id/eprint/280