What is available water holding capacity?

Among these factors, available water-holding capacity (AWC) is a key attribute, as it quantifies the amount of water available for plants that the soil can hold. The AWC is defined as the amount of water held by the soil between field capacity (FC) and permanent wilting point (PWP).

How do you calculate water holding capacity?

Available water-storage capacity (AWSC), expressed on a gravimetric basis by the core method, can be predicted with an SE of 1.54% by the regression equation AWSC = 14.01 + 0.03 (silt x clay) – 8.78(BD) (r2 = 0.83), which is related to sieved soil AWSC by the following equation with SE of 1.00% (r2 = 0.92): AWSCcore = …

Which soil has highest available water capacity?

Generally speaking, clay-rich soils have the largest pore space, hence the greatest total water holding capacity.

What is available water content in soil?

Available water capacity is the amount of water that can be stored in a soil profile and be available for growing crops. It is also known as available water content (AWC), profile available water (PAW) or total available water (TAW).

What is the difference between water holding capacity and field capacity?

Soil water holding capacity is a term that all farms should know to optimize crop production. Simply defined soil water holding capacity is the amount of water that a given soil can hold for crop use. Field capacity is the point where the soil water holding capacity has reached its maximum for the entire field.

Which soil drains water easily?

Sandy soils are also known as the light soils due to their high proportion of sand and little clay. These soils have quick water drainage properties and are easy to work with.

Which type of water is available to roots for absorption?

Capillary water
Capillary water in soil is available for root absorption. Capillary water fills the spaces between non- colloidal soil particles and forms films around them. This water is held by the capillary forces around and between the particles and is of greatest importance to plant life.