A Study on Soil Water Movement in Clay Loam Soil at Kota

The paper presents the results of a study about the rate of loss of available soil water through evaporation and evapo-transpiration under field conditions in a clay loam soil under three different treatments at the Soil Conservation Research Centre, Kota (Rajasthan). Gypsum blocks were embedded at 15 cm, 30 cm, 45 cm and 90 cm depths and the available moisture per cent was recorded with the help of Bouyoncos moisture meter. A conversion factor for converting the loss of available water into mm/day/30 cm depth was calculated and found to be 0.438 mm for unit available moisture per cent.Average daily loss of available moisture in hoed plots with no plants works out to be 0.0617 mm/day/30 cm depth only as against 0.4755 and 0.320 mm/day/30 cm depth in hoed plots with tobacco plants and in cultivated fallow respectively. The losses by evaporation and by transpiratlon in hoed plots with tobacco plants have been segregated. The transpiration loss in available moisture per cent per day was found to be 3.0, 1.55 and 2.38 for 15 cm, 30 cm and 45 cm depths respectively, while evaporative loss alone was recorded to the tune of 1.28, 0.20 and 0.048 per day. The study shows that the available water was saved to the tune of 72.87 mm (2.83 inches) up to 90 cm depth by hoeing.