DETERMINING SURFACE SOIL MOISTURE STATUS USING DIGITAL IMAGE ANALYSIS

El Shikha, D. M.; El-Ghamry, A. M.; El Shikha, A. M.

doi:10.21608/mjae.2012.101378

DETERMINING SURFACE SOIL MOISTURE STATUS USING DIGITAL IMAGE ANALYSIS

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Associate Professor, Agricultural Engineering Department, Fac. of Agric, Mansoura University, Egypt

² Associate Professor, Soils Department, Fac. of Agric., Mansoura University, Egypt

³ Assistant Professor, Agricultural Engineering Department, Fac. of Agric, Damietta branch, Mansoura University, Egypt

10.21608/mjae.2012.101378

Abstract

Estimating surface soil moisture from soil color using image analysis is evaluated in this paper. The experiment consisted of five samples of natural soil [sandy clay loam (1), clay loam (2), silty clay loam (3), sandy (4) and clayey (5)] with four levels of moisture [applying 0 (a- air dried soils), 100 (b), 150 (c), 200% (d) of field capacity (FC)]. Soil samples were spread in wooden trays (1x1x0.15 m). Soil was wetted to full saturation twice and let to dry before the experiment started. In each tray, the soil surface was leveled and soil depth was measured to be 15 cm.
All soil samples (trays) were wetted to the moisture contents mentioned above then they were photographed. The variations in soil color (red, green, and blue values and their standard deviations) with moisture content were investigated.
Results indicated that all the tested soils had an inverse relation between moisture content and the average of the standard deviation of the green and red values (). The average of the green and red values was not as consistent as the ASDRG in separating the soil moisture treatments. Also, the ASDRG was clearer than the average of the blue, green or red values in indicating the presence of standing water.
Some examples of practical applications of the method used in this study are estimating the runoff, the advance and recession of the water over the field surface, the water ponding on the soil surface, and estimating the application uniformity.

Main Subjects

Agricultural Irrigation and Drainage Engineering

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