Estimating Soil Water Retention from Soil Physical Properties and Characteristics

Soil and water are two fundamental resources of our agricultural environment. With the advent of new agricultural technologies, tremendous quantities of water and soluble chemicals are applied to soils each year. This enhanced use, or in some cases abuse, has endangered our soil and water resources. In addition, there are increased incidents of groundwater contamination, erosion, and contamination of surface waters from point and nonpoint sources. In response to these environmental concerns there has been an increased effort to develop improved agricultural management practices.