DefinePK

Abstract

This field experiment aimed to study soil temperature and moisture content changes at soil surface and at 5 different soil layers for lime trees with diurnal watering. The experiment was conducted in a certain lime orchard in Siracha district of Chonburi using lime trees aged 1and 2 years planted separately in concrete pipe containers 80 cm in diameter and 40 cm in height. The study revealed that the diurnal average soil temperature at the surface level of both containers varied according to solar radiation. The average soil temperature in the whole container with the 1-year-old tree was found to be 0.81 % and 1.18 % higher than that in the container with the 2 -year-old lime tree, with and without diurnal watering, respectively. The average soil moisture content in the whole container with the 1-year-old lime tree was found to be 2.64% and 2.26% higher than that in the container with the 2-year-old lime tree with and without diurnal watering, respectively. After watering, the moisture content at soil surface in both containers increased significantly while that in deeper layers increased slightly, and gradually decreased in all soil layers. The ambient environment was found to have no impact on soil moisture content variation. This showed that diurnal watering not only added water volume into the soil, but it also helped in monitoring suitable soil temperature for lime tree growing for longer periods than when there was no watering. The findings can be used as basic data for following soil temperature and moisture content variation with diurnal watering to monitor appropriate temperature range for optimum growth of lime trees in concrete pipe containers.