Correction of Gypsum block readings due to salinity effects for soil moisture content measurements

Irrigation planning and management requires continious monitoring and measurements of soil moisture content. Application of Gypsum blockes (GB) are common in soil moisture measurements. GB readings are subjected to its geometry and soil solution concentration. This study was carried on 90 GB in research greenhouse of Faculty Agricultural, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. At the begining, all GB were calibrated in distilled water. Further, readings were collected in four solutions of 2, 6, 10 and 18 dS/m salinity. Then, three soil media with different textures (sandy loam, loam, clay loam) at 5 levels of salinity rate (trace, 2, 6, 10 and 18 dS/m of saturated extract) were studied, as 15 treatments. GB readings, at different soil moisture contant, were made by ELE-5910A. For each treatment, readings vs. soil moistures were plotted. These curves were compared with that of standard (same soil texture with trace salinity). Finally, some corrector functions were developed to eliminate the salinity effects from GB readings.