What is Soil Tension?
The Hortau Wireless Irrigation Management System is based on the measurement of soil tension to determine the exact water availability. Soil tension is defined as the suction exerted by soil particles onto the water they hold.
To extract water from the soil, plants must exert suction on that water. As the soil dries, its tension increases, and it becomes harder for the plants to extract water from the soil. The amount of energy a plant must spend to extract water from the soil is directly linked to soil tension.
When soil tension becomes too great, plants can no longer extract water from the soil, even if water is present in the soil. This means that the water is simply not available to the plants, which react by slowing or ceasing their growth. For crop production, this can be costly, since the gradual daily accumulation of small growth losses can have a significant impact on crop yield at harvest time.
That's why soil tension measurement is the best way to ensure efficient and profitable irrigation management.
IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT APPROACH ANALYSIS
| Estimation of Plant Water Needs | Integration (PC or Datalogger) | Measurement in the root zone | Direct Water Availability Measurement | Accuracy | Simplicity | 100% Wireless Integration | |
| Evapotranspiration (ETp) - Weather Stations |  |
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| Water Content | |
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| Tension | |
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| Hortau - Irrolis Solution | |
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