Agronomic applicability of non-destructive soil moisture-density measurements using gamma-neutron probe

Soil moisture content and bulk density are major contributing factors in determining irrigation management. Determining water content (θ) and bulk density (ρ) by direct soil sampling is time consuming, inconvenient, costly, and often destructive of a field study area. The use of gamma-neutron probe is known as a non-destructive technique of gamma attenuation and neutron thermalization. The probe is available as both a surface meter, which lies flat on the soil surface, and as a profiling meter with probe that can be lower down to a pre-installed access tubes. Using gamma-neutron probe can cause very little disturbance of the soil profile and measurements can be taken repeatedly at any depth or time, in a matter of minutes. This study was conducted to evaluate the agronomic applicability of non-destructive soil moisture density measurements using gamma-neutron probe