This work deals with the fabrication, prototyping, and experimental validation of a fiber optic thermo-hygrometer-based soil moisture sensor, useful for rainfall-induced landslide prevention applications. In particular, we recently proposed a new generation of fiber Bragg grating (FBGs)-based soil moisture sensors for irrigation purposes. This device was realized by integrating, inside a custom...

Crop irrigation uses more than 70% of the world's water, and thus, improving irrigation efficiency is decisive to sustain the food demand from a fast-growing world population. This objective may be accomplished by cultivating more water-efficient crop species and/or through the application of efficient irrigation systems, which includes the implementation of a suitable method for precise schedu...

Soil moisture sensors can help to reduce the amount of water needed for irrigation. In this paper we describe the PlantCare soil moisture sensor as a new type of heat dissipation sensor, its calibration and the correction for temperature changes. With the PlantCare sensor it is possible to measure the matric potential indirectly to monitor or control irrigation. This sensor is based on thermal ...

Moisture is an important consideration in many aspects ranging from irrigation, soil chemistry, golf course, corrosion and erosion, road conditions, weather predictions, livestock feed moisture levels, water seepage etc. Vegetation and crops always depend more on the moisture available at the root level than on precipitation occurrence. In this paper, design of an instrument is discussed which ...

The vigour and growth of seedlings of CRIC60 cultivar of coconut were studied in different irrigation treatments during the drought period, in a sandy soil in the dry zone. Nine irrigation treatments including a control with no watering were tested. Larger number of casualties were observed in the control while none in the irrigated plots. The best irrigation treatments in order of response wer...

In the current human-influenced era, drought is initiated by natural and human drivers, and human activities are as integral to drought as meteorological factors. In large irrigated agricultural regions with high levels of human intervention, where the natural farmland soil moisture has usually been changed significantly by high-frequency irrigation, the actual severity of agricultural drought ...

Damage caused by water shortages leads to physiological and biochemical changes in metabolism of plants and make them predispose to attack by pests and diseases and reduce the quality of the crops. In order to evaluate the effect of supplemental irrigation on safflower fly (A. helianthi) population of safflower cultivars, an experiment conducted as a split plot based on randomized complete bloc...