The influence of measurement methodology on soil infiltration rate

The recorded rate at which water infiltrates into a soil is influenced by the physical condition of the soil, current and previous uses of the soil and the method and equipment used to record the infiltration rate. Soil’s natural variability and the potential inaccuracy associated with particular methods can overestimate infiltration rate. To determine the most suitable apparatus for repeated use at a small-scale, a number of trials were conducted to investigate the influence of the method and moisture regime on the recorded infiltration rate. Trials were conducted on a medium clay-loam soil which has cropping history of maize-winter wheat-grass-grass-grass. It was observed that there was no significant difference in recorded infiltration rates which could be attributed to the practice of pre-saturating the soil prior to measuring infiltration rate. Furthermore, there was no significant difference between the rates recorded using a single ring infiltrometer and a double ring infiltrometer, indicating that these methods are equally suitable for infiltration rate determination when working at this scale which facilitates multiple replications in the same location or within a short timeframe.