Hourly soil temperature and moisture content variations within a concrete pipe container for planting lime trees in Eastern Thailand

Abstract

The use of concrete pipe containers for planting is becoming widely popular in Thailand because the essential soil physical environments for plant growth can easily be controlled. In this paper, we aimed to investigate the soil temperature and moisture content variations under Eastern Thailand climate throughout the soil within a concrete pipe, which applies to lime trees culture. Concrete pipes of 80 cm diameter and 40 cm height, and 1-year-old and 2-year-old lime trees were conducted. Soil temperature and moisture content at the depths of soil surface, 10 cm, 20 cm, 30 cm, and 40 cm were measured hourly during the day. The results show that average soil temperature and moisture content are different in all depths. Soil temperature at the surface was found to be higher during day time while lower during night time. The study also reveals that soil temperature decreases with depth at day time and vice-versa at night. Soil moisture content variations was found to be related to the canopy size of the trees. The preliminary data could be used for imposing fertigation regimes, soil moisture regime or different nutrient regime within concrete pipe containers for planting lime trees.

Keywords

• Soil temperature
• Moisture content
• Planting in concrete pipes
• Lime tree
• Eastern Thailand