Measurement and Estimation of Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity of Soil (original) (raw)

Determination of the saturated hydraulic conductivity (k) is needed in many studies and applications related to irrigation, drainage, water movement and solute transport in the soil. Although many advances are made for direct measurements of k, they are usually time consuming and costly. Some attempts have been made to indirectly predict the saturated hydraulic conductivity from the more easily or readily available basic soil properties. The objective of this study is to develop and validate Pedo-transfer Functions (PTFs) for estimation of saturated hydraulic conductivity using linear and multiple regression technique. Sixty soil samples were collected at 15cm depth, at different locations in the Sal river basin that lies in the southern coastal region of Goa, India. Saturated hydraulic conductivity was measured, by variable falling head method through Permeameter in the laboratory. Prediction accuracies were evaluated using coefficient of determination, root mean square error, and mean error, between measured and predicted values. The results show that, the PTFs for the estimation of saturated hydraulic conductivity could be used appropriately for the soils with sandy and sandy loam textures falling in this area of the coastal region of southern India.