Delta‐T Devices sensors used by Rothamsted Research for major long‐term experiment
Delta‐T Devices products used:
SM150T Soil Moisture and Temp Sensor, GP2 Data Logger, DeltaLINK‐Cloud online data viewing platform
Rothamsted Research is the longest‐running agricultural research institute in the world. Their Park Grass Experiment was established in 1856 - and is still going strong. It studies the effects of different types of mineral fertilizers and organic manures on the yield, botanical composition and quality of a mixed sward cut for hay.
Recently the research team have been keen to characterise the experiment’s effects on soil hydrology - by monitoring the soil water content on contrasting plots. To achieve this, they selected a total of 12 treatment plots covering a range of inorganic fertilizer and organic manure inputs – four with liming treatments (to maintain specific soil pH values).
In each of the 12 subplots three Delta-T Devices SM150T Soil Moisture Sensors were installed horizontally at a depth of 20 cm, with the cables relayed back to three GP2 Data Loggers through conduit piping.
The sensor installation was completed in February 2020, and the loggers have since been interrogating the sensors every minute -recording the average, maximum and minimum soil water content every hour, for upload to Delta-T’s online data platform: DeltaLINK-Cloud. This approach means that real-time measurements can be viewed by the Rothamsted team remotely on mobile smart devices at any time. This data has shown good agreement between each SM150T sensor within any subplot.
The team has used the data gathered by the Delta-T Devicesinstrumentsto explore
relationships between the soil water content and soil chemical/microbiological properties.
Source: Delta‐T Devices