Solute Movement Through Root‐Soil Environment

Abstract

A methodology is developed for simulating the movement of water and solutes through a root‐soil system, which accounts for the effect of the solute concentration on the extraction of soil water by a transpiring crop's root system. The resulting root‐soil water flow and solute movement simulation methodology is a coupled set of partial differential equations that describe the macroscopic movement of water and solutes through a root‐soil system. Potential boundary conditions are described and the methodology is solved using a Galerkin finite element method. The model is compared to field measured soil‐water content and salt concentration levels. The comparisons show an excellent agreement between simulated and measured data. The transient trend of salt concentration levels in different layers of the soil profile and the sensitivity of the salt concentration distribution in the soil profile to changes in the rooting depth of a crop are also analyzed.