Monitoring Soil Moisture under Wheat Growth through a Wireless Sensor Network in Dry Conditions

Drought research requires data on precipitation and actual soil moisture of fields because precipitation is variable among years and the soil textures differ with crop fields. Measurement of soil water content in the field is simple but labor-intensive. A prototype of an automatic field data monitoring system has been recently developed to collect data more efficiently. Using this system, data of soil water contents was successfully transmitted onto the personal computer approximately 700 m away from wheat field plots, for the period from March to May which was critical for soil drying and wheat growth. In addition, sample data of soil water content and grain yield was obtained from field plots of three bread wheat genotypes.