Water Management in Horticultural Crops

Introduction

• When dry soil is crushed in the hand, it can be seen that it is composed of all kinds of particles of different sizes.
• Most of these particles originate from the degradation of rocks; they are called mineral particles. Some originate from residues of plants or animals. These are called organic particles or organic matter.
  
• The soil particles seem to touch each other, but in reality have spaces in between. These spaces are called pores.
• When the soil is “dry” the pores are mainly filled with air. After irrigation or rainfall, the pores are mainly filled with water. Living material is found in the soil. It can be live roots as well as beetles, worms, larvae etc. They help to aerate the soil and thus create favourable growing conditions for the plant roots.