Abstract
Limited knowledge of the hydraulic properties of semi-arid Cape Verde soils makes the use of water balance models difficult. In this paper, the water retention characteristics of agricultural soils of Santiago Island and the development of point pedotransfer functions (PTFs) to improve irrigation management are investigated. Soil water retention curves were studied in 72 horizons of 31 soil profiles located in Santiago Island. Soil textures varied from coarse to medium classes. PTFs were, at the same time, developed by regression analysis to predict total porosity (ϕ) and water retention at −0.25, −1, −3.2, −10, −33, −100 and −1500 kPa. Due to the lack of available data from Cape Verde, PTFs were developed from 85 soil horizons specifically selected from a Portuguese database. The PTFs were then validated with the data determined in the 72 soil horizons studied in Santiago Island. Statistics showed relatively good performance of Cape Verde PTFs, with RMSE varying between 0.030 and 0.086 cm3 cm-3. However, Cape Verde PTFs always underestimated the measured values by −0.014 to −0.075 cm3 cm-3. When compared with three other published PTFs, the new Cape Verde PTFs provided acceptable results for use in modelling aimed at improving irrigation water management practices. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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