Influence of soil moisture content on soil temperature and heat storage under greenhouse conditions

Abstract

The effect of increasing soil moisture content on soil temperature, soil reflectance and soil heat storage is studied in this work. The results show that an increase in moisture content decreases the soil temperature differences between day-time and night-time, which provides protection to the plant root system against sharp and sudden changes of soil temperature. It is also found that the solar energy absorption increases as the moisture content increases, which results in a higher heat storage capacity at higher moisture content. Finally, plant growth rate and yield increased due to the modification of plant climate at higher moisture content.