Pedotransfer functions for point and parametric estimations of soil water retention curve

Abstract

A water retention curve is required for the simulation studies of water and solute transport in unsaturated or vadose zone. Unlike the direct measurement of water retention data, pedotransfer functions (PTFs) have attracted the attention of researchers for determining water retention curves from basic soil properties. The objective of this study was to develop and validate point and parametric PTFs for the estimation of water retention curve from basic soil properties such as particle-size distribution, bulk density, and porosity using multiple-linear regression technique and comparing the performances of point and two parametric methods using some evaluation criteria. 140 soil samples were collected from three different databases and divided as 100 and 40 for the derivation and validation of the PTFs. All three methods predicted water contents at selected water potentials and combined water retention curves pretty well, but van Genuchten’s model performed the best in prediction. However, the differences among the methods in point and water retention curve predictions were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Prediction accuracies were evaluated by the coefficient of determination (R<sup>2</sup>) and the root mean square error (RMSE) between the measured and predicted values. The R<sup>2</sup> and RMSE were 0.962 and 0.036, 0.994 and 0.067, and 0.946 and 0.082 for point and parametric (van Genuchten, and Brooks and Corey) methods, respectively, in predicting combined water retention curve. The three methods can be alternatively used in the estimation of water retention curves, but parametric methods are preferred for yielding continuous water retention functions used in flow and transport modeling.