Abstract
Summary The first objective of this paper is to establish and compare a complete field water balance of a bare soil with a cropped soil (rye grass) on a sandy loam. Evapotranspiration and deep drainage were estimated by integrating soil water content profiles, obtained through neutron probe measurements down to a depth of 110 cm and using a zero flux plane below the lower boundary of the rootzone. The plane of zero flux could be determined by measuring the directions of the hydraulic head gradients in the soil profile using tensiometer data. The second objective was to compare the fluxes (drainage) at the lower boundary of the control volume estimated from the changes in soil water content profiles under the zero flux plane (water balance equation) and those from field hydraulic conductivity data (Darcy's equation). Due to the spatial variability of the K (θ) relation in the field and the steep slope of this relation of the drainage flux, using Darcy's equation can lead to inaccurate interpretation.
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