Different types of soil moisture sensors in agriculture: A review

Non optimal use of water has paved a way for management of water and its resources on the globe. One of the way to increase the proficiency of water usage to the crop, is to prognosticate the proper estimates of water requirement to the crop both in time and space. The logistics of acquisition of the real time data of soil moisture status of the crop using soil moisture sensors is a way effective blueprint for managing the sustainability of Agricultural water to future originations. This ramification not only, will demote the strain on the farmer contemporaneously but simultaneously parlay the sustainability of the soil and thus, ecosystem in exclusive. This review was undertaken to investigate the surfeit and novelity of soil moisture sensors, and examine their prospective use in Agriculture. The review found that improvements to existing techniques over the last two decades are limited, and largely restricted to frequency domain reflectometry approaches. Tensiometers are simple to use and inexpensive unlike TDR and FDR however, usage is restricted to sandy soils only. GMS is less expensive but sensor and soil might sometimes make poor contact. TDR are FDR are extremely accurate. VH400 Soil Moisture Sensor responds quickly, takes readings in seconds.