| Abstract: | Evaluation of Pedotransfer Functions for Estimating the Water Retention Curve On the basis of 1693 data records of the laboratory database of the Lower Saxony Soil Information System (NIBIS), six pedotransfer functions for estimating the water retention curve were tested and their usefulness was evaluated. Among the three methods used to calculate water content for individual matrix potentials on the basis of linear regression analysis, the equations of Renger (1971) stand out because they yield the least deviation between the estimated and measured values. The algorithm of Vereecken et al. (1989) is the better of the two methods for estimating the parameter values of the equation of van Genuchten, describing the water retention curve by a continuous function. The methods examined here show no distinction with respect to which type of substrate they are best suited. The results allow a target-oriented selection of methods for the method database of a Soil Information System. |
