What is soil water content?
Soil water content or moisture content is the quantity of water contained in soil. Soil water content is expressed as either a percentage of the volume or mass of a soil material, or as an ‘equivalent depth’, similar to how the weather reporter expresses precipitation. Soil, as a physical entity on the landscape, is actually a very porous material, with approximately half of the volume of a soil material consisting of pore spaces, filled with either water or gases. For example, when 25% of the soil volume is filled with water, the soil water content is said to be 25% by volume. Only a portion of the total soil water is plant available.
