Design and Development of a Load-Cell Based Cost Effective Mini- Lysimeter

Abstract

Mini-lysimeters are generally used to quantify accurate and minor changes in amount of soil moisture content, drainage water, evapotranspiration, and other water balance components within a soil monolith. A study has been carried out to develop a mini-lysimeter for quantification of water balance components in field under an arid environment at ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur. The minilysimeter has been designed and fabricated based on electronic single load cell with a dimension of 0.50 m× 0.50 m× 0.55 m, and then installed in the experimental field. The cost for fabrication of a single mini-lysimeter was14,500 (~ 234.5 US $). It has been observed that fabrication of mini-lysimeters based on single load cell is less expensive as compared to conventional tank lysimeter, therefore, can be economically replicated and easily installed. The developed mini-lysimeter was tested in field during kharif season of 2014 and found effective to measure different water balance components with a resolution of 0.2 mm.