Northeast Region Certified Crop Adviser (NRCCA) Study Resources

In This Section

• PO 8 Hydrology cycle
• PO 9 Water budget
• PO 10 Characteristics of rainfall
• PO 11.1 Soil Infiltration
• PO 11.2 Evaporation and Transpiration
• PO 11.3 Leaching
• PO 11.4 Runoff
• PO 11.5 Soil Water Storage
• PO 12.1-3 Field Capacity, Permanent Wilting Point & Available Water Capacity
• PO 12.4 Total Soil Water Storage Capacity
• PO 12.5 Drainable Porosity
• PO 12.6 Soil Texture and Structure
• PO 12.7 Macroporosity/Preferential Flow
• PO 13 Permeability and infiltrability
• PO 14 Seasonal soil conditions and landscape position
• PO 15 Assessing soil water conditions
• Summary

Competency Area 2: Soil hydrology AEM

Summary

• Water cycles through the environment as a solid, liquid, or gas through processes like precipitation, evaporation, transpiration, condensation, etc.  The additions or deletions of water due to these processes are considered the water "budget" for soil.
• The rates at which the processes occur, and thus the rates at which water may enter or leave a given soil system, are dependent on factors both controllable and uncontrollable by humans.
• Ecologists and farmers must consider the status of a soil (its structure, water content, etc) when planning practices like plowing, tilling, planting, or application of manure, fertilizer, or pesticides.