| dc.description.abstract | The water supply in dryland agriculture relies on rain water. Erratic rainfall which is often compounded by high intensity of sun light causes a high evapotranspiration, so that soil water is significanly decrease. Changes in soil water levels is variable depending on land use type and is affected by various factors. The dynamic of soil moisture content is then strongly influenced by rainfall pattern and physical characteristic of soil, where the soil characteristic itself is influenced by land use type. This study aims to determine physical characteristic of soil and dynamic of soil water in various land use and rainfall in The Experiment and Research Garden of Cikabayan, IPB, Dramaga, Bogor. Each land use has different permanent wilting point and soil water level due to difference in density of canopy or the depth of soil layer. The field soil moisture content under oilpalm is still higher than the permanent wilting point although no rain for eight days. It may be caused by the dense canopy of palm trees which can reduce the rate of evaporation. The field soil moisture content under citrus fall below the wilting point at the sixth day after rain (on 10-30 cm layer) and the eighth day after rain (30-50 cm layer), while soil under annual crop is still possibly providing water supply even though no rain for eight days . | en |
