A model to monitor the soil water status using automated weather station data, crop phenology, and soil information was adjusted and tested for a sorghum crop using field experiments with eight different water treatments in a randomized split factorial block irrigation design during the 1990 and 1991 growing seasons at Mead, Nebraska-USA. Estimates of the total soil water content from the soil water balance model matched well with neutron-probe readings in the sorghum crop. Model performance by soil layer indicates slight underestimates of soil water content in the upper layers of soil, slight overestimates of soil water content in the lower soil layers, and close agreement between simulated and observed soil water contents in the middle soil layers. Elimination of these small offseting errors from the model would result in an improved performance within layers. One possible means of eliminating the error is to adjust the root soil water extraction slightly away from the upper levels and toward the lowest levels. Based on the fact that model estimates of total soil water were in good agreement with observations, it is concluded that it is reasonable to estimate soil water conditions on a routine basis using near-real time automated weather station data.
soil water balance; Sorghum bicolor L.; evaporation; transpiration; soil moisture