A dielectric-based combined horizontal sensor for on-the-go measurement of soil water content and mechanical resistance

Precision agriculture is drawing widespread attention and increasing interest in the use of on-the-go sensors to extract soil and plant information. This new trend is evident from an increased number of (tillage) studies concerning the development of sensors for measuring physical soil properties. In this study, a new dielectric-based horizontal sensor was designed and stationary calibrated in pots for measurement of volumetric soil water content. Subsequently, the sensor was combined with a load cell and installed on a tine with thickness of 25 mm, and its dynamic performance was assessed. The load cell behind the tine measures horizontal soil mechanical resistance. In order to evaluate the on-the-go performance of this combined sensor, two experiments were carried out in a soil bin, with the purpose of (i) measuring soil water content along a transect of longitudinally variable water contents, (ii) investigating the difference in horizontal resistance force measured by either the combined (horizontal force and water content) or a single sensor (horizontal force only). The stationary calibration results showed that quadratic equations with coefficients of determination (R²) of 0.989 and 0.918 could be fitted to the data points obtained from measurements in soil bulk densities of 1.5 and 1.2 g cm⁻³, respectively. The results of the soil bin experiments indicated that the response of the dielectric sensor to soil water content variations was reasonable, but that the output voltage of the sensor should be amplified for a better sensitivity and resolution. The presented combined sensor can provide useful information on soil physical properties towards site specific applications in soils.