Demonstration day focuses on infiltrometers at UW-Madison research site

The Dairy Soil & Water Regeneration project is very much a hands-on endeavor.

Members of the research teams in Wisconsin along with those from the Soil Health Institute and private agronomists came together in April at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Arlington Research Station to learn how to use one of the key instruments in the project.

Researchers are using infiltrometers made by SATURO that automatically measure infiltration rates and calculate field-saturated hydraulic conductivity on the fly. The unit requires less water by ponding water on top of the soil and using air pressure to create two different pressure heads. It uses a pump to automatically maintain the correct water levels. The unit is designed for one person to carry and set up, and it operates unattended.

“In this project, we rely on technology to do several of the measurements. Some of them we couldn’t do without this technology at all; others it’s just much faster,” Daniel Liptzin from the Soil Health Institute said. “What’s exciting is we can also work with the instrumentation companies and give them feedback… It’s not just for this particular project, but it’s for soil science and agronomy as a whole that we can improve this technology so future research can do an even better job of measuring these things.”

Adam von Haden, a UW-Madison researcher, said the demonstration day had an additional benefit for teams that work in different geographic locations.

“I thought today was a really valuable experience for several of our teams to come together. We have a lot of collective experience. We each contributed in different ways,” von Haden said. “I also think it’s important for team building in general.”

Photo: Researchers taking field measurements.