QUANTIFICATION OF THE VEGETATION COVER EFFECT UPON THE SOIL WATER STORAGE
DYNAMICS IN THE EAST SLOVAKIAN LOWLAND
Miroslav Kutilek1, Julius Sutor2, Milan Gombos2 & Rastislav Mati3
(1) Nad Patankou 34, 160 00 Prague 6, The Czech Republic, E-mail: miroslav.kutilek@volny.cz
(2) Institute of Hydrology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Racianska 75, 831 02 Bratislava, Slovakia
(3) RARI, 071 01 Michalovce, Slovakia
During vegetation season, the water storage in the soil aeration zone is influenced by meteorological
phenomena and by the vegetation cover. If the ground water table is in contact with the soil profile, its
contribution to water storage has to be included. This impact can be either monitored directly or the
mathematical model of the soil moisture regime can be used to simulate it. Water requirements of
cultivated agricultural crops differ during the vegetation season. In this study, the results are presented
on the direct monitoring of the effect that agricultural crops exert upon the water storage dynamics in
the East Slovakian Lowland (ESL), particularly: The mean water storage in the aeration zone during
the vegetation period (April through September), under the maize in the locality Vysoka nad Uhom in
the years 1972–1976, and 1998–2003 shows that with the exception of two years, the available water
storage was below its optimum and starting from 1998 it had a decreasing tendency. According to the
mean water storage in the aeration zone during the vegetation period under ten plant species in the
locality Milhostov in 2003 the highest water consumption was observed by maize and the greatest
difference in water storage due to various plants was 17 mm only. The mean water storage in the
aeration zone during the particular months of vegetation season was increasing from the minimum
below alfalfa up to the maximum for sunflower in the locality Vysoka nad Uhom in 2003. The difference
was 72 mm. Thus alfalfa had the greatest water consumption and sunflower had the smallest one. In
one instance the actual month evapotranspiration (Ea) was estimated for maize, too.
KEY WORDS: soil aeration zone, monitoring, soil water storage, canopy interaction with soil.