Kuunya et al. (2025) Soil moisture sensors for sustainable water management in field crop production: A review of advances and application challenges

Identification

• Journal: Acta Agraria Debreceniensis
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-12-02
• Authors: Ronald Kuunya, M. Osman, Brian Ssemugenze, Costa Gumisiriya, Péter Ragán
• DOI: 10.34101/actaagrar/2/16097

Research Groups

• Institute of Land Use, Engineering and Precision Farming Technology, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, University of Debrecen, Hungary
• Kerpely Kálmán Doctoral School, University of Debrecen, Hungary
• Environment, Natural Resources and Desertification Research Institute, National Center for Research, Khartoum, Sudan
• Institute of Agrochemistry and Soil Science, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, University of Debrecen, Hungary
• Department of Crop and Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Mountains of the Moon University, Uganda

Short Summary

This review synthesizes advances and challenges of soil moisture sensors for sustainable water management in field crop production, concluding that while sensors significantly improve water use efficiency and yields, their widespread adoption is hindered by socio-economic and technical barriers.

Objective

• To review the advances, applications, and challenges of soil moisture sensors for sustainable water management in field crop production, identifying research gaps and insights to promote inclusive and adaptable solutions.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Field-level applications, focusing on root zone and topsoil layers (e.g., 1 cm to 200 cm depth), across diverse agricultural regions globally.
• Temporal Scale: Literature published between 2019 and 2025.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Traditional regression models, Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), machine learning algorithms, Biswas model.
• Data sources: Literature sourced from Scopus, Web of Science (WoS), and Google Scholar databases. A total of 79 publications were selected from an initial 244, based on inclusion/exclusion criteria, and analyzed thematically and via content analysis.

Main Results

• Soil moisture sensors significantly boost water management, improve field crop yields, and support sustainable agriculture by providing accurate, real-time data.
• Sensor-based irrigation scheduling can reduce water use by 20% to 50% without compromising crop yields.
• The most frequently cited sensor types in the reviewed literature were ultrasonic sensors (14 mentions) and capacitive sensors (13 mentions), followed by tensiometers, electromagnetic induction sensors, and resistivity-based electrodes (9 mentions each).
• Integration of soil moisture sensors with emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) enhances their effectiveness and practical applications.
• Key socio-economic barriers to widespread adoption include high purchase and installation costs, limited access to financial resources, lack of awareness and technical knowledge among farmers, cultural resistance to new technologies, and insufficient government and institutional support.
• Key technical barriers include difficulties in maintaining accuracy across diverse soil types and environmental conditions, limited sensor durability in harsh environments, energy and connectivity challenges for wireless and IoT-based systems, complexity of integration with existing irrigation infrastructure, and difficulties in interpreting sensor data for practical decision-making.
• Specific examples of water savings include 74.32% in automated drip irrigation in Bengaluru, India, 19.87% to 41.86% using capacitance sensors for lettuce in Egypt, and 33% in almond orchards in California.

Contributions

• Provides a comprehensive review of the current state of soil moisture sensor technology, applications, and challenges in the context of sustainable water management for field crop production.
• Identifies critical research gaps, particularly concerning resource-constrained, low-adoption farming systems and the long-term impact on soil health under varying climatic conditions.
• Systematically analyzes socio-economic and technical barriers hindering the widespread adoption of soil moisture sensors, offering insights for more inclusive and adaptable solutions.
• Emphasizes the need for low-cost, reliable sensor development, coupled with technology subsidies, training, and policy support to empower farmers in adopting precision water management.

Funding

• Project no. TKP2021-NKTA-32 Vízzel kapcsolatos kutatások, implemented at the University of Debrecen Institute of Land Use, Engineering and Precision Farming Technology, funded by the Ministry of Culture and Innovation of Hungary from the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund, under the TKP2021-NKTA funding scheme.
• János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (BO/00068/23/4).

Citation

@article{Kuunya2025Soil,
  author = {Kuunya, Ronald and Osman, M. and Ssemugenze, Brian and Gumisiriya, Costa and Ragán, Péter},
  title = {Soil moisture sensors for sustainable water management in field crop production: A review of advances and application challenges},
  journal = {Acta Agraria Debreceniensis},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.34101/actaagrar/2/16097},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.34101/actaagrar/2/16097}
}