Evaluation of a centrifuge quick test to determine the water retention parameters of turf rootzone materials

Abstract The common water retention parameters of materials used for rootzones of turfgrass are field capacity, air capacity, wilting point, and available water capacity. More measurement points are necessary to describe the entire water retention curve (WRC) correctly, for example, for model applications. Standard laboratory methods include sand suction tables and pressure plates, or technically more advanced methods using tensiometers and evaporation. All these methods require special equipment and are time‐consuming (at least 1 week); using the centrifuge method as a quick test to determine the whole WRC takes not more than 1 day. We compared water retention parameters and complete WRC of seven different root zone construction materials with various textures and organic matter contents determined by standard and centrifuge methods. Nearly all centrifuge results were within the reproducibility range of the standard method, thus demonstrating the application potential of this quick method.