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The method described here was devised by a group of coworkers including the first author of this paper in 1979.The method proved to be useful and accurate for soil samples collected from different parts of the state of California,U.S.A. and those collected from different parts of Haryana,India.This method was also applied to many soil samples of different physical and chemical properties,collected from provinces of Isfahan and Chahar—Mahal and Bakhtiari.The results show that the method is very useful and accurate for the quick determination of soil moisture especially when many determinations are to be made at a time. The instruments required are only some volumetric flasks and a balance. The method involves recording the weight of the flask filled with water and soil sample of known weight (A).This flask weight (H),and the predetermined soil particle density (Dr) and weight of
the water—filled flask (G) are then used to calculate moisture percentage (MP) in the soil sample from the formula: MP=
The method was compared with the conventional oven—drying technique for a wide range of soil textures,moisture contents and some other soil preoperties The results obtained showed that the accuracy,precision and simplicity of the method are good, particularly for rapid practical uses.