Varying water contents cause different specific soil-physical properties for each type of soil. This could limit factors of soil cultivation and will be mirrored later with harvest. From the angle of agricultural sustainability it has recently been discussed in points of field traffic frequency and therefore practicability [1]. For all that, soil moisture is the peak impact on trafficability. Another important facet concerning sustainability is irrigation farming. Without the control of soil moisture, solitary plant indicators can indicate failure irrigation. Even though operational quality of soil cultivation and sowing is decisively dependant on present soil moisture. Unsuitable operating intensities and seeding depths are able to cause soil physical conditions, which affect the emergence and growth of plants. The integration of soil moisture as a resource of precision farming is one of the current research targets of the Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Process Engineering in Plant Production at the University of Hohenheim (Prof. Dr. K. Köller). In cooperation with IMKO-Micromodultechnik and a tight contact to the industry of agricultural machinery the objective of the research project is moreover to get the value into an application of precision farming. The centre of these endeavours are the aforementioned scopes.

Soil´s late drying off, as well as its slow warming up in spring is mainly seen as a disadvantage of direct drilling. Mulch decreases evaporation and provides a higher water content which raises the specific thermal capacity of the soil. Compared to a dry soil, a wet soil needs more energy regarding radiation to warm up. The higher water content causes a slower warming up, the other way around. To verify these observations it is necessary to establish procedures which take temperature and moisture conditions into account. Times of direct drilling must be reconsidered. It should occasionally be set to a later date, when favourable conditions of germination and emergence prevail. Providing a sufficient level of soil moisture and fine soil structure, a quick root growth and a fast plant maturity is supported. Variation of seeding depth represents a further opportunity of adaptation. No tillage sites show higher soil moisture contents. Therefore lower evaporation rates grant enough water for germination, particularly in low seeding depths [2,3]. A management of seeding depth is able to suit the prevailing conditions on no tillage fields and give an important contribution to the process reliability of direct drilling.