A widely used approach in agronomic studies is to conductexperiments where plants are grown in pots with a volume usually varyingfrom 5 to 15 liters (PETERSON et al., 1984; ELLIS et al., 1993;MICHELON, 2006; MARTINS & STRECK, 2007). An important concernwhen using this approach is if the microclimate that plants grown in pots isthe same as the microclimate plants grown in the field are exposed to.Among microclimate variables that may be affected in pots is soiltemperature, a major environmental factor that drives plant growth anddevelopment.Rice is an important agricultural crop in Southern Brazil. Themajority of rice crop in this region is grown in flooded pads (paddyfields). Experiments with rice grown in pots have recently been performedin Southern Brazil and the results of these experiments have been extendedto a paddy field (STRECK et al., 2006a,b; STRECK et al., 2007). Therefore,it is important that soil temperature is not a limiting factor for extendingsuch results to a field. The objective of this study was to quantify soiltemperature in pots and in a field pad grown with rice.Soil temperature in the rooting zone of rice plants grown inpots and in a paddy fiel
