During 1993–1995 the effect of conventional tillage, reduced till, mulch till and no-till technology on soil moisture dynamics has been studied in field experiment on Haplic chernozems near Piešťany. The tillage treatments were evaluated under a single cropping of maize and spring barley – common peas – winter wheat crop rotation. Soil samples for gravimetric determination of moisture content were collected from six layers up to 0.8 m, three times per year (April–July). The soil moisture was highly significantly influenced in order of importance by date of sampling, year, growing crops, tillage treatments, soil layer and by interactions year × crops, year × date of sampling, crops × date of sampling, tillage × date of sampling, year × tillage, date of sampling × layer and significant influences by interactions, tillage × crops. The soil under conventional tillage had significantly higher moisture content than tested reduced till, mulch till and no-till treatments. The significant influence of maize stand on better soil humidity condition (16.35%) in comparison to crops grown in a crop rotation (in average 14.10%) has been ascertained.
The effect of soil conservation tillage on soil moisture dynamics under single cropping and crop rotation
