A suitable rotational conservation tillage system ameliorates soil physical properties and wheat yield: An 11-year in-situ study in a semi-arid agroecosystem

The area under the no-tillage system (NT) has been increasing over the last few years. Some authors indicate that stabilization of soil physical properties is reached after some years under NT while other authors debate this. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of the last crop in the rotation sequence (1st year: maize, 2nd year: soybean, 3rd year: wheat/soybean) on soil pore configuration and hydraulic properties in two different soils (site 1: loam, site 2: sandy loam) from the Argentinean Pampas region under long-term NT treatments in order to determine if stabilization of soil physical properties is reached apart from a specific time in the crop sequence. In addition, we compared two procedures for evaluating water-conducting macroporosities, and evaluated the efficiency of the pedotransfer function ROSETTA in estimating the parameters of the van Genuchten-Mualem (VGM) model in these soils. Soil pore configuration and hydraulic properties were not stable and changed according to the crop sequence and the last crop grown in both sites. For both sites, saturated hydraulic conductivity, K0, water-conducting macroporosity, εma, and flow-weighted mean pore radius, R0ma, increased from the 1st to the 2nd year of the crop sequence, and this was attributed to the creation of water-conducting macropores by the maize roots. The VGM model adequately described the water retention curve (WRC) for these soils, but not the hydraulic conductivity (K) vs tension (h) curve. The ROSETTA function failed in the estimation of these parameters. In summary, mean values of K0 ranged from 0.74 to 3.88 cm h-1. In studies on NT effects on soil physical properties, the crop effect must be considered.

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Sampling Position under No-Tillage System Affects the Results of Soil Physical Properties

Revista Brasileira de Ciência do Solo ◽

10.1590/18069657rbcs20150189 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 40 (0) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Camila Jorge Bernabé Ferreira ◽

Cássio Antonio Tormena ◽

Wagner Henrique Moreira ◽

Lincoln Zotarelli ◽

Edner Betioli Junior ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Properties ◽

Soil Physical Properties ◽

No Tillage ◽

Sampling Position ◽

Tillage System

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Comparison of wheat and safflower cultivation areas in terms of total carbon and some soil properties under semi-arid climate conditions

Solid Earth Discussions ◽

10.5194/sed-7-1007-2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 1007-1024

Author(s):

B. Turgut

Keyword(s):

Organic Matter ◽

Physical Properties ◽

Organic Matter Content ◽

Aggregate Stability ◽

Soil Physical Properties ◽

Matter Content ◽

Total Carbon ◽

Arid Climate ◽

Soil Layers ◽

Semi Arid

Abstract. The aim of this study was to compare the soils of the wheat cultivation area (WCA) and the safflower cultivation area (SCA) within semi-arid climate zones in terms of their total carbon, nitrogen, sulphur contents, particle size distribution, aggregate stability, organic matter content, and pH values. This study presents the results from the analyses of 140 soil samples taken at two soil layers (0–10 and 10–20 cm) in the cultivation areas. At the end of the study, it has been established that there were significant differences between the cultivation areas in terms of soil physical properties such as total carbon (TC), total nitrogen (TN), total sulphur (TS) contents and pH, while only the TN content resulted in significantly different between the two soil layers. Moreover significant differences were identified in the cultivation areas in terms of soil physical properties including clay and sand contents, aggregate stability and organic matter content, whereas the only significant difference found among the soil layers was that of their silt content. Since safflower contains higher amounts of biomass than wheat, we found higher amounts of organic matter content and, therefore, higher amounts of TN and TS content in the soils of the SCA. In addition, due to the fact that wheat contains more cellulose – which takes longer to decompose – the TC content of the soil in the WCA were found to be higher than that of the SCA. The results also revealed that the WCA had a higher carbon storage capacity.

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Tillage and soil physical properties in semi-arid West Africa

Soil and Tillage Research ◽

10.1016/0167-1987(93)90065-w ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 27 (1-4) ◽

pp. 125-147 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

R. Nicou ◽

C. Charreau ◽

J.-L. Chopart

Keyword(s):

West Africa ◽

Physical Properties ◽

Soil Physical Properties ◽

Arid West ◽

Semi Arid

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Effect of soil physical properties on the long-term performance of planted Scots pine in Finnish Lapland

Canadian Journal of Soil Science ◽

10.4141/cjss08070 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 90 (3) ◽

pp. 451-465 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

K. Mäkitalo ◽

V. Alenius ◽

J. Heiskanen ◽

K. Mikkola

Keyword(s):

Physical Properties ◽

Water Content ◽

Scots Pine ◽

Soil Physical Properties ◽

Height Growth ◽

Site Preparation ◽

Preparation Methods ◽

Finnish Lapland

Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst.) forests dominate in Finnish Lapland. This study examined the long-term effects of soil physical properties and conditions measured in intact intermediate areas, as well as site preparation, on the survival and height growth of planted pine on eight experimental sites, 25-27 yr after reforestation. On the four originally spruce-dominated sites, pine survival was the highest on sites with a high soil air-filled porosity (AFP) near saturation (at -1 kPa), a high van Genuchten parameter, and a low soil water content (SWC) in situ, and height growth was the fastest on sites with a high soil AFP in situ and a high van Genuchten parameter n, and on sites reaching a soil AFP of ca. 0.20 m3 m-3 at a high matric potential after saturation. Survival, but not mean height, was enhanced on the spruce sites by intensive site preparation methods such as ploughing instead of lighter site preparation methods. On the four originally pine-dominated sites, site preparation affected the mean height but not survival. The use of SWC as a sole criterion for sites suitable for pine reforestation was tested and found to be uncertain. Key words: Boreal forest soils, soil water content, air-filled porosity, van Genuchten function, site preparation, reforestation, Scots pine

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Semi-Arid Region Analysis of Soil Physicochemical Property in Mine Spoils and Phytoremediation Research

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.454.273 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 454 ◽

pp. 273-278

Author(s):

Xiao Wei Zhang ◽

En De Wang

Keyword(s):

Physical Properties ◽

Arid Region ◽

Soil Nutrient ◽

Test Site ◽

Mining Area ◽

Soil Physical Properties ◽

Vegetation Types ◽

Mine Spoils ◽

Semi Arid Region ◽

Semi Arid

Semi-arid region of Soil repair in Mine spoils is a problem of worthy of attention and research, this paper assesses Fuxin mining area and YuanBaoShan mining area for test site, five kinds of site types are divided based on the investigation of mine spoils damage situation, and testing each sitetype of soil physical properties and the change of soil nutrient systematically, and doing the five kinds of sitetypes’phytoremediation research based on it. The evaluation results indicate: Mine spoils soil along with the increasing length of stopping discharging the gangue, the soil physical and chemical characteristics improve gradually. Through the research of vegetation and soil interaction relations we get the best Reclamation vegetation types of the Mine spoils. Mine spoils is an important form of land degradation, is one of the major environmental problems of today's world. This paper assesses Fuxin mining area and YuanBaoShan mining area for test site, testing each site type of soil physical properties and the change of soil nutrient systematically, and on the basis of experiments, putting forward the best Reclamation vegetation types for mine spoils.

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