Effects of cattle treading on physical properties of three soils used for dairy farming in the Waikato, North Island, New Zealand

A study of the physical condition of 3 soils used for intensive dairy farming in the Waikato Region was undertaken. The study was to determine the existing physical condition of the soil, the possible long-term changes from pugging damage, and the most appropriate measurements and depth for monitoring change in soil physical properties under dairying. Four dairy farms were selected on each of 3 soils (an Allophanic Soil and 2 Gley Soils). On each farm, 3 sites that corresponded to never trodden, usual (‘average’ paddock and pasture condition for the farm), and previously pugged (pugged >18 months ago) pasture histories were sampled. Undisturbed soil cores were collected at 50-mm depth increments to 250 mm for determination of bulk density, total porosity, saturated and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity, proportion of pores >30 and 60 µm, and aggregate size class. Results showed pugging was having a long-term effect on soil physical properties of all 3 soils, including the well-drained Allophanic Soil that rarely pugged. All measurements showed a decline in values for soil properties from never trodden to previously pugged. The greatest changes were in hydraulic conductivity, proportion of pores, and aggregate size (>60 and <20 mm). The most appropriate depth increment for measuring differences between treatments was found to be 50–100 mm. A comparison of previously pugged to never trodden at this depth showed that hydraulic conductivity had decreased by 80%, pore size by 46% (except for Allophanic Soil), and the proportion of aggregates >60 mm in diameter had increased at least 4-fold. Farming practices that minimise pugging damage, such as on/off grazing, need to be encouraged. It is possible that such programs may permit the soil to recover to a physical state similar to never trodden sites.

Download Full-text

Stabilization of soil hydraulic properties under a long term no-till system

Revista Brasileira de Ciência do Solo ◽

10.1590/s0100-06832014000400024 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 38 (4) ◽

pp. 1281-1292 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Luis Alberto Lozano ◽

Carlos Germán Soracco ◽

Vicente S. Buda ◽

Guillermo O. Sarli ◽

Roberto Raúl Filgueira

Keyword(s):

Hydraulic Conductivity ◽

Physical Properties ◽

Hydraulic Properties ◽

Sandy Loam ◽

Soil Physical Properties ◽

Water Retention Curve ◽

Mean Values ◽

Tillage System ◽

Crop Sequence

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.

Download Full-text

Effects of heating on some soil physical properties related to its hydrological behaviour in two north-western Spanish soils

International Journal of Wildland Fire ◽

10.1071/wf03068 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 195 ◽

Cited By ~ 70

Author(s):

R. García-Corona ◽

E. Benito ◽

E. de Blas ◽

M. E. Varela

Keyword(s):

Organic Matter ◽

Hydraulic Conductivity ◽

Physical Properties ◽

Size Distribution ◽

Aggregate Stability ◽

Aggregate Size ◽

Total Porosity ◽

Water Repellency ◽

Aggregate Size Distribution ◽

Distribution Water

Two forest soils rich in organic matter but differing in texture (sandy loam and silty loam) were heated under controlled laboratory conditions in order to examine the consequences of the heating effect that accompanies the passage of a fire on the physical properties of soil. Three samples of both soils were heated for 30 min in a muffle furnace at temperatures of 25, 170, 220, 380 and 460°C. At each temperature, the following parameters were determined: dry aggregate size distribution, water aggregate stability, total porosity, pore size distribution, water repellency and hydraulic conductivity. Heating the soils at 170 and 220°C caused no significant changes in aggregate size distribution or total porosity but increased water aggregate stability and the volume of pores 0.2–30 μm. Also, increased water repellency and strongly decreased the hydraulic conductivity. All parameters underwent much more dramatic changes at 380 and 460°C that can be ascribed to the combustion of organic matter. At such temperatures, water repellency was destroyed and the low hydraulic conductivity can be attributed to the aggregate breakdown observed under dry and wet conditions.

Download Full-text

Short and long-term effects of tillage systems and nutrient sources on soil physical properties of a Southern Brazilian Hapludox

Revista Brasileira de Ciência do Solo ◽

10.1590/s0100-06832008000400008 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 32 (4) ◽

pp. 1437-1446 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Milton da Veiga ◽

Dalvan José Reinert ◽

José Miguel Reichert ◽

Douglas Rodrigo Kaiser

Keyword(s):

Physical Properties ◽

Bulk Density ◽

Crop Residues ◽

Total Porosity ◽

Soil Physical Properties ◽

Soil Tillage ◽

Tillage Systems ◽

Nutrient Sources ◽

Over Time

Soil tillage promotes changes in soil structure. The magnitude of the changes varies with the nature of the soil, tillage system and soil water content and decreases over time after tillage. The objective of this study was to evaluate short-term (one year period) and long-term (nine year period) effects of soil tillage and nutrient sources on some physical properties of a very clayey Hapludox. Five tillage systems were evaluated: no-till (NT), chisel plow + one secondary disking (CP), primary + two (secondary) diskings (CT), CT with burning of crop residues (CTb), and CT with removal of crop residues from the field (CTr), in combination with five nutrient sources: control without nutrient application (C); mineral fertilizers, according to technical recommendations for each crop (MF); 5 Mg ha-1 yr-1 of poultry litter (wetmatter) (PL); 60 m³ ha-1 yr-1 of cattle slurry (CS) and; 40 m³ ha-1 yr-1 of swine slurry (SS). Bulk density (BD), total porosity (TP), and parameters related to the water retention curve (macroporosity, mesoporosity and microporosity) were determined after nine years and at five sampling dates during the tenth year of the experiment. Soil physical properties were tillage and time-dependent. Tilled treatments increased total porosity and macroporosity, and reduced bulk density in the surface layer (0.00-0.05 m), but this effect decreased over time after tillage operations due to natural soil reconsolidation, since no external stress was applied in this period. Changes in pore size distribution were more pronounced in larger and medium pore diameter classes. The bulk density was greatest in intermediate layers in all tillage treatments (0.05-0.10 and 0.12-0.17 m) and decreased down to the deepest layer (0.27-0.32 m), indicating a more compacted layer around 0.05-0.20 m. Nutrient sources did not significantly affect soil physical and hydraulic properties studied.

Download Full-text

Influence of long-term feedlot manure amendments on soil hydraulic conductivity, water-stable aggregates, and soil thermal properties during the growing season

Canadian Journal of Soil Science ◽

10.1139/cjss-2017-0061 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 98 (3) ◽

pp. 421-435 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

J.J. Miller ◽

B.W. Beasley ◽

C.F. Drury ◽

F.J. Larney ◽

X. Hao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Thermal Properties ◽

Hydraulic Conductivity ◽

Physical Properties ◽

Wood Chip ◽

Aggregate Stability ◽

Soil Surface ◽

Soil Physical Properties ◽

Total Carbon ◽

Soil Thermal Properties

Long-term application of feedlot manure to cropland may change the physical properties of soils. We measured selected soil (surface) physical properties of a Dark Brown Chernozemic clay loam where different amendments were annually applied for 15 (2013), 16 (2014), and 17 (2015) yr. The treatments were stockpiled (SM) or composted (CM) manure with either straw (ST) or wood-chip (WD) bedding applied at three rates (13, 39, and 77 Mg ha−1) and an unamended control. The effect of selected or all treatments on selected properties was determined in 2013–2015. These properties included field-saturated (Kfs) and near-saturated hydraulic conductivity or K(ψ), bulk density (BD), volumetric water content, soil temperature, soil thermal properties, and wet aggregate stability. The hypotheses that selected soil physical properties would improve more for treatments with greater total carbon in the amendments (SM > CM, WD > ST) was rejected. The exceptions were significantly (P ≤ 0.05) lower soil BD for SM than CM and WD than ST for certain dates, and lower soil thermal conductivity for WD than ST. Most soil physical properties generally had no response to 15–17 yr of annual applications of these feedlot amendments, but a few showed a positive response.

Download Full-text

Soil Physical Properties Spatial Variability under Long-Term No-Tillage Corn

Agronomy ◽

10.3390/agronomy9110750 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (11) ◽

pp. 750 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Ripendra Awal ◽

Mohammad Safeeq ◽

Farhat Abbas ◽

Samira Fares ◽

Sanjit K. Deb ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Hydraulic Conductivity ◽

Organic Carbon ◽

Spatial Variability ◽

Physical Properties ◽

Soil Surface ◽

Soil Physical Properties ◽

No Tillage ◽

Tillage Practices ◽

Soil Surface Temperature

Spatial variability of soil physical and hydrological properties within or among agricultural fields could be intrinsically induced due to geologic and pedologic soil forming factors, but some of the variability may be induced by anthropogenic activities such as tillage practices. No-tillage has been gaining ground as a successful conservation practice, and quantifying spatial variability of soil physical properties induced by no-tillage practices is a prerequisite for making appropriate site-specific agricultural management decisions and/or reformulating some management practices. In particular, there remains very limited information on the spatial variability of soil physical properties under long-term no-tillage corn and tropical soil conditions. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to quantify the spatial variability of some selected soil physical properties (soil surface temperature (ST), volumetric water content (θv), soil resistance (TIP), total porosity (θt), bulk density (ρb), organic carbon, and saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat)) using classical and geostatistical methods. The study site was a 2 ha field cropped no-tillage sweet corn for nearly 10 years on Oahu, Hawaii. The field was divided into 10 × 10 and 20 × 20 m grids. Soil samples were collected at each grid for measuring ρb, θt, and soil organic carbon (SOC) in the laboratory following standard methods. Saturated hydraulic conductivity, TIP at 10 and 20 cm depths, soil surface temperature, and θv were also measured. Porosity and ρb have low and low to moderate variability, respectively based on the relative ranking of the magnitude of variability drawn from the coefficient of variation. Variability of the SOC, TIP, and Ksat ranges from moderate to high. Based on the best-fitted semivariogram model for finer grid data, 9.8 m and 142.2 m are the cut off beyond which the measured parameter does not show any spatial correlation for SOC, and TIP at 10 cm depth, respectively. Bulk density shows the highest spatial dependence (range = 226.8 m) among all measured properties. Spatial distribution of the soil properties based on kriging shows a high level of variability even though the sampled field is relatively small.

Download Full-text

EFFECT OF LONG-TERM MINIMUM TILLAGE PRACTICES ON SOME PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF A CHERNOZEMIC CLAY LOAM

Canadian Journal of Soil Science ◽

10.4141/cjss89-046 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 69 (3) ◽

pp. 443-449 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

C. CHANG ◽

C. W. LINDWALL

Keyword(s):

Hydraulic Conductivity ◽

Physical Properties ◽

Bulk Density ◽

Infiltration Rate ◽

Conventional Tillage ◽

Soil Physical Properties ◽

Clay Loam ◽

Minimum Tillage ◽

No Till

This study was conducted to compare the long-term (20 yr) effects of conventional tillage, minimum tillage and no-till on various soil-water related properties within the tilled layer (0–30 and 30–60 mm) and immediately below the tilled layer (90–120 mm) under a spring cereal-summerfallow rotation cropping system. Parameters measured included saturated hydraulic conductivity, saturation percentage, plant-available water-holding capacity, large pore porosity, bulk density, and infiltration rate of the soil. Tillage treatment effects on these soil properties in each of the four sampling periods were not significantly different. The confidence interval test showed some temporal changes in these soil physical properties, of which hydraulic conductivity was the most affected. In the summerfallow field, regardless of the previous cereal crops, the steady infiltration rate was significantly lower in the soil under conventional tillage than with that under no-till. The results indicate that the surface soil structure was most stable under no-till. In the fresh stubble field, the type of cereal crop had an effect on the infiltration rate of the soil. The mean infiltration rate was higher in the summerfallow field than in the fresh stubble field and also was higher in the fresh barley stubble than in the fresh wheat stubble. Except for infiltration rates, there is no significant advantage of one tillage method over the other with respect to the soil physical properties measured in this Brown Chernozemic clay loam soil. Key words: No-till, minimum tillage, hydraulic conductivity, bulk density, infiltration

Download Full-text

10-Years Studies of the Soil Physical Condition after One-Time Biochar Application

Agronomy ◽

10.3390/agronomy10101589 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (10) ◽

pp. 1589

Author(s):

Jacek Pranagal ◽

Piotr Kraska

Keyword(s):

Physical Properties ◽

Water Content ◽

Physical Condition ◽

Particle Density ◽

Total Porosity ◽

Good Method ◽

Soil Physical Properties ◽

Waste Biomass ◽

Water Capacity ◽

Air Capacity

The ten-year experiment on the soil physical properties of biochar-amended Podzol was studied. Biochar was applied to the soil in the following rates: treatment BC10—10 Mg × ha−1, treatment BC20—20 Mg × ha−1, treatment BC30—30 Mg × ha−1 and treatment BC0—Control (soil without the addition of biochar). Biochar was mixed the soil arable layer (0–20 cm). Soil samples were collected ten times, once a year—after harvest rye. They were taken from layers: 0–10 cm and 10–20 cm, in six replicates, using 100 cm3 metal cylinders. The soil physical properties were determined: particle size distribution, particle density, bulk density, total porosity, air capacity and permeability (at −15.5 kPa), water content at sampling, field water capacity (at −15.5 kPa), available and unavailable water content, and the ratio of field water capacity and total porosity was calculated. It was found that biochar application causes changes in the soil physical condition. The soil density decreased, while the porosity, aeration and water retention increased; the ratio of field water capacity and total porosity was favorable. These changes cannot be considered as permanent. Most of the analyzed properties showed a durability of no more than 3–4 years. We found that biochar incorporation into soil is a good method for environmental management of waste biomass.

Download Full-text

Quantifying variability of soil physical properties within soil series to address modern land-use issues on the Canterbury Plains, New Zealand

Soil Research ◽

10.1071/sr99091 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 38 (6) ◽

pp. 1115 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

T. H. Webb ◽

J. J. Claydon ◽

S. R. Harris

Keyword(s):

Hydraulic Conductivity ◽

Physical Properties ◽

Clay Content ◽

Total Porosity ◽

Field Capacity ◽

Soil Physical Properties ◽

Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity ◽

Soil Series ◽

Available Water ◽

Wilting Point

Lack of accurate data to estimate soil physical properties for soil types is limiting the wide application of simulation models to address modern environmental and land-use issues. In this study, systematic sampling of soil profiles for soil physical characteristics has provided an improved basis upon which to estimate a number of soil physical properties for 4 soil series. The selected soils form a soil drainage sequence on the post-glacial surface of the Canterbury Plains and vary from shallow sandy loam, well-drained soils to deep clay loam, poorly drained soils. Three profiles within 3 map units were sampled for each of 4 soil series. Three horizons in each soil profile were sampled for soil porosity values, particle size, and saturated and near-saturated hydraulic conductivity. Variability in all data, as shown by coefficient of variation, increased in the order: total porosity = field capacity < wilting point < total available water = clay content < readily available water < macroporosity < sand content < hydraulic conductivity. Hydraulic conductivity exhibited high variability within horizons, between profiles, and within soil series. Temuka subsoils had extremely high variability in saturated hydraulic conductivity and this could be explained by their coarse prismatic structure. Analysis of variance identified horizons that differed in soil physical properties between soil series. Horizons that do not differ between series may be given pooled soil property values for the pooled series. Total porosity, field capacity, wilting point, clay content, and near-saturated hydraulic conductivity had the greatest number of differences (60–70%) between series comparisons, while total available water had fewest differences (5%). The series with greatest differences in drainage class (Temuka compared with Eyre or Templeton soils) recorded the largest number of differences in water release characteristics and particle size. There were few differences between well-drained Eyre and moderately well-drained Templeton series. Subsoils of Eyre series differed in hydraulic conductivity from subsoils for the other 3 series, but few differences in hydraulic conductivity were found between horizons of Templeton, Wakanui, and Temuka series. Hydraulic conductivity estimates for these series can therefore be pooled.

Download Full-text