scholarly journals Soil Compaction after Increasing the Number of Wheeled Tractors Passes on Forest Soils in West Carpathians

Forests ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 109
Author(s):  
Michal Allman ◽  
Zuzana Dudáková ◽  
Martin Jankovský ◽  
Mária Vlčková ◽  
Vladimír Juško ◽  
...  

Soil disturbance and compaction are inherent in ground-based harvesting operations. These changes are affected by numerous factors, related mainly to the technical parameters of the machines, soil conditions, and the technology used. This study aimed to analyze the changes of surface layers of soil caused by skidder traffic without loads on the Cambisols of Western Carpathians. We observed changes in the soil bulk density and penetration resistance. The results showed that only machine traffic caused a 0.32 to 0.35 (g cm−3) increase in soil bulk density. Besides machine traffic, bulk density was affected by soil moisture content. Penetration resistance of soil increased by 0.15 to 1.04 (MPa) after traffic of 40 machines. Penetration resistance showed a lower increase after traffic, and regression and correlation analysis proved a relationship between penetration resistance, skeleton content, and penetration depth, besides the number of machine passes (r = 0.33–0.55). Observing the changes in the physical properties of soils caused by machine traffic allows for a more detailed view of the effects of forest harvesting machinery on forest soils.

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric R. Labelle ◽  
Benjamin J. Poltorak ◽  
Dirk Jaeger

Forest soils often exhibit low bearing capacities and as a result are often incapable of withstanding high axle loads. In New Brunswick, Canada, five different brush amounts (0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 kg·m–2) were applied as brush mats on machine operating trails during a cut-to-length harvesting operation in a softwood stand to analyze soil disturbance as a result of off-road forest harvesting machine traffic. Soil absolute and relative bulk density and soil penetration resistance measurements were completed below the varying brush mats both before and after forwarding. The mean differences between pre- and post-impact absolute soil dry bulk density values recorded on track areas were 0.24 g·cm–3 for 5–20 kg·m–2 of brush and 0.33 g·cm–3 for 0 kg·m–2 of brush. On average, 40.5%, 17.9%, 14.3%, 15.5%, and 3.6% of all post-forwarding measurements exceeded the threshold for growth-impeding soil bulk density (80% standard Proctor density) for 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 kg·m–2 of brush, respectively. Soil penetration values >3.0 MPa represented 23.7%, 15.0%, 9.4%, 4.6%, and 0.7% of all post-forwarding test plots with 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 kg·m–2 of brush, respectively. The results suggest that softwood brush mats of 10 to 20 kg·m–2 placed on machine operating trails play a considerable role in reducing forwarder-induced soil compaction and penetration resistance.


Bragantia ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Dias Valadão Junior ◽  
Aloísio Biachini ◽  
Franciele Caroline Assis Valadão ◽  
Rodrigo Pengo Rosa

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of penetration rate and the size of the cone base on the resistance to penetration under different soil moistures and soil bulk density. The experimental design was completely randomized in a 4x2x2x2 factorial arrangement, with the factors, soil bulk density of 1.0; 1.2; 1.4 and 1.6 Mg m-3, soil moisture at the evaluation of 0.16 and 0.22 kg kg-1, penetration rates of 0.166 and 30 mm s-1 and areas of the cone base of 10.98 and 129.28 mm² resulting in 32 treatments with 8 replicates. To ensure greater uniformity and similarity to field conditions, samples passed through cycles of wetting and drying. Only the interaction of the four factors was not significant. Resistance values varied with the density of the soil, regardless of moisture and penetration rate. Soil penetration resistance was influenced by the size of the cone base, with higher values for the smallest base independent of moisture and soil bulk density. The relationship between resistance to penetration and moisture is not always linear, once it is influenced by soil bulk density. Reduction in the area of the cone leads to an increase in the soil resistance to penetration.


2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 230-241
Author(s):  
Daniel DeArmond ◽  
João B S Ferraz ◽  
Fabiano Emmert ◽  
Adriano José Nogueira Lima ◽  
Niro Higuchi

Abstract In the forests of the Amazon Basin, there are still few studies on soil compaction caused by logging activities. This study evaluated an operation located on the property of a timber company in Central Amazonia, which uses harvesting techniques based on the harvesting system developed by the Centre for Agricultural Research in Suriname. The timber-extraction method employed by the timber company consists of three activities: (1) skid trail construction with a track-type tractor, (2) log winching with a winch attached to the tractor, and (3) log skidding with a rubber-tired skidder. Soil bulk density and soil penetration resistance were quantified to 20 cm in depth. After a single tractor ingress and egress for trail construction, the soil incurred an increased root growth-limiting bulk density and penetration resistance. However, log winching did not cause significant soil compaction. The conclusions of the study were: (1) the greatest impact from this harvesting system came from the skid trail construction, (2) the technique of log winching limited forest floor compaction and disturbance that damages forest regeneration, and (3) log skidding during dry soil conditions limited increases in compaction and track formation.


2011 ◽  
Vol 91 (6) ◽  
pp. 957-964 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Halde ◽  
A. M. Hammermeister ◽  
N. L. Mclean ◽  
K. T. Webb ◽  
R. C. Martin

Halde, C., Hammermeister, A. M., McLean, N. L., Webb, K. T. and Martin, R. C. 2011. Soil compaction under varying rest periods and levels of mechanical disturbance in a rotational grazing system. Can. J. Soil Sci. 91: 957–964. In Atlantic Canada, data are limited regarding the effect of grazing systems on soil compaction. The objective of the study was to determine the effect of intensive and extensive rotational pasture management treatments on soil bulk density, soil penetration resistance, forage productivity and litter accumulation. The study was conducted on a fine sandy loam pasture in Truro, Nova Scotia. Each of the eight paddocks was divided into three rotational pasture management treatments: intensive, semi-intensive and extensive. Mowing and clipping were more frequent in the intensive than in the semi-intensive treatment. In the extensive treatment, by virtue of grazing in alternate rotations, the rest period was doubled than that of the intensive and semi-intensive treatments. Both soil bulk density (0–5 cm) and penetration resistance (0–25.5 cm) were significantly higher in the intensive treatment than in the extensive treatment, for all seasons. Over winter, bulk density decreased significantly by 6.8 and 3.8% at 0–5 and 5–10 cm, respectively. A decrease ranging between 40.5 and 4.0% was observed for soil penetration resistance over winter, at 0–1.5 cm and 24.0–25.5 cm, respectively. The intensive and semi-intensive treatments produced significantly more available forage for grazers annually than the extensive treatment. Forage yields in late May to early June were negatively correlated with spring bulk density.


2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 194-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oscar Bustos ◽  
Andrew Egan

Abstract A study of soil compaction associated with four harvesting systems—a forwarder working with a mechanized harvester and a rubber-tired cable skidder, a farm tractor, and a bulldozer, each of them coupled with a chainsaw felling—was conducted in a group selection harvest of a mixed hardwood stand in Maine. The bulldozer system was associated with the highest percentage differences in soil bulk density measured in machine tracks (16.9%), trail centerlines (15.7%), and harvested group selection units (13.1%) versus adjacent untrafficked areas, whereas the forwarder system was associated with the lowest percentage differences in soil bulk density measured in machine tracks (3.5%), trail centerlines (1.2%), and harvested group selection units (6.3%) versus adjacent untrafficked areas. Results will help to inform loggers and foresters on equipment selection, harvest planning, and the conservation of forest soils and soil productivity.


2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wininton M. da Silva ◽  
Aloísio Bianchini ◽  
Cesar A. da Cunha

ABSTRACT This study aimed to describe the behavior of models for adjusting data of soil penetration resistance for variations in soil moisture and soil bulk density. The study was carried out in Lucas do Rio Verde, MT, Brazil in a typic dystrophic red-yellow Latosol (Oxisol) containing 0.366 kg kg−1 of clay. Soil penetration resistance measurements were conducted in the soil moistures of 0.33 kg kg−1, 0.28 kg kg−1, 0.25 kg kg−1 and 0.22 kg kg−1. Soil penetration resistance behavior due to variations in soil moisture and soil bulk density was assessed by estimating the soil resistance values by non-linear models. There was an increase of the soil penetration resistance values as soil was losing moisture. For the same edaphic condition studied, small differences in the data of soil bulk density affect differently the response of soil resistance as a function of moisture. Both soil bulk density and soil moisture are essential attributes to explain the variations in soil penetration resistance in the field. The good representation of the critical soil bulk density curve as a limiting compression indicator requires the proper choice of the restrictive soil resistance value for each crop.


2004 ◽  
Vol 80 (5) ◽  
pp. 573-582 ◽  
Author(s):  
D G Maynard ◽  
J P Senyk

Ground-based forestry practices can negatively affect soil productivity by altering the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soil. The effect of soil disturbance on soil properties and tree growth was evaluated following single-pass hydraulic excavator and multiple-pass combined excavator and flexible track grapple skidder forwarding in four silvicultural systems treatments: Clearcut (CC), Green Tree Retention (GT), Patch Cut (PC), and Uniform Shelterwood (SW). The effectiveness of an excavator soil-rehabilitation technique (tilling) in decompacting skidtrails (i.e., reducing soil bulk density) and nutrient availability was also evaluated. Western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) and amabilis fir (Abies amabilis Dougl. Ex. Forbes) seedlings were planted on undisturbed plots, within tracks and between tracks of skidtrails, and in rehabilitated trails within the four harvesting treatments in the spring of 1994. Seedling growth was measured after five growing seasons, and nutrient concentrations of current-year foliage were determined at the end of the fourth growing season. Seedling survival and growth was generally reduced by soil disturbances associated with skid-trails. Effects of disturbance on physical properties of soil (e.g., compaction, puddling) and disruption of drainage were the most likely causes. Nutrient deficiencies do not appear to be a factor. Nonetheless, nitrogen concentrations were lower in current-year foliage taken from rehabilitation treatments than from either undisturbed or skidtrail treatments. Effectiveness of soil rehabilitation varied. In well-drained deeper soils, tilling reduced soil bulk density to levels below those of undisturbed soils and, in the short-term (five years), improved tree growth. In wetter conditions, rehabilitation treatment decreased survival and growth of both species. Thus specific rehabilitation (tilling) prescriptions should not be universally applied across a landscape. Key words: Abies amabilis, Tsuga heterophylla, foliar analysis, soil bulk density, soil compaction, soil rehabilitation


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