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

1989 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 443-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. CHANG ◽  
C. W. LINDWALL

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

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (Special) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hassan & et al.

The current study investigated the effect of water quality (the salinity of the irrigation water) and Tillage system on some soil physical properties. The experiment was carried out using RCBD with three replicates. wheat was irrigated by three water sources, a  river ,dranege and well waters with electrical conductivities  1.3, 3.5 and 6.9 ds.m-1 respectively and three tillage systems were zero tillage (ZT), conventional tillage (CT) and deep tillage (DT). After harvest, some soil physical properties were evaluated including: bulk density, porosity, penetration resistance, hydraulic conductivity and mean weight diameter. The result showed that the bulk density values were 1.40, 1.44 and 1.47 mg.m-3  for river, derange and well water. while the porosity values were 47.3%, 45.8%  and 43.8%. for river, derange and well water. while the hydraulic conductivity  were 5.13, 4.26 and 4.36 cm.h-1for river , derange and well water. also the result showed that the bulk density values were 1.48, 1.44 and 1.38 mg.m-3 for ZT, CT and DT respectively. while the porosity values were 44.3, 45.7 and 47.8% for ZT, CT and DT respectively. But for the interactions for electrical conductivity with tillage The result showed that the bulk density values were 1.50 mg.m-3  for well water with ZT but decrees value it become 1.34 mg.m-3  for river water with DT. The best type of tillage was conventional tillage as it has the ability to improve properties of soil as well as it helps to reduce.


2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 1281-1292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Alberto Lozano ◽  
Carlos Germán Soracco ◽  
Vicente S. Buda ◽  
Guillermo O. Sarli ◽  
Roberto Raúl Filgueira

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.


2021 ◽  
pp. 44-57
Author(s):  
Kh. A. Shaban ◽  
M. A. Esmaeil ◽  
A. K. Abdel Fattah ◽  
Kh. A. Faroh

A field experiment was carried out at Khaled Ibn El-waleed village, Sahl El-Hussinia, El-Sharkia Governorate, Egypt, during two summer seasons 2019 and 2020 to study the effect of NPK nanofertilizers, biofertilizers and humic acid combined with or without mineral fertilizers different at rates on some soil physical properties and soybean productivity and quality under saline soil conditions. The treatments consisted of: NPK-chitosan, NPK-Ca, humic acid, biofertilzer and control (mineral NPK only). In both seasons, the experiment was carried out in a split plot design with three replicates. The results indicated a significant increase in the soybean yield parameters as compared to control. There was also a significant increase in dry and water stable aggregates in all treatments as compared to control. The treatment NPK-Chitosan was the best in improving dry and stable aggregates. Also, hydraulic conductivity and total porosity values were significantly increased in all treatments due to increase in soil aggregation and porosity that led to increase in values of hydraulic conductivity. Values of bulk density were decreased, the lowest values of bulk density were found in NPK-chitosan treatment as a result of the high concentration of organic matter resulted from NPK-chitosan is much lighter in weight than the mineral fraction in soils. Accordingly, the increase in the organic fraction decreases the total weight and bulk density of the soil. Concerning soil moisture constants, all treatments significantly increased field capacity and available water compared to control. This increase was due to improvement of the soil aggregates and pores spaces which allowed the free movement of water within the soil thereby, increasing the moisture content at field capacity.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Zanutel ◽  
Sarah Garré ◽  
Charles Bielders

<p>In the context of global soil degradation, biochar is being promoted as a potential solution to improve soil quality, besides its carbon sequestration potential. Burying biochar in soils is known to effect soil physical quality in the short-term (<5 years), and the intensity of these effects depends on soil texture. However, the long-term effects of biochar remain largely unknown yet and are important to quantify given biochar’s persistency in soils. The objective of this study was therefore to assess the long-term effect of biochar on soil physical properties as a function of soil texture and biochar concentration.  For this purpose, soil physical properties (particle density, bulk density, porosity, water retention and hydraulic conductivity curves) were measured in the topsoil of three fields with former kiln sites containing charcoal more than 150 years old in Wallonia (southern Belgium).  The fields had a silt loam, loam and sandy loam texture.  Samples were collected along 3 transects in each field, from the center of the kiln sites outwards. </p><p>Particle density and bulk density slightly decreased as a function of charcoal content. Because particle density and bulk density were affected to a similar extent by charcoal content, total porosity was not affected by the presence of century-old charcoal. Regarding the soil water retention curve, charcoal affected mostly water content in the mesopore range. This effect was strongest for the sandy loam. On the other hand, the presence of century-old charcoal increased significantly the hydraulic conductivity at pF between 1.5 and 2 for the silt loam, while no effect of charcoal was observed for the loamy soil.  The study highlights a limited effect of century-old charcoal on the pore size distribution (at constant porosity) and on the resulting soil physical properties for the range of soils and charcoal concentrations investigated here.  Further research may be needed to confirm the observed trends over a wider range of soil types. </p>


Soil Research ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 899 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. P. C. Stewart ◽  
K. C. Cameron ◽  
I. S. Cornforth ◽  
J. R. Sedcole

A 2-year field trial determined the influence of applying spent mushroom substrate (SMS) on soil physical properties and the growth of 4 consecutive vegetable crops (sweetcorn, cabbage, potato, cabbage). Treatments comprised 0, 20, 40, and 80 t/ha of moist SMS, both with and without inorganic fertiliser, applied to each crop, giving a range of SMS rates up to 320 t/ha. SMS improved the environment for plant root growth by decreasing soil bulk density (by 0· 05-0·25 g/cm 3 at 100 mm depth), increasing aggregate stability (by 13-16%), reducing clod and surface crust formation (by 16-31 and 18-94%, respectively), increasing the infiltration rate (by 130-207 mm/h), increasing the water content of the soil (by 0-7% w/w), and reducing diurnal temperature changes. Some of these changes were not evident until repeated applications of 80 t/ha SMS had been made. Soil physical properties were related to crop yield, and soil physical properties’ principal components were related to crop principal components using regression analysis (r2 of 0·20-0·60 and 0·16-0·54, respectively). The soil physical properties that had the most influence on plant growth were specific to each crop and included bulk density, water content, surface crust cover, infiltration rate, and aggregate size distribution. Soil physical properties had a large influence on the potato yield irrespective of fertiliser use and on both cabbage crop yields when fertiliser was not used, but not on the sweetcorn yield (the first crop to be grown). The effect of changing soil physical properties on plant growth was most apparent when fertiliser was not used. This was because the improved physical properties increased plant yield (at least in part) because of increased plant nutrient uptake.


2008 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 1437-1446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milton da Veiga ◽  
Dalvan José Reinert ◽  
José Miguel Reichert ◽  
Douglas Rodrigo Kaiser

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.


2018 ◽  
Vol 98 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.J. Miller ◽  
B.W. Beasley ◽  
C.F. Drury ◽  
F.J. Larney ◽  
X. Hao ◽  
...  

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.


Soil Research ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 851 ◽  
Author(s):  
MS Lorimer ◽  
LA Douglas

The effects of five management practices (native forest, native pasture, Phalaris pasture, crop-pasture rotation, continuous cropping), that had been in place for 18 years, on some soil physical properties of a red-brown earth near Bendigo, Victoria, were studied. Particle size distribution, bulk density and hydraulic conductivity of soil in the A and B horizons at different, management sites were measured. Where cultivation had occurred, soil in the A horizon contained less silt and clay, and more fine sand and coarse sand. The bulk density of the A horizon of soil that had produced at least six wheat crops since 1969 was greater than that of soil used for pasture or forest, while the hydraulic conductivity of soil cropped every year since 1969 was much less than that of soil under native forest. Particle size distributions for soil from the B horizons at the five management sites were found to be similar. Where pastures and crops had been established, the hydraulic conductivity of the upper B horizon was lower, and the bulk density was higher, than that of soil in the native forest (Eucalyptus spp).


1998 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 619-629 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. J. Miller ◽  
E. G. Kokko ◽  
G. C. Kozub

Tillage practice can alter soil structure, porosity and the size distribution of pores. Consequently, this study was conducted to compare the long-term (since 1968) effects of conventional tillage (CT) using a heavy-duty cultivator and no-till (NT) on structure and porosity of a Dark Brown Chernozem (clay loam) soil in southern Alberta. Number and porosity of total, round, intermediate and elongated pores, maximum equivalent circular diameter (MECD), and mean circularity of pore sizes 50–500 µm (P-150), 500–1000 µm (P-500) and >1000 µm (P-1000) diameter were quantified. These parameters were determined for three depths (0–10, 10–20 and 20–30 cm) and two orientations (vertical, horizontal) using UV-dye impregnated soil sections and image analysis. The surface soil (0–10 cm) of CT was dominantly granular-spongy, but for NT it was dominantly crack to massive. Since tillage treatments were not replicated, only general trends on the effect of tillage and its interaction with depth and orientation are given and probability levels are not reported. Tillage treatment had an influence on P-150 and P-500 pores but little or no influence on P-1000 pores. Mean number and porosity of total and intermediate P-500 pores, which are the most important pore size class for seedling root growth in these soils, were higher for CT than NT for the surface soil, but were higher for NT than CT for the subsoil. For example, the total porosity of P-500 pores was 2.21% for CT and 1.95% for NT at the 0- to10-cm depth, 3.80% for NT and 2.27% for CT at the 10- to 20-cm depth, and 3.18% for NT and 2.80% for CT at the 20- to 30-cm depth. These results suggested a higher potential for seedling root growth in the surface soil of CT, but a greater potential for root growth in the subsoil of NT. Key words: structure, porosity, image analysis, tillage


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