U.S. Department of Agriculture: Agricultural Research Service, Lincoln, Nebraska
Date of this Version
December 1984
Abstract
Soil physical characteristics of reduced tillage for fallow-wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were compared for two soils in western Nebraska. The soil physical environment influences the amount of water that enters soil, the availability of water for plants, and the microenvironment important to soil biological processes. Fallow tillage (plow, subtill, no till) did not affect bulk density in Alliance silt loam (fine silty, mixed mesic, Aridic Argiustolls). For Duroc loam (fine silty, mixed mesic Pachic Haplustolls), in which native sod was compared to the above three wheat-fallow tillage methods, numerous effects on soil physical properties were found. Reduced tillage reduced bulk density in the O- to 76-mm layer. Hydraulic conductivity (H.C.) in the surface 300 mm was greater for native sod than for plowed and subtilled soil. Air permeability (ka) was lowest and water permeability( kW) was highest in the native sod. The ratio, ka/kW, an indicator of soil structural stability, showed native sod was most stable and the plowed soil was least stable. Infiltration was least for plowed soil, and, after 4 h, infiltration into subtilled, chemical, and native sod was 2.2, 2.4, and 4.7 times greater, respectively. Based on precipitation records and infiltration characteristics, water would seldom run off the surface of these soils.
Comments
Published in TRANSACTIONS of the ASAE-1984.