Effects of tillage intensity on pore system and physical quality of silt-textured soils detected by multiple methods
Thomas Weninger
A E , Janis Kreiselmeier B C , Parvathy Chandrasekhar B C , Stefan Julich C , Karl-Heinz Feger C , Kai Schwärzel B , Gernot Bodner D and Andreas Schwen A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Institute for Soil Physics and Rural Water Management, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Muthgasse 18, 1190 Vienna, Austria.
B UNU Institute for Integrated Management of Material Fluxes and of Resources (UNU-FLORES), United Nations University, 01067 Dresden, Germany.
C Institute of Soil Science and Site Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, TU Dresden, 01737 Tharandt, Germany.
D Division of Agronomy, Department of Crop Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Konrad Lorenz-Straße 24, 3430 Tulln, Austria.
E Corresponding author. Email: thomas.weninger@boku.ac.at
Soil Research 57(7) 703-711 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR18347
Submitted: 23 November 2018 Accepted: 29 April 2019 Published: 1 July 2019
Journal Compilation © CSIRO 2019 Open Access CC BY-NC-ND
Abstract
Understanding the effects of agricultural management practices on soil functionality is an ongoing challenge in environmental science and agricultural practice. In the present study we quantified the effects of changes in tillage intensity on soil physical quality and pore size distribution after 6, 10 and 23 years. At three long-term tillage experimental sites in central Europe we analysed soils under four different soil management systems: conventional mouldboard tillage; chiselling + rotary harrow; rotary harrow; and no till. These treatments differed in mechanical intensity and depth. Pore size distributions were calculated from soil water retention curves based on high-resolution measurements. Subsequently, fractions of functional pore size classes and indicators of soil physical quality were determined and compared between the treatments. In addition, we evaluated the performance of two calculation approaches for pore size distribution: (1) fitting of a smoothing cubic spline; and (2) a bimodal van Genuchten function. The parametric function yielded a higher proportion of storage pores by approximately 3–5%. The combination of multiple measurement and evaluation methods enabled detailed comparison of soil physical characteristics between different tillage treatments. No-till soils showed a distinct lack of transmissive pores and higher bulk density, but similar plant-available water capacity, compared with the other treatments. Under all soil management systems, aeration deficits were observed, emphasising the high vulnerability for compaction of silt-dominated arable soils with a low organic matter content. Hence, the design of agricultural soil management strategies on such soils needs to consider the risks of compaction as thoroughly as erosion or chemical degradation.
Additional keywords: high-resolution measurements, hydraulic soil properties, pore size distribution, soil degradation, soil management.
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