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Tillage and Traffic Influences on Water and Solute Transport in Corn‐Soybean Systems
Author(s) -
Wu L.,
Swan J. B.,
Allmaras R. R.,
Logsdon S. D.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj1995.03615995005900010028x
Subject(s) - loam , macropore , tillage , soil water , plough , soil science , subsoil , silt , environmental science , conventional tillage , chemistry , agronomy , hydrology (agriculture) , geology , geomorphology , geotechnical engineering , mesoporous material , biochemistry , biology , catalysis
Tillage management many influence water and solute movement throughout the root zone. To evaluate tillage effects on solute transport, parameters were estimated from breakthrough curves and directly measured macropores in no‐till (NT) and moldboard‐plowing (MBD) systems with traffic control on a Nicollet clay loam (fine‐loamy, mixed, mesic Aquic Hapludoll) and a Rozetta silt loam (fine‐silty, mixed, mesic Typic Hapludalf). Ridge tillage recently imposed on long‐term NT (RT/NT) was compared with chisel tillage (CHT) on a Seaton silt loam (fine‐silty, mixed, mesic Typic Hapludalf) where manure was injected without traffic control. Breakthrough curves (Br − tracer) were measured in undisturbed soil cores from the Ap horizon (0–250 mm) and adjacent subsoil (250–500 mm) and were fitted to a physical, nonequilibrium two‐domain model to estimate mean pore‐water velocity of the mobile domain ( V m ) and the fraction of water ( v ) participating in Br − transport. The V m ranged from 0.10 to 10 mm s −1 , while v ranged from 0.02 to 0.50. Means did not differ between the Nicollet and Rozetta soils in 1988, yet significant tillage × horizon interactions indicated more solute bypass in NT than in MBD. More macropores and a larger macropore conductivity ( K m ) were observed in NT than in MBD. Greater V m and smaller v occurred ( P < 0.05) in CHT than in RT/NT because RT/NT lacked secondary cultivation to remove compaction from manure injection. Traffic control in NT on the Nicollet and Rozetta soils produced high V m and low v compared with RT/NT on the Seaton soil. Both V m and v can be estimated from the more easily measured K m .