TY - JOUR

T1 - Soil structure of a clay loam as affected by long-term tillage and residue management

AU - Eden, Marie

AU - Bachmann, Jörg

AU - Cavalaris, Chris

AU - Kostopoulou, Sofia

AU - Kozaiti, Markela

AU - Böttcher, Jürgen

N1 - Funding information: [ The work leading to this publication was supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under REA grant agreement n° 605728 (P.R.I.M.E. – Postdoctoral Researchers International Mobility Experience). In the field we received greatly appreciated support by Chris Karamoutis. We thank Prof. Jörg Völkel (TUM) for soil mineralogy determination using X-ray diffractometry, which provided information about dolomite. Dr. Frank Schaarschmidt (LUH) greatly helped us with the statistical interpretation of our data and we thank him for that. Finally, we want to thank Tobias Klages, who carried out gas diffusion measurements in the lab. The work leading to this publication was supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under REA grant agreement n° 605728 (P.R.I.M.E. – Postdoctoral Researchers International Mobility Experience)

PY - 2020/10

Y1 - 2020/10

N2 - Soil structure is of great importance for a number of other related properties and agricultural management affects it. Under semiarid climatic conditions, soil water for crop growth is particularly important and water retention characteristics are highly dependent on soil structure. Soil physical properties relevant to infer structure were examined along with some basic parameters in a Greek long-term experiment (Thesustill). The objectives of this study were the impacts of tillage system (conventional, reduced and no-till) and crop residue management (removed or remaining) in a sandy clay loam on the functionality of the pore network. Soil organic carbon content and aggregate stability increased with reduction in soil disturbance and greater inputs of organic material. Dexter-n, representing the amount of organic carbon not complexed with clay, which controls soil physical behaviour, improved with addition of crop residues and even more so with reduction in tillage intensity. No-till had a negative impact on soil bulk density and penetration resistance, water retention was increased between pF 1.5 to 4.2. A major result was that reduced tillage was most beneficial in terms of plant available water, also the pore network and its connectivity improved as indicated by gas diffusion results. No-till had far lower air-filled porosities at comparable matric potentials than tilled soils, but diffusivities were high, suggesting well-connected pipe-like pores. Results were unaffected by textural variability. Reduced tillage overall is the most promising option, the impact of residue management likely needs more time to induce the expectable improvements.

AB - Soil structure is of great importance for a number of other related properties and agricultural management affects it. Under semiarid climatic conditions, soil water for crop growth is particularly important and water retention characteristics are highly dependent on soil structure. Soil physical properties relevant to infer structure were examined along with some basic parameters in a Greek long-term experiment (Thesustill). The objectives of this study were the impacts of tillage system (conventional, reduced and no-till) and crop residue management (removed or remaining) in a sandy clay loam on the functionality of the pore network. Soil organic carbon content and aggregate stability increased with reduction in soil disturbance and greater inputs of organic material. Dexter-n, representing the amount of organic carbon not complexed with clay, which controls soil physical behaviour, improved with addition of crop residues and even more so with reduction in tillage intensity. No-till had a negative impact on soil bulk density and penetration resistance, water retention was increased between pF 1.5 to 4.2. A major result was that reduced tillage was most beneficial in terms of plant available water, also the pore network and its connectivity improved as indicated by gas diffusion results. No-till had far lower air-filled porosities at comparable matric potentials than tilled soils, but diffusivities were high, suggesting well-connected pipe-like pores. Results were unaffected by textural variability. Reduced tillage overall is the most promising option, the impact of residue management likely needs more time to induce the expectable improvements.

KW - Gas diffusion

KW - Plant available water

KW - Residues

KW - Soil structure

KW - Tillage system

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85088381866&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.still.2020.104734

DO - 10.1016/j.still.2020.104734

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85088381866

VL - 204

JO - Soil and Tillage Research

JF - Soil and Tillage Research

SN - 0167-1987

M1 - 104734

ER -