Change of soil hardness and soil properties due to tile drainage in the Red River Valley of the North

Jia, Xinhua; Scherer, Thomas F.; DeSutter, Thomas M.; Steele, Dean D.

doi:10.13031/2013.24968

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Due to the number of studies citing decreased bulk density with subsurface drainage installation (Baker et al 2004;Jia et al 2008), we expected bulk density to decrease in fields with longer-term subsurface drainage, as longer-term drainage would have a stronger effect (or perhaps a relationship with another factor, such as tillage). Additionally, bulk density is often a predictor of K fs and is used to approximate K fs in models (Jabro 1992;Rawls et al 1997).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We hypothesized that we would observe differences in K fs between measurements taken nearby subsurface drainage lines and those equidistant between lines; however, the connection between drain spacing and K fs (or infiltration) are not clear (Jia et al 2008;Welage 2020). Additionally, we expected hydraulic conductivity rates to be potentially impacted by historic crop (or standing crop) due to decomposed root material (Mitchell et al 1995;Govaerts et al 2007).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some properties, such as saturated hydraulic conductivity (K fs ) of soil, have been widely measured and modeled in past drainage research (Hundal et al 1976;Bouma et al 1979;Jia et al 2008;Alakukku et al 2010;Welage 2020). Understanding how K fs changes over decades of subsurface drainage use can help growers better understand the evolution of water and nutrient dynamics in their fields.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Alongside assessing water flow through soil with K fs , bulk density and aggregate stability are direct metrics of soil structure aeration and porosity (Hundal et al 1976). Bulk density has been shown to decrease with the installation of subsurface drainage systems (Chow et al 1993;Baker et al 2004), although the effects are of varying magnitudes, with some effects not statistically significant (Hundal et al 1976;Lal and Fausey 1993;Wells and Williams 1996;Jia et al 2008). The impact of subsurface drainage on wet aggregate stability remains unclear, with some studies noting an increase in aggregate stability (Hundal et al 1976;Baker et al 2004;Abid and Lal 2009), and others finding negligible or decreasing aggregation properties (Lal and Fausey 1993;Kumar et al 2014).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comparing the short- and long-term impacts of subsurface drainage installation on soil physical and biological properties

Frankl,

Sherbine,

Strock

et al. 2023

Journal of Soil and Water Conservation

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Subsurface drainage is a common practice used to support agricultural production and increase yields in poorly drained soils. Following decades of subsurface drainage installation, agricultural fields often have increased water discharge and nutrient losses. However, few studies have evaluated the changes in soil properties or soil health metrics at different ages of subsurface drainage. In this study, we attempt to quantify changes to soil properties over time. To achieve this, we sampled six fields in northwest Minnesota representing two timescales: three fields were drained more than 15 years prior to sampling (i.e., subsurface drainage installed prior to 2006), and three fields were drained within 5 years of sampling (i.e., subsurface drainage installed after 2016). We evaluated three soil physical properties: saturated hydraulic conductivity (K fs ), bulk density, and aggregate stability, as well as three soil health metrics at 0 to 15 and 15 to 30 cm: water-extractable organic carbon (WEOC) and nitrogen (WEON), and potentially mineralizable carbon (PMC). The fields with older drainage systems had greater K fs , WEON (all depths), WEOC (15 to 30 cm), and PMC (15 to 30 cm). There were no differences in bulk density, aggregate stability, WEOC (0 to 15 cm), and PMC (0 to 15 cm). We suspect that the increased K fs is likely the result of further development of preferential flow pathways in fields with older drainage systems. These preferential flow paths could also be areas with increased microbial diversity and activity, indicated by the higher biological indicators in the fields with older drainage systems. Our findings suggest that nutrient losses, soil physical properties, and soil health metrics evolve over time. These metrics should be tracked as a standard practice in drainage research to improve our understanding of how subsurface drainage installation changes long-term soil properties. This knowledge will improve the information provided to growers and help them more effectively manage their soil's health and reduce nutrient losses into waterways.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%