Direction-dependent behaviour of hydraulic and mechanical properties in structured soils under conventional and conservation tillage

Influence of grazing on hydraulic and mechanical properties of semiarid steppe soils under different vegetation type in Inner Mongolia, China

“…In well developed, aggregated soils no anisotropy in soil functions should be expected (Dörner and Horn 2009) as it can be seen from the results of saturated hydraulic conductivity at LCh UG79. On the other hand, slightly higher values of saturated hydraulic conductivity in horizontal direction at the SG UG79 underline that the recovery process from grazing is still not finalized at this site.…”

Soil structure and greenhouse gas production differences between row and interrow positions under no-tillage

“…There were two values below 1 µm 2 ( Figure 1D), which is the value considered by Ball et al (1988) to represent pore blockage of the system, because when Ka = 1 µm 2 (log Ka = 0) the pores were blocked and would not be part of the convective air transport (McQueen & Shepherd, 2002). This low Ka is related to the action of mechanical stresses determined by the intensive traffi c of machinery on wet soil conditions that reduce air permeability as a consequence of reduced macroporosity (Dörner and Horn, 2009). On the other hand, the mean Ka (Table 2) was about three times higher in the rows than that measured by Bavoso et al (2012), indicating that mobilization provoked by the implement used for seeding (furrow openers) promoted the aeration of the soil at specifi c areas.…”

Two decades of no-till in the Oberacker long-term field experiment: Part II. Soil porosity and gas transport parameters

“…Moreover, no-till may create dense topsoils, with negative impacts on soil aeration and root penetration resistance (Kay and VandenBygaart, 2002;Schjønning and Thomsen, 2013;Nunes et al, 2015). Conventional tillage using mouldboard ploughing may result in reduced earthworm populations (Díaz-Zorita and Grove, 2002;Kay and VandenBygaart, 2002), interruption of pores and a horizontally orientated pore system at the plough pan (Dörner and Horn, 2009;Alaoui et al, 2011;Berisso et al, 2013). It may also cause subsoil compaction by in-furrow ploughing (Lipiec and Hatano, 2003).…”