Influence of Conservation Agriculture on Some Physical Properties of a Red Ferralitic Soil

Abstract

In recent years, it has become aware that the factors that limit the agro-productive capacity of soils are derived from the phenomenon of physical degradation that they have experienced, which has been a consequence of intensive tillage with highly productive conventional tillage technologies. In Cuba, despite the advances in tillage, conventional tillage based on the use of plows and disk harrows still prevails, which adversely affect the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil, hence the importance of looking for alternatives that mitigate such effects. The present work was developed in the "Pulido" Science and Technical Unit belonging to the Agricultural Engineering Research Institute with the aim of evaluating the behavior of the physical and hydrophysical properties of the soil under the influence of two technologies of soil preparation, (Conventional Tillage and Conservation Agriculture) the first based on the use of disc implements, the second on the application of the three principles of Conservation Agriculture (minimum soil mobilization, permanent coverage and crop rotation). To evaluate the changes, two plots were established, in which 9 sampling points were taken with three repetitions, for a total of 27 for each area at depths of 0-10, 11-20, 21-30. The results indicate favorable changes in favor of conservation tillage, since a decrease in apparent density and compaction superior to 7%.