Reducing Draft Force Required For Breaking Soil Surface Crust By Using Organic Materials

Abstract

Soil surface crust is a major problem facing the agricultural development. This study aims to investigate the effect of some treatments on the draft force required to break the soil crust. A series of experiments were carried out to investigate the effect of different compaction levels, organic material types and organic materials application rates on the draft force required to break the soil crust under surface irrigation conditions. The tested soil was sandy loam soil with 16.45% CaCO3 content collected from the Egyptian North Coast at El-Hammam city, Marsa Matrouh governorate. A split plot experimental design was incorporated, with two types of crust (wet and dry), three compaction levels (non compaction, medium level 22 KPa, and heavy level 44 KPa), two types of organic materials (cattle manure and compost manure), and three application rates of organic materials (10, 20, and 30 m3/fed). The draft force studied in a fully automated computer programmed soil bin facility using a small coulter. The results indicates that compaction level had a vice effect of the soil crust characteristics. Increasing compaction level increased the draft force required to break the soil surface crust by about 22 and 33% for medium and heavy compaction levels respectively. Manure matter improves soil surface crust characteristics. Medium level of cattle manure (20m3/fed) with no compaction was the best conditions in most cases. It decreased the draft force required to break the soil surface crust by about 60%.