Variations in near-saturated hydraulic conductivity of arable mineral topsoils in south-western and central-eastern Finland

Abstract

Soil hydraulic properties play an important role in determining the level of crop productivity and the extent of environmental loading. Consequently, measurement of near-saturated soil hydraulic conductivity (K(h)) by tension infiltrometer (TI) is an interesting technique. To provide reference values for near-saturated K(h) in arable mineral topsoils of Finland and to investigate variability in these values caused by tillage, antecedent soil moisture content and earthworm burrows, field measurements were conducted in south-western and central-eastern Finland using the TI technique, at supply pressure head –6, –3, and –1 cm. The range of near-saturated K(h) values obtained was 0.02–12.6 mm h-1 at –6 cm, 0.30–85.9 mm h-1 at –3 cm, and 2.55–250 mm h-1 at –1 cm. At –6 cm pressure head, clay soils tended to show lower values than coarser-structured soils, but the order was reversed at –1 cm. The spatial variation in near-saturated K(h) was moderate and was exceeded by the temporal variation.

Comparing structural soil properties of boreal clay fields under contrasting soil management

“…While soil management is known to impact soil structural properties (Bronick & Lal, 2005; Pagliai et al., 2004; Skaalsveen et al., 2019), it is challenging to obtain general information about the direct effects of management as several additional interrelated factors influence the structure of soil as well. These factors include for example soil type and climatic conditions but also study setup and especially the sampling time due to temporal variation of soil structural quantities especially in tilled soils where consolidation occurring during the growing season may affect the results (Keskinen et al., 2019; Sandin et al., 2017). Therefore, it is perhaps not surprising that results for the impacts of soil management reported in the literature are partly controversial (Blanco‐Canqui & Ruis, 2018).…”

“…Soil management is known to significantly impact soil structure (Bronick & Lal, 2005; Pagliai et al., 2004). Tillage mode and intensity influence pore structure and thus soil functions such as water retention properties, hydraulic conductivity and aeration (Keskinen et al., 2019; Kreiselmeier et al., 2020; Schlüter et al., 2020). For example, Jarvis et al.…”

“…Generally, reduced tillage intensity has been considered to have positive effects on soil structural properties but results on the structural differences between no‐tillage and conventional tillage are partly incoherent (Abdollahi & Munkholm, 2017; Blanco‐Canqui & Ruis, 2018; Strudley et al., 2008). After a new management system has been taken into use, soil structural properties change both within the growing season (Keskinen et al., 2019; Sandin et al., 2017), and over longer time scales (Reichert et al., 2016). Influences of earlier reduced tillage on soil physical properties have been observed to persist over occasional ploughing events (Kuhwald et al., 2017) even though the impacts of such occasional tillage are controversial (Blanco‐Canqui & Wortmann, 2020).…”

“…Soil management is known to significantly impact soil structure (Bronick & Lal, 2005;Pagliai et al, 2004). Tillage mode and intensity influence pore structure and thus soil functions such as water retention properties, hydraulic conductivity and aeration (Keskinen et al, 2019;Kreiselmeier et al, 2020;Schlüter et al, 2020). For example, Jarvis et al (2013) collected and analysed a global dataset of hydraulic conductivity measurements and concluded that arable soils have 2-3 times smaller hydraulic conductivity than soils under natural vegetation or perennial agriculture.…”

Variability and spatial distribution of hydrodynamic properties in soil with preserved Caatinga

“…Criteria that qualify the variability indices according to their coefficient of variation are commonly used to characterize these indices and their distribution in space. An example is the Warrick & Nielsen (1980) criteria, used in several studies, such as those by Cheong et al (2020), Keskinen et al (2019) and Moradi et al (2016). Also, it is common to spatialize these parameters through geostatistical analyzes, with the help of GIS environments, as performed by Souza et al (2017), Oliveira Júnior et al (2014, and Souza et al (2008a).…”