Temporal variation of soil sorptivity under conventional and no-till systems determined by a simple laboratory method

Abstract

Soil water sorptivity (S) is an important property that measures the soil capacity to take water rapidly under capillary forces. Usually S is not included in soil laboratory routine experiments because there is not a widely accepted methodology for its determination. The objectives of this work were: i) to propose a modification on the Leeds-Harrison et al. (1994) method (LH) to determine S in undisturbed soil samples; and ii) to determine the temporal variation of S and saturated hydraulic conductivity (K 0) in a soil under conventional tillage (CT) and no-tillage (NT) treatments. Additionally, the influence of soil pore size distribution (PoSD) on S was analyzed. Undisturbed soil samples (5 cm height, 5 cm diameter) were collected from the upper 10 depth cm of each plot, from each treatment at four different times during a maize growing season (before seeding (BS), 6 leaf stage (V6), physiological maturity (R5) and after harvest (AH)). PoSD was determined in a sand box apparatus. After that, S was determined in the same samples using a modified Leeds-Harrison approach. For the proposed modification the difference between initial and final water content was actually gravimetrically measured in each sample, rather than considering it equal to the total porosity (TP). The proposed improvement was validated comparing the obtained S values with those calculated using standard one-dimension horizontal infiltration in sieved soil (0.098 vs 0.079 cm s À1/2 , respectively) and in calibrated sand (0.041 vs 0.040 cm s À1/2 , respectively). These differences were not significant. Both S and K 0 were significantly affected by the sampling time in both treatments (mean values ranged between 0.022 and 0.077 cm s À1/2 and 1.57 and 3.75 cm s À1 respectively). We did not find a significant dependence of S with three pore size ranges analyzed. The proposed improvement of the Leeds-Harrison method allowed determining the temporal variation of S in representative undisturbed soil samples.

Glyphosate dynamics prediction in a soil under conventional and no-tillage systems during the crop cycle

“…Higher values of K 0 under CT as compared with NT after the tillage can be attributed to the loosening effect, also reported by several authors (Angulo-Jaramillo et al, 1997;Strudley et al, 2008;Villarreal et al, 2017). These results are in agreement with several reports from the Pampas region, which showed that tillage effects on soil pore system configuration do not persist after harvest (Sasal et al, 2006;Soracco et al, 2010;Villarreal et al, 2017).…”

“…In general, these functions are taken as constant in time during the crop cycle in most simulation studies (Schwen et al, 2011a). However, several authors emphasized that soil physical properties show temporal variation (Alletto and Coquet, 2009;Hu et al, 2009;Schwen et al, 2011a;Jirků et al, 2013;Lozano et al, 2016;Villarreal et al, 2017;Soracco et al, 2018b) and that this temporal variation has often overshadowed any measured differences between management treatments and situations (Strudley et al, 2008). These temporal changes, especially in the near saturation range, could have a great impact on soil water and solute dynamics.…”

Effects of No-Tillage and Conventional Tillage on Physical and Hydraulic Properties of Fine Textured Soils under Winter Wheat

“…Vogeler et al [21] detected higher K s values under NT rather than CT in a German soil, while no differences were reported under unsaturated conditions by Moret and Arrúe [71]. Villarreal et al [44], comparing CT and NT for a crop rotation including maize and soybean for the last 15 years, detected higher values of S under CT (a factor within the range 1.1-2.4) or variable differences on K s depending on the sampling time, namely higher under CT before seeding or six leaf stage (a factor of 2.4-1.4, respectively), or higher under NT between the six-leaf stage and physiological maturity (a factor of 1.8-1.9). Also, even minor mean differences were observed in terms of soil porosity (total, macro, meso, or microporosity) [44].…”

“…Villarreal et al [44], comparing CT and NT for a crop rotation including maize and soybean for the last 15 years, detected higher values of S under CT (a factor within the range 1.1-2.4) or variable differences on K s depending on the sampling time, namely higher under CT before seeding or six leaf stage (a factor of 2.4-1.4, respectively), or higher under NT between the six-leaf stage and physiological maturity (a factor of 1.8-1.9). Also, even minor mean differences were observed in terms of soil porosity (total, macro, meso, or microporosity) [44]. Although this investigation represents a knowledge contribution for a Mediterranean agro-environment for which a lack of information exists, it provides specific information of short-and long-term effects of NT practice on hydrodynamic and hydrostatic soil properties.…”

Temporal Variation of Soil Physical Quality under Conventional and No-Till Systems

“…In the year 2000, an experimental design with two treatments (NT and CT) was applied. A detailed description of the soil, experimental design, and treatments was provided by Villarreal et al (2017). From the year 2000 the crops were corn, sunflower, and winter cover grass.…”