Advances and challenges in predicting agricultural management effects on soil hydraulic properties
Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to present the advances made thus far in quantifying and predicting the effects of agricultural management on soil hydraulic properties. The basic soil hydraulic properties of interest are soil porosity, soil-water content-matric potential relationship (θ(h), commonly called the soil-water retention characteristic), and hydraulic conductivity as a function of soil-water content or potential, K(θ) or K(h). A particular goal is to characterize the management-induced temporal and spatial variability in observed or estimated soil hydraulic properties and processes. There is limited information available on this topic area, despite many field studies of soil variability and management effects. The sparcity of quantitative research on management effects has been noted at various times in the literature Cassel, 1983, Mapa et al., 1986, Hill, 1990, Cresswell et al., 1993, van Es et al., 1999.
Nevertheless, we found many studies in the literature relating management practices to soil hydraulic properties and processes in a non-predictive sense. A comprehensive review of this literature is beyond the scope of this paper. Instead, we focus on the available quantitative, predictive studies and highlight the needs and challenges for further work.
Section snippets
Tillage and reconsolidation
Tillage is the most widely researched management practice affecting soil hydraulic properties and processes in the field. Results of tillage treatments, however, have not always been consistent across locations, soils and experimental designs Klute, 1982, Hines, 1986, Ahuja and Nielsen, 1990. This situation has not changed.
No-tillage (NT) and minimum tillage (MT) have been compared with various conventional tillage (CT) practices over different time periods with mixed results. In general, the
Mechanical compaction
Mechanical loading of soils under vehicles used for management practices can compact the soil, causing increased bulk density, decreased porosity, and altered pore shapes and size distributions (Warkentin, 1971). Changes in these basic soil properties change the soil-water retention and hydraulic conductivity characteristics, and changes in these hydraulic properties affect the amount of infiltration and available soil water.
The amount of soil compaction depends on the applied load, soil type
Crop residue management
Studies of the direct effects of crop residue management on soil hydraulic properties and processes have focused on the use of surface residue to control soil crusting or sealing. Duley (1939) studied the effects of surface factors on infiltration using residue cover and man-made material to protect the soil surface. Fig. 7 provides an illustration of infiltration (soil intake) rates with two surface covers (straw and burlap), which subsequently were removed to allow the soil to seal, thus
Additional work and challenges for prediction
Several challenges and needs for further research have been highlighted in the sections above. The following section reviews studies that may be viewed as the first steps toward quantitative prediction in some of the most challenging areas. In particular, we highlight the need for innovative research on cropping systems and management practices affecting soil macropores, followed by the effects of interactions between some of the management practices reviewed above. In addition to management
Discussion and summary
We have provided an overview of the advances and challenges in quantifying agricultural management effects on soil hydraulic properties particularly relevant to temporal, but also spatial, variability. Despite a shortage of investigations directly addressing our topic, we have identified a number of studies quantifying management effects on at least a few basic soil properties, and their relevance to more detailed characterization of soil hydraulic properties and processes.
Experimental results
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Dr. Gale Dunn and Mike Murphy for collection of sample cores in Colorado. Dr. Liwang Ma was instrumental in data analyses for wheel-track effects. We also thank Prof. Gary Peterson for collaboration at the Lindstrom Farm, Colorado, and Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Lindstrom for the use of their land for long-term field experiments.
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