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Effects of occasional tillage on compaction of a clayey soil
**1, 2, Mert ACAR1,*, 3
Zeliha BEREKET BARUT4
1 ukurova University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Adana, Turkey 2 University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Tokat,
Turkey
3Ahi Evran University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, , Turkey 4 ukurova University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Machinery and Technologies
Engineering, Adana, Turkey *Corresponding author: macar@cu.edu.tr
Abstract
Compaction problem occurs under long-term conservative tillage practices when soil loosening is not adequate or never takes place. The occasional tillage called strategic till (ST) where moldboard plow is used only once in no-till is considered as a prevailing management option to the solution of compaction in no-till systems without degrading the long-term soil quality benefits. The purposes of this study are i.) to determine the effects of tillage practices which have been practicing from 2006 in a clayey soil, and ii.) evaluate the effects of strategic tillage on compaction parameters of soil. The experiment was conducted on the Arik Soil Series located at the Experimental and Research Station of Cukurova University. The tillage treatments are: Conventional tillage with stubble (moldboard plowing) (CT-1), Conventional tillage with stubbles burned (CT-2), Heavy disc harrow reduced tillage (RT-1), Rototiller reduced tillage (RT-2), Heavy disc harrow zero soil tillage (HZT), no-till or zero tillage (ZT) and ST on no-till treatment. Penetration resistance (PR) and bulk density (BD) of 0-10 cm, 10-20 cm and 20-30 cm depths were determined as the indicators of soil compaction. Tillage -1, RT-2, HZT and ZT practices l
the compaction. The lowest mean BD (1.17 g cm-3) in 0-10 cm depth as in other two depths was obtained in ST practices. The BD values of 0-10 cm in order of ascending was CT-2
(1.23 g cm-3), RT-1 (1.26 g cm-3), HZT (1.28 g cm-3), RT-2 (1.29 g cm-3), CT-1 (1.32 g cm-3) and ZT (1.36 g cm-3), respectively. The results revealed that ST practice can
successfully be used to eliminate the compaction problem of long-term no till fields.
Keywords: Soil compaction, Strategic soil tillage, No-tillage, Penetration resistance, Bulk density
