Short-Term Impact of Conservation Agriculture on Soil Strength and Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity in the South African Semiarid Areas

Godwin Iloabuchi Nebo, Alen Manyevere, Tesfay Araya and Johan van Tol
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Godwin Iloabuchi Nebo: Department of Agronomy, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X1314, Alice 5700, South Africa
Alen Manyevere: Department of Agronomy, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X1314, Alice 5700, South Africa
Tesfay Araya: Department of Agronomy, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X1314, Alice 5700, South Africa
Johan van Tol: Department of Soil-and Crop-and Climate Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein 9301, South Africa

Agriculture, 2020, vol. 10, issue 9, 1-12

Abstract: The severe limitation of agricultural land productivity induced by physical soil degradation has become a major concern in semiarid climates, especially in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. A randomized complete block design in a split-split-plot arrangement was used to evaluate the short-term (2012–2015) effects of tillage (no-till (NT) and conventional tillage (CT)), rotation (maize-fallow-maize (MFM); maize-fallow-soybean (MFS); maize-wheat-maize (MWM) and maize-wheat-soybean (MWS)) and residue management (residue removal (R−) and residue retention (R+)) on bulk density (BD), penetration resistance (PR), soil hydraulic conductivity (Ks) and macroporosity hydraulic conductivity. The interaction of tillage × crop rotation × residue management was not significant ( p > 0.05) with respect to BD, PR, Ks and macroporosity. The MFM rotation had the highest BD (1.40 g cm −3 ), followed by MWM rotation (1.36 g cm −3 ), and the least BD was observed in the MFS rotation (1.29 g cm −3 ). Penetration resistance was significantly higher in CT (2.43 MPa) compared to NT (1.46 MPa). The study concludes that inclusion of MFS and MWS rotations can potentially reduce BD in the short term. Similarly, conversion from CT to NT reduces soil resistance.

Keywords: soil bulk density; soil penetration resistance; soil moisture; macroporosity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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