Effect of sheep and cattle treading damage on soil microporosity and soil water holding capacity

D.J. Houlbrooke and S. Laurenson

Agricultural Water Management, 2013, vol. 121, issue C, 81-84

Abstract: With the recent introduction of a large scale district irrigation scheme into the North Otago Rolling Downlands (NORD) of New Zealand, land use has intensified including a shift from dryland sheep farming to irrigated dairying. Land use change and intensification has lead to considerably greater physical pressure on soils and has been associated with a decline in soil physical condition. A farmlet trial was established in the NORD to compare the influence of four farm management systems; cattle irrigated, cattle dryland, sheep irrigated and sheep dryland on soil structure. Soil compaction under irrigated cattle grazed pasture caused a significant decline in readily available water (RAW) relative to all other treatments. A decline in total porosity and pore size indicated a lower irrigation volume applied more frequently will be required to maintain soil matric potential between irrigation trigger point (−100kPa) and field capacity (−10kPa). Changes in soil water release characteristics under animal grazing may also limit the rate of natural soil structural recovery thereby increasing the risk of repeated soil damage with on-going grazing, particularly under cattle irrigated pasture, where the initial damage was most severe.

Keywords: Irrigation management; Water use efficiency; Soil water holding capacity; Soil compaction; Treading damage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:121:y:2013:i:c:p:81-84

DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2013.01.010

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