Impact of Hillslope Agriculture on Soil Compaction and Seasonal Water Dynamics in a Temperate Vineyard

Jasmina Defterdarović (), Lana Filipović, Gabrijel Ondrašek, Igor Bogunović, Ivan Dugan, Vinod Phogat, Hailong He, Mehran Rezaei Rashti, Ehsan Tavakkoli, Thomas Baumgartl, Abolfazl Baghbani, Timothy I. McLaren and Vilim Filipović ()
Additional contact information
Jasmina Defterdarović: Department of Soil Amelioration, Division for Agroecology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Lana Filipović: Department of Soil Amelioration, Division for Agroecology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Gabrijel Ondrašek: Department of Soil Amelioration, Division for Agroecology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Igor Bogunović: Department of General Agronomy, Division for Agroecology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Ivan Dugan: Department of General Agronomy, Division for Agroecology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Vinod Phogat: Crop Sciences, South Australian Research and Development Institute, GPO Box 397, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia
Hailong He: College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
Mehran Rezaei Rashti: Australia Rivers Institute and School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia
Ehsan Tavakkoli: School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, The University of Adelaide, PMB No.1, Glen Osmond, Urrbrae, SA 5064, Australia
Thomas Baumgartl: Future Regions Research Centre, Geotechnical and Hydrogeological Engineering Research Group, Federation University, Latrobe, VIC 3841, Australia
Abolfazl Baghbani: Department of Engineering, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC 3086, Australia
Timothy I. McLaren: School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
Vilim Filipović: Department of Soil Amelioration, Division for Agroecology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

Land, 2024, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-17

Abstract: Major losses of agricultural production and soils are caused by erosion, which is especially pronounced on hillslopes due to specific hydrological processes and heterogeneity. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the impact of agricultural management on the compaction, infiltration, and seasonal water content dynamics of the hillslope. Measurements were made at the hilltop and footslope, i.e., soil water content and potential were measured using sensors, wick lysimeters were used to quantify water flux, while a mini-disk infiltrometer was used to measure the infiltration rate and calculate the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity ( K_unsat ). Soil texture showed differences between hillslope positions, i.e., at the hilltop after 50 cm depth, the soil is classified as silty clay loam, and from 75 cm onward, the soil is silty clay, while at the footslope, the soil is silt loam even at the deeper depths. The results show a higher K_unsat at the footslope as well as higher average water volumes collected in wick lysimeters compared to the hilltop. Average water volumes showed a statistically significant difference at p < 0.01 between the hilltop and the footslope. The soil water content and water potential sensors showed higher values at the footslope at all depths, i.e., 8.0% at 15 cm, 8.4% at 30 cm, and 27.3% at 45 cm. The results show that, even though the vineyard is located in a relatively small area, soil heterogeneity is present, affecting the water flow along the hillslope. This suggests the importance of observing water movement in the soil, especially today when facing extreme weather (e.g., short-term high-intensity rainfall events) in order to protect soil and water resources.

Keywords: hillslope; infiltration; sensors; wick lysimeters; compaction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/5/588/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/5/588/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:5:p:588-:d:1385247

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().