First-year cover crop effects on the physical and hydraulic properties of the surface layer in a loamy soil

Soil degradation is a global problem, threating its conservation and affecting agronomic production. No-tillage (NT) is the main management system for soil conservation world-wide. However, in Argentina, simplification of the crop sequence with high proportion of soybean under NT is a very common pr...

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Autores principales: Villarreal, Rafael, Lozano, Luis Alberto, Melani, Esteban Miguel, Polich, Nicolás Guillermo, Salazar Landea, María Paz, Bellora, Guido Lautaro, Soracco, Carlos Germán
Formato: Articulo
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2021
Materias:
Ciencias Agrarias
hydraulic conductivity
evaporation method
mini-infiltration
no-tillage
Acceso en línea:http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/159186
Aporte de:
SEDICI (UNLP) de Universidad Nacional de La Plata
id I19-R120-10915-159186
record_format dspace
spelling I19-R120-10915-1591862023-10-20T20:04:17Z http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/159186 First-year cover crop effects on the physical and hydraulic properties of the surface layer in a loamy soil Villarreal, Rafael Lozano, Luis Alberto Melani, Esteban Miguel Polich, Nicolás Guillermo Salazar Landea, María Paz Bellora, Guido Lautaro Soracco, Carlos Germán 2021-09 2023-10-20T18:11:45Z en Ciencias Agrarias hydraulic conductivity evaporation method mini-infiltration no-tillage Soil degradation is a global problem, threating its conservation and affecting agronomic production. No-tillage (NT) is the main management system for soil conservation world-wide. However, in Argentina, simplification of the crop sequence with high proportion of soybean under NT is a very common practice, leading to soil physical constrains. Crop sequence intensification through the inclusion of cover crops has been reported as an effective tool in the long-term for the enhancement of ecosystems services, improving NT performance. The objective of this work was to follow the evolution of the structural pore domain in the surface layer during the first year after the incorporation of cover crop (cover fallow of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and vetch (Vicia sp. L.), CF), as compared with bare fallow (BF), under NT management in a field experiment located in the Argentinean Depressed Pampas Region. Mini-infiltration and evaporation experiments were conducted in undisturbed soil samples (0-5 cm depth) in the laboratory in order to determine the pore size distribution (PoSD) and hydraulic conductivity (K (h)) functions in three different dates (after cover crop seeding, after maize seeding and before maize harvest) in order to follow the changes in soil pore functioning during the first year of cover cropping management. Changes in the soil pore functioning were observed in the short-term after the first cover crop cycle, showing the time-dependence of the hydraulic soil properties. These changes were mainly observed during the maize cycle. Under CF an increment of structural porosity (PS) was observed at the end of the maize crop cycle, while during the fallow period this variable remained relatively constant. K (h) and structural porosity connectivity (Cw) showed a rapid increment under BF during the fallow period, while under CF the increase was more gradual, which could be related to pore clogging and roots decay cycles. From the obtained results, we found that the introduction of cover crops under NT promotes the increment of a secondary pore system related to structural soil porosity during the first year and enhances the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity and pore connectivity, especially at the end of the summer crop cycle. Our results highlight the importance of including cover crops into the crop rotation to improve the structural porosity and its connectivity. As well, the results show the necessity of including the short-term changes in the study of soil hydraulics properties. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales Articulo Articulo http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) application/pdf
institution Universidad Nacional de La Plata
institution_str I-19
repository_str R-120
collection SEDICI (UNLP)
language Inglés
topic Ciencias Agrarias
hydraulic conductivity
evaporation method
mini-infiltration
no-tillage
spellingShingle Ciencias Agrarias
hydraulic conductivity
evaporation method
mini-infiltration
no-tillage
Villarreal, Rafael
Lozano, Luis Alberto
Melani, Esteban Miguel
Polich, Nicolás Guillermo
Salazar Landea, María Paz
Bellora, Guido Lautaro
Soracco, Carlos Germán
First-year cover crop effects on the physical and hydraulic properties of the surface layer in a loamy soil
topic_facet Ciencias Agrarias
hydraulic conductivity
evaporation method
mini-infiltration
no-tillage
description Soil degradation is a global problem, threating its conservation and affecting agronomic production. No-tillage (NT) is the main management system for soil conservation world-wide. However, in Argentina, simplification of the crop sequence with high proportion of soybean under NT is a very common practice, leading to soil physical constrains. Crop sequence intensification through the inclusion of cover crops has been reported as an effective tool in the long-term for the enhancement of ecosystems services, improving NT performance. The objective of this work was to follow the evolution of the structural pore domain in the surface layer during the first year after the incorporation of cover crop (cover fallow of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and vetch (Vicia sp. L.), CF), as compared with bare fallow (BF), under NT management in a field experiment located in the Argentinean Depressed Pampas Region. Mini-infiltration and evaporation experiments were conducted in undisturbed soil samples (0-5 cm depth) in the laboratory in order to determine the pore size distribution (PoSD) and hydraulic conductivity (K (h)) functions in three different dates (after cover crop seeding, after maize seeding and before maize harvest) in order to follow the changes in soil pore functioning during the first year of cover cropping management. Changes in the soil pore functioning were observed in the short-term after the first cover crop cycle, showing the time-dependence of the hydraulic soil properties. These changes were mainly observed during the maize cycle. Under CF an increment of structural porosity (PS) was observed at the end of the maize crop cycle, while during the fallow period this variable remained relatively constant. K (h) and structural porosity connectivity (Cw) showed a rapid increment under BF during the fallow period, while under CF the increase was more gradual, which could be related to pore clogging and roots decay cycles. From the obtained results, we found that the introduction of cover crops under NT promotes the increment of a secondary pore system related to structural soil porosity during the first year and enhances the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity and pore connectivity, especially at the end of the summer crop cycle. Our results highlight the importance of including cover crops into the crop rotation to improve the structural porosity and its connectivity. As well, the results show the necessity of including the short-term changes in the study of soil hydraulics properties.
format Articulo
Articulo
author Villarreal, Rafael
Lozano, Luis Alberto
Melani, Esteban Miguel
Polich, Nicolás Guillermo
Salazar Landea, María Paz
Bellora, Guido Lautaro
Soracco, Carlos Germán
author_facet Villarreal, Rafael
Lozano, Luis Alberto
Melani, Esteban Miguel
Polich, Nicolás Guillermo
Salazar Landea, María Paz
Bellora, Guido Lautaro
Soracco, Carlos Germán
author_sort Villarreal, Rafael
title First-year cover crop effects on the physical and hydraulic properties of the surface layer in a loamy soil
title_short First-year cover crop effects on the physical and hydraulic properties of the surface layer in a loamy soil
title_full First-year cover crop effects on the physical and hydraulic properties of the surface layer in a loamy soil
title_fullStr First-year cover crop effects on the physical and hydraulic properties of the surface layer in a loamy soil
title_full_unstemmed First-year cover crop effects on the physical and hydraulic properties of the surface layer in a loamy soil
title_sort first-year cover crop effects on the physical and hydraulic properties of the surface layer in a loamy soil
publishDate 2021
url http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/159186
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