<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Reduced soil tillage practices are claimed to improve soil health, fertility and productivity through improved soil structure and higher soil organic matter contents. This study compares soil structure stability of soil aggregates under three different tillage practices: conventional, reduced and no tillage. The erosive strength of soil aggregates has been determined using the abrasion technique with the soil aggregate erosion chambers (SAE). During abrasion soil aggregates have been separated into the exterior, transitional and interior regions. The forces needed to remove the material from the aggregate were calculated as erosive strength and compared with the tensile strength of the aggregates derived from crushing tests. The relationship between aggregate strength and other soil properties such as organic carbon and hydrophobic groups’ content has also been identified. </p><p>The results show that erosive and tensile strength of soil aggregates is very low in topsoil under conventional and reduced tillage comparing with the subsoil horizons. Negative correlation was found between the content of organic carbon, hydrophobic compounds and erosive aggregate strength which suggests that the stabilising effect of soils organic carbon may be lost with drying. The positive relationship between the tensile strength and erosive strength for aggregates of 8-5 mm size suggests that the total strength of these aggregates is controlled by the sum of strength of all concentric layers</p></abstract>

Reduced soil tillage practices are claimed to improve soil health, fertility and productivity through improved soil structure and higher soil organic matter contents. This study compares soil structure stability of soil aggregates under three different tillage practices: conventional, reduced and no tillage. The erosive strength of soil aggregates has been determined using the abrasion technique with the soil aggregate erosion chambers (SAE). During abrasion soil aggregates have been separated into the exterior, transitional and interior regions. The forces needed to remove the material from the aggregate were calculated as erosive strength and compared with the tensile strength of the aggregates derived from crushing tests. The relationship between aggregate strength and other soil properties such as organic carbon and hydrophobic groups’ content has also been identified. The results show that erosive and tensile strength of soil aggregates is very low in topsoil under conventional and reduced tillage comparing with the subsoil horizons. Negative correlation was found between the content of organic carbon, hydrophobic compounds and erosive aggregate strength which suggests that the stabilising effect of soils organic carbon may be lost with drying. The positive relationship between the tensile strength and erosive strength for aggregates of 8-5 mm size suggests that the total strength of these aggregates is controlled by the sum of strength of all concentric layers

Tensile and erosive strength of soil macro-aggregates from soils under different management system

Royal Society Research Fellow, Swansea University, College of Science, Department of Geography, Singleton Park, Swansea, UK.

Institute for Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany.

Institute for Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany

Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA.

Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Reduced soil tillage practices are claimed to improve soil health, fertility and productivity through improved soil structure and higher soil organic matter...

Tensile and erosive strength of soil macro-aggregates from soils under different management system

Published Online: Nov 15, 2014

Page range: 324 - 333

Received: Jun 23, 2014

Accepted: Aug 12, 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/johh-2014-0034

© 2014

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.