Impact of Different Tillage Methods on Silty Loam Luvisol Water Content in Sugar Beet (<i>Beta vulgaris</i> L.) Crop
- 1 Institute of Agroecosystems and Soil Sciences, Aleksandras Stulginskis University, Kaunas, Lithuania
- 2 Institute of Agricultural and Safety Engineering, Aleksandras Stulginskis University, Kaunas, Lithuania
- 3 Institute of Agricultural and Safety Engineering, Aleksandras Stulginskis University, Kaunas, Lithuania; 3Joni?k?lis Experimental Station, Institute of Agricultural and Safety Engineering, Aleksandras Stulginskis University, Kaunas, Lithuania; Joni?k?lis Experimental Station, Lithuanian Research Centre of Agriculture and Forestry, Joni?k?lis, Lithuania
- 4 Institute of Agricultural and Safety Engineering, Aleksandras Stulginskis University, Kaunas, Lithuania
- 5 Institute of Agroecosystems and Soil Sciences, Aleksandras Stulginskis University, Kaunas, Lithuania
Abstract
The regulation of water regime in the soil is the most important task in semi-humid climate with not even precipitation distribution conditions. Reduced or minimum tillage may change soil hydrological properties. The objectives of this study were to investigate the possibilities to manage soil water regime during the whole soil tillage system for sugar beet, which are especially sensitive for water deficit or abundance. Five field experiments were carried out at the Experimental Station of the Lithuanian University of Agriculture (Aleksandras Stulginskis University since 2011) (54° 52'N, 23° 49'E) during 1995-2010. The soil of the experiments was silty loam Luvisol. In this study we highlighted the reduction of primary soil tillage from deep annual soil ploughing to shallow ploughing, deep and shallow cultivation and no till, comparison of soil ploughing and subsoiling, presowing ploughed or unploughed soil tillage with different cultivators—S-tine, complex, rotary and others, soil compressing with Cambridge and spur rollers before and after sugar beet sowing investigations. According to the results of experiments, reduction of primary soil tillage conserved soil water. The highest storage of soil water in spring was observed in non-reversibly tilled or not tilled soil. Subsoiling led higher water infiltration rate, and top layer of subsoiled soil consisted less moisture content than ploughed. Sugar beet seedbed moisture mostly depended on soil tillage intensity and depth. Presowing rotary tilling was the top tillage method in the case of water preservation in ploughed or unploughed soil. Soil compressing with rollers mostly had negative or low influence on light loam Luvisol moisture content. Rolling with Cambridge roller effected on more rapid water transport from deeper to top sugar beet seedbed layers and higher evaporation rate.
- J. He, H. W. Li, X. Y. Wang, A. D. McHugh, W. Y. Li, H. W. Gao and N. J. Kuhn “The Adoption of Annual Subsoiling as Conservation Tillage in Dryland Maize and Wheat Cultivation in Northern China,” Soil and Tillage Research, Vol. 94, No. 2, 2007, pp. 493-502. doi:10.1016/j.still.2006.10.005
- I. G. Martínez, C. Ovalle1, A. Del Pozo, H. Uribe, N. V. Valderrama, Ch. Prat, M. Sandoval, F. Fernández and E. Zagal, “Influence of Conservation Tillage and Soil Water Content on Crop Yield in Dryland Compacted Alfisol of Central Chile,” Chilean Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. 71, No. 4, 2011, pp. 615-622. doi:10.4067/S0718-58392011000400018
- J. Flexas, J. Bota, J. Galmés, H. Medrano and M. Ribas-Carbó, “Keeping a Positive Carbon Balance under Adverse Conditions: Responses of Photosynthesis and Respiration to Water Stress,” Physiologia Plantarum, Vol. 127, No. 3, 2006, pp. 343-352. doi:10.1111/j.1399-3054.2006.00621.x
- P. D. R. Herden, J. W. Swanepoel and G. H. J. Kruger, “Modulation of Photosynthesis by Drought in Two Desert Scrub Species Exhibiting C 3 —Mode CO 2 Assimilation,” Environmental and Experimental Botany, Vol. 61, No. 2, 2007, pp. 124-136. doi:10.1016/j.envexpbot.2007.05.005
- N. Nakayama, H. Saneoka and R. E. A. Moghaieb, “Response of Growth, Photosynthetic Gas Exchange, Translocation of 13 C-Labelled Photosynthetic and Accumulation in Two Soybean (Glycine max L. Merrill) Cultivars to Drought Stress,” International Journal of Agriculture and Biology, Vol. 9, No. 5, 2007, pp. 669-674
- E. Sarauskis, F. Godlinski, A. Sakalauskas, M. Schlegel, N. Kanswohl, K. Romaneckas, A. Jasinskas and V. Pilipavicius, “Effects of Soil Tillage and Sowing Systems on Sugarbeet Production under the Climatic Conditions of Lithuania,” Landbauforschung, Vol. 60, No. 2, 2010, pp.101-110.
- M. A. Licht and M. Al-Kaisi, “Strip-Tillage Effect on Seedbed Soil Temperature and Other Soil Physical Properties,” Soil and Tillage Research, Vol. 80, No. 1-2, 2005, pp. 233-249. doi:10.1016/j.still.2004.03.017
- D. Feiziene, V. Feiza and G. Kadziene, “The Influence of Meteorological Conditions on Soil Water Vapour Exchange Rate and CO 2 Emission under Different Tillage Systems,” Zemdirbyste = Agriculture, Vol. 96, No. 2, 2009, pp. 3-22.
- D. Simanskaite, “The Effect of Ploughing and Ploughless Soil Tillage on Soil Physical Properties and Crop Productivity,” zemes ūkio Mokslai—Agricultural Sciences, Vol. 14, No. 1, 2007. pp. 9-19.
- A. W. Lenssen, G. D. Johnson and G. R. Carlson, “Cropping Sequence and Tillage System Influences Annual Crop Production and Water Use in Semiarid Montana” Field Crops Research, Vol. 100, No. 1, 2007, pp. 32-43. doi:10.1016/j.fcr.2006.05.004