Wheat Stubble Management: I. Influence on Some Physical Properties of a Chernozem Soil

Abstract Four methods of wheat stubble management (burn and plow, plow, one‐way disk, and subsurface‐till) in an alternate wheat‐fallow system on a Chernozem soil were studied for 12 years. Plots were split, with one‐half of each plot receiving N fertilizer. Twelve years of subsurface‐tilling or one‐way disking substantially increased the geometric mean diameter of water‐stable aggregrates and decreased the bulk density of the surface soil as compared with plowing or burning and plowing. The ratio of water entry, 10 minutes to 120 minutes, was substantially lower in wheat plots that had been subsurface‐tilled or plowed than where the plots had been burned and plowed or one‐way disked. Application of N fertilizer did not affect the physical properties measured.