Differences in topsoil properties of a sandy loam soil under different tillage treatments

Soil tillage is one of the key soil management practices in agricultural land use. Hydraulic conductivity of the surface layer modifies water infiltration into the soil profile and possible runoff formation. The treatment of the surface layer affects the soil pore system (distribution and connectivity of macroscopic cracks, voids, holes, etc.). The aim of this study was to evaluate an effect of different tillage treatments on soil hydrophysical properties in the top layer of a sandy loam soil. The tillage treatments were as follows: conventional plough, shallow plough, minimum tillage, direct drill and no-treatment. The effect of wheel traffic was also evaluated by measuring the infiltration rates in the wheel marks. An automated tension infiltrometer (Spongrova et al., 2009) was employed to measure the infiltration rates. The following soil characteristics were calculated: hydraulic conductivity function K ( h), hydraulic conductivity at saturation Ks, numbers of macro- and mesopores per m 2 of soil. The ANOVA results show that the plot with no-treatment and minimum tillage had higher K(h) values near saturation than the tilled soils which did not differ significantly from each other. The wheel traffic led to soil compaction and a significant reduction in the hydraulic conductivity close to saturation.