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Impact of crop residue retention and tillage on water infiltration into a water-repellent soil

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Abstract

Water repellence is a condition in which soils become hydrophobic and do not readily absorb water. The condition causes problems in agricultural production relating to water availability for seed germination and plant growth. In this research we assess the impact of disturbing the soil by a single annual soil tillage (compared with no-till) and crop residue retention (compared with residue removal by burning) on the severity of water repellency, and on water infiltration during and immediately after rainfall, for 5 discrete rainfall events over an 18-month period covering two crop growing seasons. Soil tillage and crop residue removal were associated with decreased severity of water repellency. Despite this, soil tillage resulted in less infiltration of rain water, especially in the crop inter-row spaces, one hour after the commencement of rainfall, and 6 hours after the conclusion of rainfall. Where a single soil tillage was performed, soil in the inter-row spaces absorbed 19–30% of incident rainfall, compared with 58–78% in undisturbed soils. This was observed for a rainfall event 11 months after soil tillage, indicating that soil tillage has a long-lasting impact on pathways of water entry into the soil.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to Stott and Charmaine Redman for access to the land on which we performed the research. Assistance in the field from Elisa Spengler, of the Ravensthorpe Agricultural Initiative Network, and from Angela Keulen (CSIRO), is gratefully acknowledged. This research was funded by CSIRO and the Grains Research and Development Corporation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIRO Agriculture, Private Bag No 5, Wembley, WA, 6913, Australia

    Philip R. Ward, Margaret M. Roper, Ramona Jongepier & Shayne F. Micin

  2. Institute of Agriculture, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Nedlands, WA, 6009, Australia

    Philip R. Ward & Margaret M. Roper

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  1. Philip R. Ward
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  2. Margaret M. Roper
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  3. Ramona Jongepier
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  4. Shayne F. Micin
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Correspondence to Philip R. Ward.

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Ward, P.R., Roper, M.M., Jongepier, R. et al. Impact of crop residue retention and tillage on water infiltration into a water-repellent soil. Biologia 70, 1480–1484 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1515/biolog-2015-0170

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/biolog-2015-0170

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