Adverse effects of simulated harvesting of short-rotation willow and poplar coppice on vertical pressures and rut depths

Little is known of the effects of mechanized harvesting on ground conditions during the harvesting of short-rotation coppice. An investigation was therefore carried out in which different vehicles were used to simulate the effects of wheeling from heavy and light harvesters and crop removal equipment. The experiments were carried out on sites containing Bowles hybrid willow (Salix viminalis) and poplars (Populas rap) and on clay and sandy loam soils. The effect of different vehicles was assessed in terms of rut damage and direct measurements of soil stress using buried sensors. Maximum stresses measured 0.3 m below tractor wheels ranged from 50 to 200 kPa, but the greatest stresses, 350 kPa, were recorded under laden trailer wheels. Maximum stresses measured beneath crawler tracks were only 25 kPa. Similarly, substantial ruts were caused by vehicles simulating wheeled harvesters, the deepest ruts were caused by laden trailers but crawler tracks created least disturbance. Wheeling was carried out at soil water contents above the plastic limit and the deepest ruts were created on clay rather than sandy loam soil. The effects of the stresses generated in the soil could impede future root growth, and the deeper ruts formed could damage existing root systems of coppice.     

A study of the comparative economics of conventional and zero traffic systems for arable crops

The profitability of four zero traffic systems were compared with a conventional system on a farm growing combinable crops. The zero traffic options were 6-m tractor and 6-m gantry-based systems, a system using both 6 and 12 m gantries and a system comprising both conventional equipment and a 12 m gantry. Yield effects due to compaction and wheeling losses are estimated. A systematic procedure is described for calculating the soil compaction due to the system, and the work rate of both cultivation and application type operations, as a function of the system.

The yield increases and cultivation energy savings indicate that complete gantry systems are as profitable as conventional systems on medium soil and £25 ha⁻¹ more profitable on heavy soil. The tractor-based system, which cannot plough, is £18 ha⁻¹ less profitable on medium soil but £25 ha⁻¹ more profitable than the conventional system on heavy soil. With the exception of the partial gantry system, which can be fully utilised on a 250 ha farm, farms of 400–500 ha are needed to justify use of the zero traffic equipment considered.     

Effect of soil macroporosity and aggregate size on seed-soil contact

The influence of soil structure on the degree of seed-soil contact within a seedbed is poorly understood. This paper presents a simple analogue of seed-soil contact which allows the examination of the influence of macroporosity and relative aggregate size on the degree of contact within a bed of deformable spheres. A method is described in which a rigid disc or sphere representing a seed is placed within a bed of deformable spheres of uniform size representing soil aggregates. The structure is then compressed uniaxially to a given macroporosity. Contact areas were measured by a technique involving the use of paint, dismantling of the sample, and image analysis. Results show that degree of contact increases as macroporosity decreases. Greatest levels of contact are achieved where rigid and deformable spheres are of similar size. This result appears to be a consequence of maximum stress concentration occurring at this size ratio. Contact points were unevenly distributed over the surface of the rigid sphere. The applicability of these findings is considered.     

The influence of soil management on drainage hydrographs

Abstract. Drainage hydrographs from mole-drained plots having different tillage treatments (tractor tined, gantry tined, tractor ploughed and gantry ploughed) were measured for different rain events over a growing season. In the autumn just after tillage, a large rainfall produced peaky drain flows on the tined plots but a rather flat response from the ploughed plots. In the winter, the drain response to a small rain event showed less differences in peak flows between the treatments. The recession time constant of the hydrographs was used as an index of the structural macropore development in the soil above the water table. Hydrographs from the gantry plots recessed more quickly than those on the tractor plots and those on the tined plots recessed more quickly than those on the ploughed plots. Lack of soil compaction on the gantry plots and continuous vertical fissuring created by the non-inverting tillage tines resulted in the gantry tined treatment having the fastest drainage response. In the ploughed plots compaction and smearing of the soil at the base of the plough layer restricted the rate of downward movemenl of water. The work indicates that soil management practices can play an important role in the drainage and leaching of aggregated soils.     

Prevention strategies for field traffic-induced subsoil compaction: a review: Part 2. Equipment and field practices

The loads imposed by modern farm machinery have considerable potential to increase subsoil stress. Within the context of economically viable and environmentally sustainable systems, the practices associated with subsoil damage and methods for avoidance are identified. The greatest potential for damage is on fragile, wet or loosened subsoils combined with high wheel or track loads and contact pressures that create noticeable ruts in the topsoil. In-furrow ploughing increases this potential considerably by placing loads on the subsoil. Measures to avoid this potential involve a whole farm approach and an understanding of the many interactions between cropping systems and machinery. Alternatives to in-furrow ploughing that involve working from the surface and building a protective topsoil are discussed. Key measures to reduce the risk to subsoils involve a clear understanding of tyre load and inflation data and simple on-farm methods of achieving this are suggested. Although avoidance has the potential to reduce the risk, confinement of damage to specific strips in the field is seen as a realistic alternative. Controlled traffic operations, together with precision guidance, offer an economic means by which compaction on the cropped area can be avoided. The most effective route to improvement in soil care across the European Union (EU) is an appropriate management structure coupled with a best practice framework.     

Prevention strategies for field traffic-induced subsoil compaction: a review: Part 1. Machine/soil interactions

Subsoil compaction is a severe problem mainly because its effects have been found to be long-lasting and difficult to correct. It is better to avoid subsoil compaction than to rely on alleviating the compacted structure afterwards. Before recommendations to avoid subsoil compaction can be given, the key variables and processes involved in the machinery–subsoil system must be known and understood. Field traffic-induced subsoil compaction is discussed to determine the variables important to the prevention of the compaction capability of running gear. Likewise, technical choices to minimise the risk of subsoil compaction are reviewed. According to analytical solutions and experimental results the stress in the soil under a loaded wheel decreases with depth. The risk of subsoil compaction is high when the exerted stresses are higher than the bearing capacity of the subsoil. Soil wetness decreases the bearing capacity of soil. The most serious sources of subsoil compaction are ploughing in the furrow and heavy wheel loads applied at high pressure in soft conditions. To prevent (sub)soil compaction, the machines and equipment used on the field in critical conditions should be adjusted to actual strength of the subsoil by controlling wheel/track loads and using low tyre inflation pressures. Recommendations based on quantitative guidelines for machine/soil interactions should be available for different wheel load/ground pressure combinations and soil conditions.     

Traffic and tillage effects on soil conditions and crop growth on a swelling clay soil

Abstract. Trafficked and non-trafficked (12 m gantry) crop production systems, which had been maintained on an Evesham series 60% clay soil since 1986, were used again in 1993 during the cultivation and sowing of winter wheat. After a one year set-aside break, mouldboard ploughing, tine cultivation and rotary digging were compared. Measurements were made of tillage energy, soil tilth, cone penetration resistance, biological activity and crop performance, and on specific plots, soil density, seedbed tilth and water release characteristics. Despite the one year's set-aside break, the effect of the previously applied traffic treatments remained and resulted in a smaller specific plough resistance and tillage energy on the non-trafficked soil. Tine cultivator draught however was greater on the non-trafficked compared with the trafficked plots. The specific energy required for rotary digging on non-trafficked soil was similar to that required during the ploughing of similar plots. A measure of indefinite biotic activity indicated that this was apparently greater on the non-traffficked soil, while soil density was decreased by up to 18% in these conditions compared with the trafficked land. Average cone resistance over the depth range 0 to 0.5 m was 1.51 MPa on the trafficked, compared with 1.24 MPa on the non-trafficked soil. Cone resistance also tended to be greater after tine cultivation compared with that after ploughing. Water release curves were interpreted as showing more macropores within the topsoil of the non-trafficked compared with the trafficked plots. Tine cultivation on trafficked soil had more smaller pores than mouldboard plough cultivation. Winter wheat yield was increased by 25% (from 8 to 10 t/ha) on non-trafficked compared with trafficked soil.     

The effect of soil compaction on mole plough draught

Conventional and zero traffic systems were mole ploughed and effects on soil physical properties were compared. Draught of the plough operating at 550 mm depth was measured while it was winched across plots having a 5-year history of different traffic regimes. Results showed that the draught was reduced by about 18% on non-trafficked compared with conventionally-trafficked soil.

Cone resistance measurements, 1 month before and 3 months after mole ploughing, confirmed that the non-trafficked soil had significantly less strength to a depth of about 400 mm. Bulk density measured at 75 and 175 mm depth 1 month before mole ploughing indicated a similar trend, but clod and bulk densities at 125 mm and 350 mm depth 3 months later, failed to show any consistent differences between treatments.     

Assessment of a wide span vehicle (gantry), and soil and cereal crop responses to its use in a zero traffic regime

The adverse effect of soil over-compaction on crop production efficiency was the basis for a programme to assess soil and crop responses to a zero traffic regime based on a 12 m gantry. The vehicle and its operating system, together with tasks ranging from fertilizer and spray application to draught and powered cultivations and cereals harvesting, are described. Results indicated that the gantry was a practical means of separating the cropped and wheeled (zero traffic) areas of a field. Cultivation draught and energy savings of up to 50% and 70%, respectively, were identified on a clay soil where traffic was eliminated from the cropped area. There was also evidence that this regime resulted in significant improvements to soil structure and crop establishment. The average yield of wheat from the zero traffic plots in 1989 was 6.8 t ha⁻¹, compared with 5.7 t ha⁻¹ from the conventionally managed soil. In the dry season of 1989–1990, the yield of oats was not differentially affected by treatment.     

Improving grass silage production with controlled traffic farming (CTF): agronomics,system design and economics

Grassland silage management is generally semi-organised with no conscious attempt to re-use wheel ways as with arable fields. The total number of machine passes can be 15 or more with normal traffic (NT) systems resulting in potentially large areas of a field suffering from direct damage to the crop and soil. Literature suggests there can be grass dry matter yield reductions of 5 to 74% under NT through compaction and sward damage, with a mean of 13% in the UK. Commercially available grass forage equipment with widths of 3 to 12 m set up for controlled traffic farming (CTF) could reduce trafficked areas (which is typically 90% to 80% for NT) to 40% to 13% for CTF. This study compared grass dry matter yield between CTF and NT for a three-cut silage system based on a 9 m working width in a permanent silage field in the southwest of Scotland, UK in 2015. Results showed a 13.5% (0.80 t ha^?1) increase in yield for CTF for the 2nd and 3rd cuts combined. The CTF trafficked area covered was 57% less than the NT system (30.4% compared to 87.4%) over the three silage cuts. An economic analysis based on a 13% increase in dry matter yield (for 2- and 3-cut systems) and a reduction in trafficked area from 80% (for NT) to between 45% and 15% (for CTF), increased the yield by between 0.53 t ha^?1 and 1.36 t ha^?1 for 2- and 3-cut systems, respectively with an equivalent grass value of between £38 ha^?1 and £98 ha^?1. Introducing CTF for a multi-cut grass silage system is cost-effective by increasing yields due to a reduction in compaction and sward damage.