Soil porosity and water infiltration as influenced by tillage methods

The relations between soil pore structure induced by tillage and infiltration play an important role in flow characteristics of water and solutes in soil. In this study, we assessed the effect of long-term use of various tillage systems on pore size distribution, areal porosity, stained (flow-active) porosity and infiltration of silt loam Eutric Fluvisol. Tillage treatments were: (1) ploughing to the depth of 20 cm (conventional tillage (CT)); (2) ploughing to 20 cm every 6 years and to 5 cm in the remaining years (S/CT); (3) harrowing to 5 cm each year (S); (4) sowing to the uncultivated soil (no tillage (NT)), all in a micro-plot experiment. Equivalent pore size distribution was derived from the water retention curve, areal porosity – from resin-impregnated blocks (8 cm × 9 cm × 4 cm) and stained porosity – from horizontal sections (every 2 cm) of column samples (diameter: 21.5 cm, height: 20 cm) taken after infiltration of methylene blue solution. The pore size distribution curves indicated that the textural peaks of the pore throat radius of approximately 1 μm were mostly defined under NT, whereas those in the structural domain of radii of 110 μm radius—under CT. The differences among the tillage treatments were more pronounced at depth 0–10 cm than 10–20 cm. At both depths, the differences in pore size distribution between the tillage treatments were relatively greater in structural than those in the matrix domain. CT soil had the greatest areal porosity and stained porosity. The stained porosity as a function of depth could be well described by logarithmic equations in all treatments. Cumulative infiltration (steady state) as measured by the double ring infiltrometer method was the highest under CT (94.5 cm) and it was reduced by 62, 36 and 61% in S/CT, S and NT soil, respectively. Irrespective of tillage method, cumulative infiltration rates throughout 3 h most closely correlated with stained porosity in top layers (0–6 cm). Overall, the results indicate that soil pore system under CT with higher contribution of large flow-active pores compared to reduced and no tillage treatments enhanced infiltration and water storage capacity.