Terra Latinoamericana E-ISSN: 2395-8030 [email protected] Sociedad Mexicana de la Ciencia del Suelo, A.C. México Martínez Villanueva, Juan José; Vaca García, Víctor Manuel; Esteller Alberich, María Vicenta; González Huerta, Andrés; Rubí Arriaga, Martín; Gutiérrez Rodríguez, Francisco MEAN INFILTRATION SPEED IN A VERTISOL UNDER DIFFERENT TILLAGE SYSTEMS Terra Latinoamericana, vol. 33, núm. 1, enero-marzo, 2015, pp. 95-99 Sociedad Mexicana de la Ciencia del Suelo, A.C. Chapingo, México Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=57335800008 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative MEAN INFILTRATION SPEED IN A VERTISOL UNDER DIFFERENT TILLAGE SYSTEMS Velocidad Media de Infiltración en un Vertisol Bajo Distintos Sistemas de Labranza Juan José Martínez Villanueva1, Víctor Manuel Vaca García1, María Vicenta Esteller Alberich2, Andrés González Huerta3, Martín Rubí Arriaga3, and Francisco Gutiérrez Rodríguez3‡ SUMMARY la agricultura convencional. Pocos estudios han medido la compactación del suelo mediante la velocidad de Soil compaction is regarded as the most serious infiltración del agua, específicamente, en el Vertisol que environmental problem caused by conventional es característico de la principal zona productora de maíz agriculture. Few studies are concerned with the correspondiente al Valle Toluca-Atlacomulco en la parte assessment of soil compaction using infiltration speed, central de México. El objetivo de ésta investigación fue specifically in the Vertisol soil characteristic of the main examinar el efecto de la velocidad de infiltración y la maize producing area of the Toluca-Atlacomulco Valley resistencia a la penetración en un Vertisol compactado in central Mexico. The aim of this research was to por tránsito vehicular agrícola en tres sistemas de examine the effect on infiltration speed and penetration labranza: cero, mínima y convencional. La resistencia a resistance of a Vertisol soil when compacted by wheeled la penetración fue medida en la huella del tractor con un agricultural traffic in three different types of tillage penetrómetro digital portátil, y la velocidad media de systems: zero, minimal and conventional. Penetration infiltración se determinó de acuerdo al método del resistance was measured on the wheel track with a infiltrómetro de doble cilindro. La presión ejercida por portable digital penetrometer, and the mean infiltration el número de pasadas del tránsito rodado incrementó la speed was determined according to the double cylinder compactación del Vertisol a 30 cm de profundidad. infiltrometer method. The pressure exerted by the Aunque los beneficios de la labranza cero fueron number of wheeled traffic passes increased Vertisol soil similares a los de la labranza mínima durante el periodo compaction at 30 cm depth. Even though the benefits of experimental, ésta última reportó la mayor velocidad de zero tillage were similar to those showed by minimum infiltración. tillage during the experimental period, minimum tillage reported the highest infiltration speed. Palabras clave: resistencia a la penetración, multiarado. Index words: penetration resistance, multi-plow. INTRODUCTION RESUMEN Soil compaction is regarded as the most serious La compactación del suelo es considerada como el environmental problem caused by conventional problema ambiental más serio ocasionado por agriculture. Most of the common operations used in intensive maize cropping (tilling, harvesting, spreading 1 Programa de Maestría y Doctorado en Ciencias Agropecuarias y of chemicals or fertilizers), are performed by wheeled Recursos Naturales. 3 Facultad de Ciencias Agrícolas. Universidad farm machinery. In such operations, the soil is compacted Autónoma del Estado de México. Campus Universitario “El Cerrillo”. by the load of the tractor and the coupled machinery. 50200 Toluca, Estado de México, México. ‡ Autor responsable ([email protected]) The overuse of wheeled farm machinery reduces pore 2 Centro Interamericano de Recursos del Agua. Universidad space, resulting in a dense soil with poor internal Autónoma del Estado de México. Carretera Toluca-Atlacomulco drainage and reduced aeration, which leads to increased km 14.5, Unidad San Cayetano. 50200 Toluca, Estado de México, soil strength and particularly impedes root growth México (Moullart, 1998; Bayhan et al., 2002; Hamza and Recibido: abril de 2014. Aceptado: febrero de 2015. Anderson, 2005). Poor internal drainage leads to run- Publicado como nota de investigación en off on the soil surface often producing edaphic erosion, Terra Latinoamericana 33: 95-99. resulting in fertility loss and diminished water apportion 95 96 TERRA LATINOAMERICANA VOLUMEN 33 NÚMERO 1, 2015 to the soil (Sarukhán and Maass, 1990; Osuna and to study the effects of tillage and other production Padilla, 1998). techniques on maize cultivars and soil and water quality. Infiltration speed is considered a key indicator of The study included the following tillage systems and soil quality (Weixelman et al., 1996; Arshad and Martin, traffic applications: 2002). It is explained as the process that defines the 1) Conventional tillage (CT); multiple passes with a disc entrance and movement, vertically in general, of water plow (model 635, two-wheel drive tractor, John Deere through the soil profile in a unit of time (Tamhane et al., 5715), harrowing, sowing and fertilization combined. 1978; Porta et al., 1994; Cerdá, 1996). Infiltration speed 2) Minimum tillage (MT); five passes, one with a multi- is affected by the characteristics of the edaphic profile, plow (model M-250, using a four-wheel drive tractor, such as texture, structure, organic and inorganic John Deere 6603), three passes of harrowing and one materials quantity, as well as size and total volume of of sowing and fertilization combined (two-line sowing pore space (Tamhane et al., 1978; Gurovich, 1985). Buol implement, Sembradora del Bajío). et al. (1991) and Porta et al. (1994) recognize some 3) Zero tillage (ZT); one pass comprising sowing and subdivisions in the process of infiltration in the soil. They fertilization (two-wheel drive tractor, John Deere 5715). characterize the concept of instantaneous infiltration Some specifications of the tractors used for the speed as the volume of water that infiltrates through a agricultural operations are provided in Table 1. The unitary horizontal soil profile in an infinitely small period experimental design consisted of a randomized complete of time. Also, these authors identify the basic infiltration block arrangement with three replications of the tillage speed as the constant rate registered in a soil after a systems, resulting in nine plots of 12.8 × 10 m including testing period comprehending assays with duration of 16 rows with 0.8 m of inter-row distance; plots were 3-4 hours. separated from one another by an 8 m wide traffic Most research in soil compaction is concerned with maneuvering area. For all systems, soil samples were its effect on crop yield and operating costs. In a obtained from the topsoil (0-150 mm) and subsoil (150- hydrological context, many studies have dealt with the 300 mm) horizons before tillage operations to evaluate effect of soil compaction on soil hydrological properties moisture (M, gravimetric %), bulk density (BD, g cm-3) (van Dijck and van Asch, 2002). However, few studies and total organic matter content (TOM, %). The M and are concerned with the assessment of soil compaction BD were determined using the methods proposed by using infiltration speed, specifically in the Vertisol soil Landeros and Serrato (2001); the TOM was estimated characteristic of the maize producing area of the Toluca- using the AS-07 test (NOM-021-SEMARNAT-2000, Atlacomulco Valley in central Mexico. The aim of this 2002). research was to examine the effect on infiltration speed and penetration resistance of a Vertisol soil when Table 1. Technical specifications of the John Deere ® tractors compacted by wheeled agricultural traffic in three used in the experiment. different types of tillage systems. Model 5715 Model 6603 MATERIALS AND METHODS Power (kW) 66.4 89 Maximum motor rotations 2600 2400 This study was conducted on a 0.25 ha area of the (min-1) experimental field of the Facultad de Ciencias Agrícolas Total weight (Mg) 2.6 4.16 de la Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, in Wheelbase (mm) 2180 2636 Toluca, State of Mexico, Mexico (19° 24’ 43’’ N, Track width front/rear (mm) 99° 41’ 40’’ W, 2609 m.a.s.l.). The soil was classified 1310/1490 1310/1490 according to the USDA Soil Taxonomy System, as a Dimension of front tire 13.6-24 13.6-24 Vertisol, suborder Uderts, great group Pelluderts and Dimension of rear tire 15.5-38 18.4-34 subgroup Entic Pelluderts. The experimental area was Air pressure of front tire 110 110 used for wheat, oat and maize rotation under conventional (kPa) tillage for more than 10 years. The different tillage Air pressure of rear tire 120 140 systems were established on site during 2008 and 2009 (kPa) MARTÍNEZ ET AL. MEAN INFILTRATION SPEED IN A VERTISOL UNDER DIFFERENT TILLAGE SYSTEMS 97 Two types of measurements were used to assess Table 2. Soil properties for minimum tillage (MT), zero soil compaction in the tillage systems after all traffic tillage (ZT) and conventional tillage (CT) plots of the experimental area1. operations were completed: penetration resistance (Pr) and mean infiltration speed (MIS). M levels in the topsoil Total and subsoil for all tillage systems at this stage ranged Tillage Bulk density organic Moisture between 56-58%. The Pr was measured, with three Depth system matter repetitions for each plot, on the wheel track with a g·cm-3 - - - - % - - - - portable digital penetrometer (Field Scout SC-900, Topsoil MT 1.31a 7.18a 13.68a Spectrum Technologies, USA) with a cone angle of 60°, (0-150 mm) ZT 1.27a 7.11a 12.02a in a depth range of 0-30 cm. The penetration tests were CT 1.33a 7.17a 10.49b hand-driven with velocities varying between 2 and Subsoil MT 1.33a 6.57b 15.11a 3 cm s-1.