Evaluation of tillage influence on infiltration characteristics in a clay soil

Tillage practices can pronouncely affect soil hydraulic and physical properties even shortly after tillage applications. We compared short-term effect of conventional, reduced and no-till on some soil physical properties and infiltration rate. The experimental design was completely randomized plots with three replicates, representing conventional tillage with residue incorporated into soil (CT1), conventional tillage with residue burned (CT2), reduced tillage with heavy tandem disc harrow (RT1), reduced tillage with rotary tiller (RT2), reduced tillage with heavy tandem disc harrow followed by no-till (RT3) and no-till (NT) in Arik Clay (Typic Haploxererts) in southern Anatolia of Turkey. In each plot, five infiltration tests were conducted using double-ring constant-water-level infiltrometers. The data were analyzed by ANOVA and the means of treatments were grouped by LSD technique. Both RT and NT decreased infiltration rate (IR), significantly, and this was attributed to decreased total and macroporosity together with high proportion of swelling clays. Furthermore, residue burning decreased infiltration rate significantly compared to residue incorporated soils in conventionally tilled soils, and this was attributed to decreased total porosity and macroporosity in the former. Arik clay series is one of the largest soil series intensively used for agriculture on level to slightly sloping landscapes of Southeastern region of Turkey. Therefore, the results suggest that reduced and no-tillage should be applied cautiously in Arik series soils to avoid problems such as water loss by runoff in sloping areas and water logging in level areas. The results may have significant implications for similar soils formed in Mediterranean climate.