Abstract
Sustainable agricultural strategies such as conservation agriculture (CA) and integrated land management are required to mitigate land degradation and food insecurity. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of different cropping systems: sole sorghum (SOR), sole cowpea (COW), sole soybean (SOY), sorghum-cowpea intercrop (SC), and sorghum-soybean intercrop (SS); and tillage practices: conventional tillage (CT), no tillage (NT), and compacted no till (NTc) on physical and mechanical properties of an Alfisol in Southwestern Nigeria. The experimental layout comprised a split plot design accommodating the 3 tillage and 5 cropping systems in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Undisturbed soil samples were collected from 0 to 15 cm, and 15–30 cm soil layers for the determination of soil bulk density (BD), total porosity (TP), and unconfined compressive strength (quf). The results showed that bulk density was lower, while total porosity was higher under intercrops than monocrops in all the tillage treatments. Conventional tillage had the least BD compared to no tillage and compacted no till plots. Soil vane shear strength (Ʈ) and unconfined compressive strength (quf) were generally lower under the intercrops than the sole sorghum plots. Averaged over the two soil depths, the mean soil quf of SS intercrop was 1.28 times lower than the mean soil quf of SOR but was 1.06 times higher than the mean soil quf of SOY. SC intercrop had a 14.20% and a 9.15% lower average soil quf than SOR and COW in 2019. Unconfined compressive strength and vanes shear strength significantly positively correlated with BD and negatively with TP, organic carbon (OC), organic matter (OM), and total nitrogen (N) in both cropping years. The research demonstrates that farming approaches that integrate soil cover preservation and minimal soil disturbance with diverse cropping systems improve soil physical and mechanical behavior.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
