Abstract
Effect of soil compactness on the growth and quality of carrot
Highlights
1.1 Importance of soil compactness to plant growth1.1.1 Consequences of excess soil compaction and looseningPoor aeration and high mechanical impedance are the major stress factors affecting the growth of most plants in compacted soil
This study showed that root length distribution of carrots was close to the root distribution pattern of wheat, sugarbeet and onion where differences in root length density between traffic intensities were generally small (Ouwerkerk and Noordwijk 1991)
Selected soil physical properties and carrot external quality were affected by soil compactness (Fig. 43)
Summary
1.1 Importance of soil compactness to plant growth1.1.1 Consequences of excess soil compaction and looseningPoor aeration and high mechanical impedance are the major stress factors affecting the growth of most plants in compacted soil. With axle loads of no more than 3 Mg on wet clay soils, destroys the total macroporosity (pore diameter >3O pm) to a portion below 10% of soil volume (Aura 1983) which is considered to be the critical limit for soil aeration maintaining plant growth (Glinski and Stepniewski 1985). This detrimental effect on soil porosity reflects in altered soil air composition (Eavis 1972, Simojoki et al 1991) and in an oxygen diffusion rate below 30 pg nr s' 1 which is too low for plant growth (Erickson 1982, Asady et al 1985). Compensatory root growth causes inefficient utilization of carbon and additional uptake of water and nutrients (Schumacher and Smucker 1984, 1987)
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