Effects of land rolling on soil properties and plant growth in chickpea production

Abstract

Land rolling after planting is a common practice in legume production systems in order to smooth the soil surface and improve plant growth by increasing root-soil contact. However, excessive soil compaction due to land rolling can increase soil strength and hamper root growth. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential effects of land rolling on some soil properties and plant growth parameters in chickpea production. For this purpose, the different ground pressures of land roller (0, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 kPa) were tested at different times (pre-emergence and post-emergence) under field conditions. To examine the effects of the rolling times and the ground pressures of the land roller on soil properties and plant growth, moisture content, temperature, penetration resistance as soil properties and root dry weight, shoot dry weight, shoot-root ratio, nodule number and grain yield as plant growth parameters were measured. Results showed that the use of the land roller significantly influenced the soil properties (moisture content, temperature, and penetration resistance), plant growth parameters (root dry weight, shoot dry weight, shoot-root ratio, nodule number) and grain yield. The highest grain yield values at 20, 25 and 30 kPa ground pressure levels indicate that some compaction is needed to be able to increase crop yield and prevent the loss of soil moisture.