Effects of Subsoiling with Different Wing Mounting Heights on Soil Water Infiltration Using HYDRUS-2D Simulations

Abstract

Subsoiling is an essential practice in conservation tillage technology. The amount of disturbed soil at various depths resulting from subsoilers with different parameters has an important effect on soil properties (e.g., bulk density and water infiltration). The information regarding the effects of subsoiling on the characteristics of soil water infiltration is essential for the design of subsoiling tools. In this study, the effects of the wing mounting height (h) (75–155 mm) of the subsoiler on soil disturbance and soil water infiltration were modelled using HYDRUS-2D and validated using field experiments. Results showed that reducing h values resulted in larger soil disturbance area ratios, soil water infiltration rates (f(t)), distances of vertical wetting front movement (DVWs), accumulative infiltrations (AINs), and soil moisture contents at depths of 10–30 cm. The relationships among characteristics of soil water infiltration, h and time (t), were developed. The stable infiltration rates (fs) varied quadratically with h and the corresponding coefficient of determination (R2) was 0.9869. The Horton model is more suitable for describing the relationship between f(t) and t under the tested soil conditions, as compared with the Kostiakov and Philip models. According to the results of soil water content at different depths from the HYDRUS simulations and field experiments, the developed soil water infiltration model had a good accuracy, as indicated by RMSEs of <0.05, R2 values of >0.95, and mean relative errors of <12%. The Above results indicated that increasing the hardpan disturbance by optimizing wing parameters of the subsoiler could improve soil water infiltration characteristics.