Morphological and hydraulic properties of a silt loam soil in New Zealand as affected by cropping history

Abstract

Abstract. A rotation trial of four years’ pasture followed by two years’ arable was used to study the effect of cropping on the morphological and hydraulic properties of soil. An adjacent paddock in grass for the past 35 years was included as a permanent pasture reference. Initial infiltration and field saturated hydraulic conductivity (Kfs) were least for cultivated soil and increased with increasing time under pasture. This could be explained by the contrasting porosities of resin‐impregnated blocks of undisturbed soil which had been infiltrated with methylene blue dye. Small Kfs values for cultivated soil resulted mainly from a thin surface crust, although pore discontinuity at the depth of the cultivation pan (130 mm) could also have contributed. Greater Kfs values under short‐term pasture resulted primarily from water flowing through biogenic pores connected to the surface. The greatest Kfs values were in soil that had been under pasture for 35 years (P35). This was attributed to flow through biogenic pores and fissures associated with the strongly‐developed subangular blocky structure. The amount of water that infiltrated the two‐ and four‐year pasture soils (P2 and P4) under ponding was 2.5 and 5 times greater, respectively, than the soil that had been cultivated for two years (C2).As irrigation duration cannot be varied under the border‐dyking system used on the Canterbury Plains, the interval between irrigations must be varied if the same total amount of water is to be applied to each of these soils through the season. The interval should be less for the cultivated soil than for those under pasture, and should increase with increasing time under pasture (i.e. P35 > P4 > P2 > C2).