Traffic and seasonal influences on the energy required for cultivation and on the subsequent tilth

Abstract

Two similar experiments were conducted over a 3 year period on a clay soil to compare the effects of different intensities of traffic, ranging from 0 to 124 t km ha −1 (1.24 MN km ha −1) on the energy required for ploughing and secondary cultivation. The tilths produced by these operations were measured by sieving and, in one year, by image analysis of sections cut from large blocks of resin-impregnated soil. Both energy required for cultivation and mean aggregate size after ploughing were related to the intensity of wheeling and the soil water content at ploughing. In the absence of wheeling, energy for ploughing was reduced by between 17 and 45%, and mean aggregate size was reduced to 20–70% of that resulting from a conventional tractor and plough-based system. Specific draught in the driest soil conditions was almost twice that in the wettest conditions. The geometric mean diameter of aggregates produced by the mouldboard plough ranged from 7 mm in a wetter year and with no traffic to 140 mm in the driest year with a year-round tractor traffic system. Scanning sections of large impregnated blocks with an image analyser provided more detailed information on aggregate size distributions within the plough layer than did sieving, and it also provided information on pore size distributions. This technique served to illustrate large differences in soil macrostructure between a conventional tractor and plough cultivation system compared with an untrafficked but ploughed soil.