Water Infiltration Under No-tillage, Minimum Tillage and Conventional Tillage Systems on a Sandy Loam Alfisols

Abstract

A study was conducted on a tropical Alfisols on the Teaching and Research Farms of University of Ibadan in order to determine the effect of three tillage (no-tillage, minimum and conventional tillage) systems on infiltration of water in the soil. The experiment was a split-plot design with three replications. The results showed that there were significance (p<0.05) differences between the tillage systems in terms of infiltration rate and accumulated infiltration. There were no significance differences between the minimum and conventional tillage systems. However there were significance differences between no-tillage and the other two tillage systems. The minimum tillage system had the highest infiltration rate and accumulated infiltration, while the no-tillage had the lowest values. Farmers wishing to adopt the no-tillage system in this area should incorporate soil management techniques that would reduce erosion because of its low infiltration rate. It has been recommended that based on the results of this study, the minimum tillage system appeared to be the best option for soil and water conservation practices in the area. There were no significance differences in the physical and chemical analysis of the soil among the three tillage systems.