Wheel Load and Wheel Pass Frequency as Indicators for Soil Compaction Risk: A Four-Year Analysis of Traffic Intensity at Field Scale

Katja Augustin,Michael Kuhwald,Joachim Brunotte,Rainer Duttmann

doi:10.3390/geosciences10080292

Katja Augustin, Michael Kuhwald + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences10080292

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Journal: Geosciences	Publication Date: Jul 31, 2020
Citations: 26	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Kiel University, Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut

Abstract

Avoiding soil compaction is one of the objectives to ensure sustainable agriculture. Subsoil compaction in particular can be irreversible. Frequent passages by (increasingly heavy) agricultural machinery are one trigger for compaction. The aim of this work is to map and analyze the extent of traffic intensity over four years. The analysis is made for complete seasons and individual operations. The traffic intensity is distinguished into areas with more than five wheel passes, more than 5 Mg and 3 Mg wheel load. From 2014 to 2018, 63 work processes on a field were recorded and the wheel load and wheel passes were modeled spatially with FiTraM. Between 82% (winter wheat) and 100% (sugar beet) of the total infield area is trafficked during a season. The sugar beet season has the highest intensities. High intensities of more than five wheel passes and more than 5 Mg wheel load occur mainly during harvests in the headland. At wheel load ≥3 Mg, soil tillage also stresses the headland. In summary, no work process stays below one of the upper thresholds set. Based on the results, the importance of a soil-conserving management becomes obvious in order to secure the soil for agriculture in a sustainable way.

Highlights

In current challenges of restructuring towards a sustainable society, agriculture plays a major role in terms of soil conservation, resource management, emission control, biodiversity and more.Recent strategies towards a more sustainable intensification of agriculture seek to reduce the avoidable negative effects of field traffic on the various soil functions
Resulting from this, the aim of this study is (i) to represent the field traffic intensity with which the soil is stressed for three different crops during one complete crop rotation and (ii) to analyze the extent and spatial location at which work processes exceed certain maximum values of traffic intensity
The wheel pass frequency and wheel loads were aggregated per growing season: Winter wheat, silage maize, winter wheat and sugar beet

Summary

Introduction

In current challenges of restructuring towards a sustainable society, agriculture plays a major role in terms of soil conservation, resource management, emission control, biodiversity and more. Recent strategies towards a more sustainable intensification of agriculture seek to reduce the avoidable negative effects of field traffic on the various soil functions. Today’s agriculture employs highly efficient machinery, which enable fast and labor-saving field operations. This machinery, has become bigger and heavier over time [1], resulting in increased soil compaction risk during field traffic. According to the FAO and ITPS [2], soil compaction is one of the main threats to the soil. Soil compaction occurs when the soil stress exceeds the soil strength [3]

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