ABSTRACT:
Loss of rainwater through surface runoff and soil erosion is a serious problem related to the rainfed agriculture of Pakistan, mainly as a result of the lack of vegetation, topographic differences, and poor soil structural stability. A field study was conducted to evaluate the effect of tillage on water intake in a clay loam soil with low organic matter content. Three tillage implements-namely, direct drilling, narrow tine cultivator, and moldboard plow in combination with disc barrow—were used for tillage practices. After a few rainfall events following tillage, the cumulative intake and intake rates were significantly lower under tillage treatments where cultivator and moldboard plow were used. Furthermore, vegetative cover and soil crust conditions affected water intake significantly more than bulk density of surface and subsurface soil. Actually, vegetative cover reduced the incidence of soil crusting.
Footnotes
M. Shafiq, S. Abmad, and M.S. Akhtar are at the Water Resources Research Institute, National Agricultural Research Centre, Islambad, Pakistan; A. Hassan is in the Soil Science Department at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
- Copyright 1994 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.
Log in using your username and password
Purchase access
In this issue
Jump to section
Related Articles
Cited By...
- No citing articles found.