Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c47g7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T13:49:09.264Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Infiltration as a tool for detecting soil changes due to cropping, tillage, and grazing livestock

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2009

J.K. Radke  and
E.C. Berry
J.K. Radke
Affiliation:
Soil Scientist and E.C. Berry is Research Entomologist, USDA-ARS, National Soil Tilth Laboratory, 2150 Pammel Dr., Ames, IA 50011.
E.C. Berry
Affiliation:
Soil Scientist and E.C. Berry is Research Entomologist, USDA-ARS, National Soil Tilth Laboratory, 2150 Pammel Dr., Ames, IA 50011.
Get access

Abstract

Soil physical and biological properties often change when different cropping, tillage, or management systems are imposed. Changes occasionally occur quickly, but usually become evident only after months or years. Infiltration rates are affected by several soil properties and may provide the most sensitive indication of changes in soil properties. To evaluate the use of infiltration measurements for detecting changes in soil properties, we conducted infiltration tests on a cropping systems experiment, a tillage experiment, and two beef cattle grazing experiments. In Pennsylvania, significant changes in infiltration rates did not occur until more than four years after converting from a conventional to a low-input cropping system. Infiltration rates were higher on 14th-year no-till plots compared with moldboard plow and chisel treatments in an Iowa tillage study. Earthworm populations and activity were highest in the no-till treatment. Infiltration rates correlated negatively with increased stocking rates in a long-term beef grazing study in Oklahoma. The number of earthworms did not correlate positively with infiltration in this study, suggesting a complex interaction. A short-term study of overwinter beef corn-stalk grazing in Iowa did not show consistent patterns in infiltration rate or other soil properties with different stocking rates. Infiltration appears to be a good indicator of soil structural changes associated with cropping, tillage, and management systems.

Keywords

beef cattlegrazingcropping systemssoil physical propertiessoil biological propertiesearthworms
Type
Other Feature Articles
Information
American Journal of Alternative Agriculture , Volume 8 , Issue 4 , December 1993 , pp. 164 - 174
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Abdel-Magid, A.H., Schuman, G.E., and Hart, R.H.. 1987. Soil bulk density and water infiltration as affected by grazing systems. J. Range Management 40:307–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Berry, E.C., and Karlen, D.L.. 1993. Comparison of alternative farming systems. II. Earthworm population density and species diversity. Amer. J. Alternative Agric. 8:21–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Bouma, J., Belmans, C.F.M., and Dekkar, L.W.. 1982. Water infiltration and redistribution in a silt loam subsoil with vertical worm channels. Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. J. 46:917–921.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Bruce, R.R., Langdale, G.W., and Dillard, A.L.. 1990. Tillage and crop rotation effect on characteristics of a sandy surface soil. Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. J. 54:1744–1747.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Chang, C., and Lindwall, C.W. 1989. Effect of long-term minimum tillage practices on some physical properties of a chernozemic clay loam. Canadian J. Soil Sci. 69:443–449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Edwards, W.M., Norton, L.D., and Redmond, C.E.. 1988. Characterizing macropores that affect infiltration into nontilled soil. Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. J. 52:483–487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Ehlers, W. 1975. Observations of earthworm channels and infiltration on tilled and untilled loess soil. Soil Sci. 119:242–249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Freebairn, D.M., Gupta, S.C., Onstad, C.A., and Rawls, W.J.. 1989. Antecedent rainfall and tillage effects upon infiltration. Soil Sci. Amer. J. 53:1183–1189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Grant, W.D., and West, A.W.. 1986. Measurement of ergosterol, diaminopimelic acid and glucosamine in soil: Evaluation as indicators of microbial biomass. J. Microbiological Methods 6:47–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Hamlett, J.M., Melvin, S.W., and Horton, R.. 1990. Traffic and soil amendment effects on infiltration and compaction. Trans. Amer. Soc. Agric. Engineers 33:821–826.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Heard, J.R., Kladivko, E.J., and Mannering, J.V.. 1988. Soil macroporosity, hydraulic conductivity and air permeability of silty soils under long-term conservation tillage in Indiana. Soil and Tillage Research 11:1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12.James, S.W. 1990. Oligochaeta: Megascolecidae and other earthworms from southern and midwestern North America. In Dindal, D.L. (ed). Soil Biology Guide. John Wiley, New York, N.Y. pp. 357–391.Google Scholar
13.Jenkinson, D.S., and Powlson, D.S.. 1976. The effects of biocidal treatments on metabolism in soil. I. Fumigation with chloroform. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 8:167–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Liebhardt, W.C., Andrews, R.W., Culik, M.N., Harwood, R.R., Janke, R.R., Radke, J.K., and Rieger-Schwartz, S.L.. 1989. Crop production during conversion from conventional to low-input methods. Agronomy J. 81:150–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15.Logsdon, S.D., Radke, J.K., and Karlen, D.L.. 1993. Comparison of alternative farming systems. I. Infiltration techniques. Amer. J. Alternative Agric. 8:15–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16.Mukhtar, S., Baker, J.L., Horton, R., and Erbach, D.C.. 1985. Soil water infiltration as affected by the use of the paraplow. Trans. Amer. Soc. Agric. Engineers 28:1811–1816.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Onstad, C.A., Radke, J.K., and Young, R.A.. 1981. An outdoor portable rainfall erosion laboratory. Proc. Florence Symposium “Erosion and Sediment Transport Measurement.” International Association of Hydrological Sciences Pub. No. 133:415–422.Google Scholar
18.Peters, S.E., Janke, R.R., and Bohlke, M.. 1992. Rodale's farming systems trial 1986–1990. Rodale Institute Research Center, Kutztown, Pennsylvania. 45 pp.Google Scholar
19.Radcliffe, D.E., Tollner, E.W., Hargrove, W.L., Clark, R.L., and Golabi, M.H.. 1988. Effect of tillage practices on infiltration and soil strength of a typic hapludult soil after ten years. Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. J. 52:798–804.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20.Radke, J.K., Andrews, R.W., Janke, R.R., and Peters, S.E.. 1988. Low-input cropping systems and efficiency of water and nitrogen use. In Hargrove, W.L. (ed). Cropping Strategies for Efficient Use of Water and Nitrogen. Special Pub. 51. Amer. Soc. Agronomy, Crop Sci. Soc. Amer., and Soil Sci. Soc. Amer., Madison, Wisconsin, pp. 193–218.Google Scholar
21.Radke, J.K., Shaffer, M.J., Kroll, K.S., and Saponara, J.. 1991. Application of the nitrogen-tillage-residue-management (NTRM) model for corn growth in low-input and conventional agricultural systems. Ecological Modelling 55:241–255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
22.Sadeghian, M.R., and Mitchell, J.K.. 1990. Response of surface roughness storage to rainfall on tilled soil. Trans. Amer. Soc. Agric. Engineers 33:1875–1881.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23.Werner, M.R. 1988. Impact of conversion to organic agricultural practices on soil ecosystems. Ph.D. Thesis, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State Univ. of New York, Syracuse.Google Scholar
24.Werner, M.R., and Dindal, D.L.. 1990. Effects of conversion to organic agricultural practices on soil biota. Amer. J. Alternative Agric. 5:24–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
25.White, E.M. 1986. Longevity and effect of tillage-formed soil surface cracks on water infiltration. J. Soil and Water Conservation 41:344–347.Google Scholar