engleski

Soil Water Content in Tillage Induced System

Global climate change became obvious and affects all beings on this planet. Agricultural production is no exception, and is faced with long periods of unfavorable climatic conditions for crop production. Increasing weather anomalies are evident in Croatia in the last two decades. They are characterized by ever increasing dry periods and increased average air temperature. Therefore soil management is gaining more importance with views to retain soil moisture. Longtime stationary field experiment was conducted in Central Croatia near the Daruvar (N 45o33', E 17o01'), characterized by perhumid to humid climatic conditions. Recently, Croatia faced more years with distinct water deficit in the summer months. The experiment consisted of six different tillage systems, no-tillage and five conventional tillage systems. This paper is aimed to give optimal tillage system for soil moisture retention at various depths and tillage impact on cultural plant yield. During the 2012 information about soil moisture were taken at 5 occasions since June to October. Samples were taken from the depth of 0-20 cm, 20-40 cm, 40-60 cm and 60-80 cm, in three replications. Statistical data evaluation showed significant differences in soil moisture between all tillage systems at all depths. Soil moisture content varied at depth 0-20 cm from 205.4 to 909.6 m3 ha-1, at depth 20-40 cm from 337.0 to 813.6 m3 ha-1, at depth 40-60 cm from 342.8 to 792.6 m3 ha-1 and at depth 60-80 cm from 367.4 to 837.1 m3 ha-1 depending on the measurement. No- till soil had from 25% less to 8% more stored soil water (0-80 cm) than other tilled plots in summer period during 2012. Results from 2012 suggest that, up to now, no-tillage could replace conventional tillage without adverse effects on soil water content in the Central Croatia. For wider application of no-tillage system in crop production of Central Croatia, further detailed research work is necessary to be able to talk about new trend.

Climate change; Water conservation; Tillage; Soil water content

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