Effects of residue mulch and tillage on soil moisture conservation

doi:10.1016/0933-3630(94)90022-1

Soil Technology

Volume 7, Issue 3, October 1994, Pages 209-220

https://doi.org/10.1016/0933-3630(94)90022-1 Get rights and content

Abstract

The effects of selected soil management practices (conventional tillage, tied ridges and crop residue mulching) on soil moisture conservation in a semi-arid area of Kenya were studied during the short rains period, 1988, and long rains period, 1989. Three treatments, mulching, tied ridges and conventional tillage with three replications of each practice under a completely randomized block design, were used in the study. Nine experimental plots, each 4 m × 10 m were set up on a slope of 2%. During the study period, soil moisture was monitored on a weekly basis using the neutron probe at predetermined depths to a maximum depth of 120 cm. Calibration of the neutron probe was done for the soil at two depth ranges: 0–90 cm and 90–120 cm. The need to calibrate the probe for the 90–120 cm depth arose due to the presence of iron concretions within this depth range. The results obtained from this study showed that overall, crop residue mulching did result in more moisture down the profile throughout the two seasons within 2 years than the other two tillage practices. The tied ridged plots had the lowest amount of soil moisture in the soil profile during the two seasons. Thus the application of surface crop residue mulch seems to be the best soil management practice for increased soil moisture conservation and improved crop performance in rainfall marginal areas of Kenya.

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Cited by (22)

Effect of water conservation measures on soil moisture and maize yield under drought prone agro-ecological zones in Rwanda
2018, International Soil and Water Conservation Research
Citation Excerpt :
Mulching, ridges and supplementary irrigation through rain water harvesting from surface runoff were used in this study. Mulching is a common method farmers use to cover the soil surface for the purpose of retaining moisture in the soil, reduce soil temperature to contain evaporation and to improve soil fertility or organic matter content (Gicheru, 1994; Li & Gong, 2002). Supplementary irrigation adds a partial volume of water to the plants in the critical time to improve soil moisture (Oweis, Hachum, & Kijne, 1999) while, contour ridges is regarded as water harvesting methods in semi-arid regions.
This study was conducted to assess agricultural practices for generating maximum maize productivity in drought prone agro-ecological zones. The experiment was conducted in Cyili sub-catchment in Southern Province of Rwanda, which has an irregular rainfall distribution and a prolonged dry season. The experimental design consisted of a randomized design and each treatment was replicated three times. Findings from this study revealed that maize grain yield and yield components, such as plant height, cob diameter and length, number of leaves, 100 grain weight, and yield per plant were highly significantly affected (P < 0.001) by all water conservation methods tested. Only germination rate was not significantly impacted (p > 0.05). Supplementary irrigation treatment increased maize yield production to 11,982 kg ha^-1. Mulching increased yield significantly to 8089 kg ha^-1. Ridges yielded 5937 kg ha^-1, and rainfed treatment yielded 4755 kg ha^-1 of maize. Based on Pearson's correlation coefficients, grain yield and yield components were positively correlated and statistically significant (p < 0.001) under various water conservation methods. Supplementary irrigation through rainwater harvesting was found to be a more promising option for maize growers to mitigate dry spell and stabilize maize production in rainfall deficient agro-ecological conditions not only in Rwanda, but in sub-Sahara Africa.
Soil microbial responses to winter legume cover crop management during organic transition
2014, European Journal of Soil Biology
Citation Excerpt :
Compared to soil incorporation, residues left on the soil surface are believed to improve water infiltration, reduce soil evaporation, and therefore help maintain soil moisture. A number of studies have consistently shown that surface placement of crop residues as mulch can improve soil water conservation [1,18,30,33]. Zhang et al. [55] reported that mulching on dry lands raised soil water storage by up to 8% and decreased soil evaporation by up to 13%.
Legume cover cropping has been widely used as an efficient strategy to improve soil fertility. Although this management practice is important to resolve N deficiency for the transition from conventional to organic production systems, optimization is necessary to determine legume cover crop species and termination methods. This study used soil microbial properties and processes to evaluate the suitability of several legume cover crops and termination methods for organic transition in southeastern USA. Soil samples were taken from two newly-established study sites, each containing 12 treatments of three termination methods (disk, flail, and spray) and four cover types (no cover crop, Austrian winter pea, hairy vetch, and crimson clover). Compared to disking and spraying, flail mowing significantly increased soil microbial biomass C by ∼17%, C mineralization by ∼25%, N mineralization by ∼16%, and nitrification potential by ∼36%, 12 weeks after cover crop termination. However, cover cropping only stimulated nitrification potential, but not C and N mineralization. Furthermore, the activities of soil enzymes (exoglucanase, β-glucosidase, and β-glucosaminidase) appeared to be more responsive to cover types than to termination methods. Among three cover crops, Austrian winter pea showed the greatest positive effects on nitrification potential, β-glucosidase, and β-glucosaminidase. The ratio of C mineralization to microbial biomass C also differed with cover types, being lowest in Austrian winter pea. Our results indicated that legume species even with small differences in C-to-N ratio and lignin and cellulose contents could have varied effects on soil microbial properties and processes. Nitrification potential, representing the function of a small group of soil microbial community, was proved to be sensitive to both legume species and termination methods.
Maize production in a changing climate. impacts, adaptation, and mitigation strategies
2012, Advances in Agronomy
Citation Excerpt :
Soil water content consistently increased with increase in surface cover across the three studied tillage practices (planting basins, ripper tine, and conventional plough). Gicheru (1994) showed that crop residue mulching resulted in more moisture down the profile (0–120 cm) throughout two crop periods (the short rains and the long rains) over 2 years than conventional tillage and tied ridges in a semi-arid area of Kenya. Alvarez and Steinbach (2009) reviewed the results of experiments where plow tillage (moldboard plow), reduced tillage (chisel plow, disk plow or disk harrow), and zero tillage were compared in the Argentine Pampas where soybean (Glycine max), maize (Zea mays) and wheat (Triticum aestivum) were the main crops.
Plant breeding and improved management options have made remarkable progress in increasing crop yields during the past century. However, climate change projections suggest that large yield losses will be occurring in many regions, particularly within sub-Saharan Africa. The development of climate-ready germplasm to offset these losses is of the upmost importance. Given the time lag between the development of improved germplasm and adoption in farmers’ fields, the development of improved breeding pipelines needs to be a high priority. Recent advances in molecular breeding provide powerful tools to accelerate breeding gains and dissect stress adaptation. This review focuses on achievements in stress tolerance breeding and physiology and presents future tools for quick and efficient germplasm development. Sustainable agronomic and resource management practices can effectively contribute to climate change mitigation. Management options to increase maize system resilience to climate-related stresses and mitigate the effects of future climate change are also discussed.
Productivity and sustainability of a spring wheat-field pea rotation in a semi-arid environment under conventional and conservation tillage systems
2008, Field Crops Research
A long-term rotation experiment was established in 2001 to compare conservation tillage techniques with conventional tillage in a semi-arid environment in the western Loess Plateau of China. We examined resource use efficiencies and crop productivity in a spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)–field pea (Pisum arvense L.) rotation. The experimental design included a factorial combination of tillage with different ground covers (complete stubble removal, stubble retained and plastic film mulch). Results showed that there was more soil water in 0–30 cm at sowing under the no-till with stubble retained treatment than the conventional tillage with stubble removed treatment for both field pea (60 mm vs. 55 mm) and spring wheat (60 mm vs. 53 mm). The fallow rainfall efficiency was up to 18% on the no-till with stubble retained treatment compared to only 8% for the conventional tillage with stubble removed treatment. The water use efficiency was the highest in the no-till with stubble retained treatment for both field pea (10.2 kg/ha mm) and spring wheat (8.0 kg/ha mm), but the lowest on the no-till with stubble removed treatment for both crops (8.4 kg/ha mm vs. 6.9 kg/ha mm). Spring wheat also had the highest nitrogen use efficiency on the no-till with stubble retained treatment (24.5%) and the lowest on the no-till with stubble removed treatment (15.5%). As a result, grain yields were the highest under no-till with stubble retained treatment, but the lowest under no-till with no ground cover treatment for both spring wheat (2.4 t/ha vs. 1.9 t/ha) and field pea (1.8 t/ha vs. 1.4 t/ha). The important finding from this study is that conservation tillage has to be adopted as a system, combining both no-tillage and retention of crop residues. Adoption of a no-till system with stubble removal will result in reductions in grain yields and a combination of soil degradation and erosion. Plastic film mulch increased crop yields in the short-term compared with the conventional tillage practice. However, use of non-biodegradable plastic film creates a disposal problem and contamination risk for soil and water resources. It was concluded that no-till with stubble retained treatment was the best option in terms of higher and more efficient use of water and nutrient resources and would result in increased crop productivity and sustainability for the semi-arid region in the Loess Plateau. The prospects for adoption of conservation tillage under local conditions were also discussed.
Effect of plastic mulching on soil water use and spring wheat yield in arid region of northwest China
2005, Agricultural Water Management
The field experiments were conducted to study the evapotranspiration (ET), evaporation (E), growth, yield and water use efficiency (WUE) of plastic-mulched spring wheat with hole planting in 1990 and 1991 under full and deficit irrigation at Zhangye Station of Water-saving Agriculture, Gansu Academy of Agricultural Science in northwest China. The experiment was designed to maintain minimum soil water content (MSWC) to different levels: 85%, 70%, 60%, 50%, 40% of field capacity in rooting depth and treatment to be nonirrigation. The treatments were laid out in a randomized complete block with four replications, and a non-mulched replication as control. The study indicated plastic mulched had higher ET than non-mulched due to increase of LAI. Seasonal ET was 269 mm for the plastic-mulch treatments with MSWC 40% and 765 mm with MSWC 85%, increased 19.8% and 2% than non-mulched, respectively. The ET rates of mulch treatments were lower before tillering, and higher after tillering. Plastic mulching could decreased evaporation from soil by 55% in comparison with non-mulched for the treatment of 60% MSWC. The yield was the highest with treatment of MSWC 60% in 1990 and 70% in 1991, and it was significantly higher than treatments of MSWC 40% and nonirrigation. However, there were not significant differences in yield when MSWC were between 50% and 85%. The water use efficiency (WUE) of the plastic-mulched treatment reduced with the increase in MSWC. They were 0.86 kg m⁻³ for the treatment of MSWC 85% in 1990 and 0.89 kg m⁻³ in 1991, significantly lower than MSWC 40–60% and nonirrigation. There were increases of 0.9–30.8% in ET and 4.0–110.3% in yield for all plastic-mulched treatment over non-mulch. The WUE with plastic mulch was 2–61% higher than non-mulch, and the difference increased with the decreasing of MSWC. The net seasonal income, benefit–cost ratio and net profit per mm of water used were bigger compared with non-mulched under less than 60% MSWC, however they became smaller from 60% up to 85%.
Finally, results revealed that spring wheat mulched with plastic maintained higher WUE and net income than non-mulched under low soil water content, which makes it suitable for deficit irrigation in arid circumstance.
Evaporation losses from bare soils as influenced by cultivation techniques in semi-arid regions
2000, Agricultural Water Management
The impact of cultivation techniques on the evaporation from bare soils was investigated in the laboratory. Two soil-types, which are important resources for rainfed cultivation of olives and almonds in semi-arid regions, were selected: a loamy sand soil and a stony (loam) soil. Evaporation from the soil surface is an important loss of soil moisture in these farming systems since a large percentage of the soil is kept bare in order to maximise the water availability for the tree crop. For the loamy sand soil the impacts of a straw mulch and treatment of the topsoil with olive mill effluent (OME) were tested. For the stony soil the effects of different rock fragment contents and distribution within the soil profile were tested. After thoroughly wetting with simulated rainfall and allowing the soil moisture to redistribute, the columns were subjected to evaporation for 46 days. Cumulative evaporation depth of soils treated with OME was 28% lower than that of the control soil. A similar reduction, be it lower (16%) was observed for the soil with a high rock fragment content by volume (Rv = 0.35 m³ m⁻³). The straw mulch and rock fragment mulch did not have an impact on the cumulative evaporation depth after 46 days. Furthermore, the time required to reach half of the total evaporation losses (d_0.5) increased from 9 days for the control soil (loamy sand) to 24 days for the soil impregnated with OME and to 15 days for the straw mulch treatment. The same trend was observed for the stony soils: an increase in d_0.5 from 4 days for the control soil (Rv = 0.19 m³ m⁻³) to 7 days for the soil with Rv = 0.35 m³ m⁻³ and to 8 days for the rock fragment mulch. These experiments show that the changes in water retention capacity of the topsoil by treatment with a hydrophobic substance (OME) or an increase in rock fragment content have a longer lasting effect on the reduction of evaporation losses, and result in a higher and more evenly distributed soil moisture content.

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Effects of residue mulch and tillage on soil moisture conservation

Abstract

Soil factors affecting rainfel agriculture in semi-arid regions with particular reference to the Sahel Zone of Africa

Soil Map of the World

The mulching of coffee Arabica E. Afr. J.

Properties of tied ridges in the Sudan Savannah of The West Semi-arid Tropics

Land forming effects on dry-land sorghum production in the Southern Great Plains

Soil Sci. Soc. Am. Pro.

Cultivation techniques and soil moisture conservation on arable land

The effect of soil texture and density on the neutron probe calibration for some tropical soils

Soil Sci.

Role of mulching techniques in tropical soils and water management. IITA Ibadan

Nigeria Tech. Bull.

Water conservation for rainfed farming in a semi-arid zone, Northwest of Mt. Kenya (Laikipia Highlands)

Studies on the effects of different cultivation techniques on crop establishment, yield and soil water relationships in Tanzania

The effect of different cultivation techniques on soil moisture conservation and the establishment and yield of maize at Kongwa, Central Tanzania

Trop. Agric. J.