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time) or for winter wheat as the next crop. As a result of this specific tillage
sequence, soil conditions at the moment of tillage vary cansiderably. The soil
is strongly consolidated at the time of the first tillage operation after the
harvest of cereals--the upper layer is very loose at the time of the second
tillage pass because this tillage is carried out immediately after the first one.
Experimental setup. A hillslope was selected and a detailed
topographycal map of the area was constructed using an automatic
theodolite (Figure 1). Two sets of experiments were conducted on the
hillslope, each with a different tillage treatment. The first set is referred to as
the 'stubble treatment'. Here, the field of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L)
was harvested one week prior to the experiments and no other farming
operations were carried out. Therefore, the soil was under stubble vegetation
and strongly consolidated. On this treatment, five slope profiles (S1-S5) were
selected. The second treatment is reffered to as the 'pretilled treatment'.
Here, the soil had already been tilled a first time with the chisel plough. For
this treatment, two profiles (T1 and T2) were delineated.
On each profile, 10 to 12 strip plots ca. 1.5 m (4.92 ft) wide
perpendicular to the tillage direction and on varying slope gradients, were
established. Positioning of the strip plots on the different profiles ensured
that half of the strip plots were tilled in the upslope direction and half of the
strip plots in the downslope direction (Figure 1).
For the measurement of soil translocations, numbered aluminium
cubes with a side length of 1.5 cm (0.59 in) were used as tracers. The tracers
were inserted into the soil following the hole drilling technique described by
Govers et al. (1994). On each strip plot, a series of 15 holes with a diameter
of ca. 2 cm (0.79 in) were drilled at intervals of ca. 10 cm (3.94 in). The holes
were drilled to a depth of ca. (0.98 ft) for profiles S1 to S5 and to a depth of
ca. 35 cm (1.15 ft) for profiles T1 and T2. A tracer marked with a unique
number was inserted in each hole and its location precisely recorded using
an automatic theodolite. Next, the hole was filled with fine white sand over a
depth of ca. 5 cm (1.97 in) and another tracer was inserted and it position
recorded. This procedure was repeated until the hole was completely filled. A
total of 56 tracer strips were prepared for the stubble treatment (with an
average of 43 tracers per strip) and 24 strips for the pretilled treatment, with
ca. 40 tracers per strip (Table 2).
Both treatments were tilled using a 3 m (9.84 ft) wide chisel with 13
fixed tines, arranged in three rows of 5, 5, and 4 tines, respectively, with 0.2
m (0.66 ft) between the tines. The chisel was pulled by a 85 kW tractor. After
the tillage operation, the areas immediately up and downslope of the original
location of the tracer strips were carefully excavated and the position of each
tracer recorded. A recovery rate in excess of 84% for the strips of the stubble
treatment 91% for the pretilled treatment was obtained (Table 2).
Tillage speed and depth were kept within the range farmers apply
under present agricultural practice in the area. The original aim of the
experiments was to control tillage equipment of the tractor and varying the
tillage speed between the different profiles. Visual observation during the
experiments showed that tillage depth and tillage speed varied cosiderably
within and between treatments. Therefore, tillage speed and depth were
measured on each strip.
Tillage speed was estimated during the experiment by measuring the
time needed for the tractor to travel 5m across the strip. tillage depth was
estimated as the average difference in elevation between the bottom of the
plough layer, as recorded after excavation of the tracers, and the elevation
of the soil surface for the same location, as derived from the detailed digital
elevation model. for each the strips, bulk density and gravimetric soil
moisture content (three sample per strip) where determined for the top 20
cm, while texture and organic matter content were determined for the top 10
cm (one sample per strip).
From this data, individual horizontal displacement distances of the
tracers were calculated. only those tracers that were situated in the plough
layer were used in these calculation as these were the only ones which were
subject to movement during a tillage pass. no corrections were made for lost
tracers. for each strip, the mean displacement distance in the direction of
tillage was calculated and these data were used in further analyses.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Site description. an overview of the summary statistics for the soil
characteristics is given in table 2. for the stubble treatment, the soil was
rather compacted, resulting in a mean bulk density of the top 20 cm of 1560
kg with a standard deviation of 95 kg. due to dry weather in the antecedent
period, the soil was dry with a mean gravimetric moisture content of 0,14 g.
as the soil was tilled once prior to the experiments of the pretilled treatment.
a reduction of the mean bulk density to 1250 kg was measured. due to some
rainfall in the period between the two sets of experiments, mean gravimetric
moisture content of the soil increased to 0,21 g. the texture of the soil is silt
loam (clay, silt, sand), while the mean organic matter content of the soil is
0,95%.
Tillage erosion intensity. the most common way to analyze tillage
experimental data is by plotting the relationship between the mean
displacement distance of the tracer in the tillage direction and the slop
gradient in the direction of tillage, whereby the slope gradient is taken
negative for downslope tillage and positive for upslope tillage. if the
relationship between the displacement distance and the slope gradient is
Using this model structure a linear regression analysis was carried out
(proc. NLIN, SAS Inst. 1989). In this regression analysis, the soil condition
factor C was by convention taken to be 2 for the stubble treatment and C = 1
for the pretilled treatment. As a result, the relationship between soil
translocation and slope gradient, tillage depth, tillage speed and soil
condition could be described as
RUMUS
Equation 6 clearly shows a negative relationship exists between soil
displacement distance an tillage depth. As the exponent a is negative,
increasing tillage depths result in lower soil displacement distances. This can
be explained as follows: the tracers (and soil) at or near the surface move
over relatively large distances, no matter what the tillage depth is. This is
because their movement is not hampered by the normal stresses exerted by
the overlaying soil mass. At greater depth, the displacement distance is
relatively smaller, as the soil movement is limited by more important normal
stresses. This results in a negative relationship between displacement
distance and initial tracer depth (Figure 3).
Similar observations have been made by Sharifat et al. (1994) and
Kouwenhoven and Terpstra (1970). Consequently, average displacement
distance are high when only the upper centimeters are tilled, while they
decrease with increasing tillage depth. Another factor that may play a role is
the shape of the chisel tines. The implement used in this study was eqquiped
with a small duckfoots on each tine. The effect of the duckfoots on horizontal
soil displacement may be largest when the implement is operated at shallow
tillage depths, again due to lower normal stresses.
The effect of tillage speed is different. The positive value of means
that large values for d occur when tillage speed is increased. S the exponent
of the C factor is negative, one can conclude that, for a given combination
of tillage depth and tillage speed, soil will move ca. 40% furthermore during
one pass on a pretilled soil (where C = 1), compared to tillage of a
consolidated stubble soil .
In order to validate equation 6, we used the data collected by Quine et
al. and Poesen in the Guadalentin area (southeast Spain), as they provided
detailed data on tillage depth and tillage speed variations for individual data
points. In fig.4, the relationship between the simulated displacement
distance, as calculated using equation 6, and the measured displacement
distance d is presented for the datasets of Poesen an Quene. The use of
equation 6 allows one to predict variations in displacement distances for
slope gradients up to ca. 0,25 m m-1 (the range of slope for which equation 6
is calibrated).
Poesen and Quine found that for steeper slopes, the relationship
between displacement distance and slope gradient might be different than
for slopes < 0,25 m. Suggest that on very steep slopes, additional
translocation may occur during downslope tillage due to sliding and rolling of
the soil. However, the present study suggest that variations in tillage depth
play a key role. Tillage depth were very shallow on steep slopes, which, in
agreement with equation 6, resulted in very high displacement distance. A
limitation of equation 6 is that negative displacement distances are predicted
for upslope tillage on very steep slopes. However, this limitation is of the
oretical rather than practical nature as upslope tillage on such steep slope is
very unusual : predicted displacement distances could be set to zero for
these cases.
Although equation 6 allows one to predict the variations in
displacement distances pengarang, there exists a systematic deviation from
the line of perfect agreement. In order words, predicted displacement
distance are sistematically lower than observed displacement distances for
both datasets. These deviations frm the 1:1 line in both cases may, to a large
extent, be attributed to differences in tillage implements and soil conditions.
Both pengarang used a 2,4 m wide duckfoot chisel with 11 tines. The
maximum width of the duckfoot was 0,26 m. Thus, the implement coverage
(i.e., the relative area covered by the implement if it would be projected on a
vertical plane behind the implement) could be estimated as ca. 0,60. For the
chisel used in this study the value would be ca. 0,20. It may, therefore, be
expected that a single tillage pass would result in much larger displacement
distances in the case of the Guadalentin experiments. In addition, the
presence of the wide duckfoot on each tine and the high consentration of
large rock fragments in the Guadalentin experiment result in large rock
fragment trapped between the tines. This may result in soil being
transported further compared to our experiments where no rock fragments
were present and duckfoots were much smaller.
Aplication
The major advantage of incorporating the effect of tillage speed and
tillage depth in the analysis of soil displacement distances and the
calculation of the tillage transport coefficient is that it becomes possible to
evaluate the effect of these factors on tillage translocation and tillage
erosion. Using equations 5, 9, and 10, approximate k values can be
calculated for any combination of tillage depth, speed, bulk density, and soil
condition, once the exponents , B, and and the coefficients A and B are
known. These simulations have been done for two soil conditions similar to
the village experiments (Figure 8a and 8b).
It is clear from these figures that the tillage transport coefficient k
increases with increasing tillage speed, and this effect is more pronounced
for greater tillage depths. Similarly, k values increase with increasing tillage
depth, and this effect is more pronounced for higher tillage speed.
Furthermore, k values for a secondary tillage operation are in all cases higher
than for a first tillage pass on a consolidated soil.
The major advantage of these figure is that they allow one to quickly
asses the tillage transport coefficient k due to chisel tillage for various
conditions, and this not only for a single pass but also for a sequence of
tillage operations, in a case where two consecutive tillage operations are
carried out, the resulting total k value can be obtained by adding up the k
values for each single tillage operation.
From the point of view of soil conservation, these figure allow one to
quickly evaluate possible strategies to minimize tillage erosion. For example,
assume the k value associated with a tillage pass is on loosened soil at a
depth of 0,27 m (0,89 ft) is 400 kg m -1 (268,9 lb ft -1) and the farmer wants
to reduce the associated tillage erosion by 20% without a reduction in tillage
speed [2.0 m s -1 (6,56 ft s -1)] because this would increase the cost of the
tillage operation. Based on equation 6,9 ,and 10 one can calculate that
reducing the tillage depth to ca. 0,19 m (0,62 ft) will result in a reduction of
the k value to ca. 320 kg m -1 (215,1 lb ft -1).
Such strategies may be used in conservation studies to reduce or
minimize tillage erosion, especially in areas where topsoil depth is a limiting
factor for crop production, as is the case in several mediterranean areas.
Conclusion
Most experimental studies on tillage erosion have hitherto focussed on
the erosivity of a given tillage operation under certain soil condition.
However, the experiments presented in this study were designed to
systematically study the effect of soil condition, tillage depth, and speed no
soil translocation by chisel tillage.
Our data clearly show that all these factors have a significant effect on
soil translocation. The data were used to construct a simple model to predict
the average displacement distance from slope gradient, tillage depth, tillage
speed, and soil condition. both the magnitude of soil translocation as well as
its variation with slope are positively related to tillage depth .Also, tillage of a
loose, pretilled soil results in higher displacement distances and a larger
variation with slope than tillage of a consolidated soil under stubble
vegetation.
The proposed model was validated using data presented by poesen et
al.(1997) and quine et al.(1999). This validation show that variation in
displacement distances could be predicted; however absolute magnitudes of
displacement distance were underestimated, which may be due to
differences in implement characteristic.
If variation in tillage depth and speed and important, then they should
be accounted for when assessing tillage erosivity, otherwise, erroneous
results may be obtained. Two components may be distinguished in these
variation. First, the tractor operator may select a given tillage depth and
speed may occur; the latter appear to be systematically related to slope
gradient.
The use of a single k value for practical purposes allows one to take
into account the controlled variations in average speed and depth but
neglects the systematic effect of slope gradient on uncontrolled variations.
However, this simplification leads to errors which are well below 20% for
normal tillage operations. Therefore, nomographs predicting the tillage
transport coefficient k as a function of preset tillage speed and depth may be
a useful tool in developing strategies to minimize tillage erosion.
Use of this simplified model also shows that chisel tillage as applied in
the Belgian Loam Belt is very erosive and may lead to local denudation rates
exceeding i mm (0.04 in) per tillage operation. As chisel tillage is usually
combined with moldboard ploughing, total annual tillage erosion rates can
exceed 3 mm/yr (0.12 in/yr).