ISSN : 2663-2187

Investigation and evaluation of Effects of Tillage System on physical properties of soil

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Chali P. Kenea, Kishor Purushottam Kolhe Zewdu A. Debele and Simie T. Teklu
» doi: 10.33472/AFJBS.6.5.2024. 5319-5338

Abstract

Tillage operations in dry soil conditions have increasingly been used in Ethiopia in recent years. However, using inappropriate tillage systems for agricultural activities affects soil physical properties like; bulk density, particle density, void ratio, porosity, and penetration resistance. The improper selection of tillage systems for dry soil conditions directly or indirectly affects the grain yield. Therefore, the present study evaluated the effect of different tillage techniques; on the soil's physical property parameters. The experiments were conducted at Kulumsa Agricultural Research Center (KARC); the design of the experiment was planned by using Randomized Completely Block Design (RCBD). The tillage was performed by using Conventional tillage (CT), Minimum tillage (MT), and No-tillage (NT) randomly for three blocks with three replications. The data analysis was carried out by using SPSS statistical analysis software. The results of this study revealed that the effect of tillage systems was significant on soil bulk density, particle density, soil penetration resistance, and non-significant on soil void ratio and porosity at P≤0.05 level of significance. The value of soil bulk density was higher in CT (1.3 cm-3) than NT (1.21 cm-3) in 2022 before tillage and after harvesting respectively. The value of soil particle density was higher in CT (1.41 cm-3) before tillage in 2021 and less in NT (1.36 cm-3). MT (13.43 %) had the maximum value of Soil porosity before tillage than MT (1.95%) after harvesting in the 2022 year of crop production. Soil void ratio was also higher in CT (0.11) in 2021-year crop production before tillage than MT (0.07) after harvesting in 2022. The soil penetration resistance was higher in NT (0.46 kN) than CT (0.21 kN) after harvesting in 2022 crop production.

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