Soil Pore Characteristics, Hydraulic Conductivity and Soil Bulk Density as Influenced by Agroforestry and Grass Buffer Conservation Practices

Despite improvements in the use of soil conservation practices, crop rotation and nutrient management programs, significant concern still exists regarding soil erosion and nutrient losses in runoff from row crop production. In the US, states are required to implement water quality standards based on USEPA guidelines or other scientifically defensible methods (Ice and Binkley, 2003). Agroforestry has recently been suggested as an alternative to traditional row crop production in the temperate zone that also generates additional environmental and economic benefits (Gold and Hanover, 1987). It is hypothesized that incorporation of agroforestry practices would improve soil physical properties and thus reduce runoff, sediment, and nutrient losses from row crop agricultural watersheds. However, the effects of agroforestry and grass buffer strips, on soil pore parameters, saturated hydraulic conductivity, and soil bulk density have not been extensively studied for surface and subsurface soils in temperate regions on a watershed scale.