many farmers periodically use deep tillage operations to alleviate compaction in the soil profile caused by natural factors or machinery traffic. in 2012 and 2013, a study was initiated in the pannonian region of croatia to study the effects of no-tillage (nt), conventional tillage (ct) and deep tillage (dt) on soil compaction, measured by (bd), soil water content (swc), penetration resistance ...

Measurements of porosity and pore size distribution provide important data on the physical properties of soils. This paper presents a digital image method for the analysis of soil pores. In the analysis of soil thin sections, the image threshold separating pore space from the surrounding solid, as well as the capillary pore size threshold separating air pores and capillary pores, was obtained b...

Skidding operations induce changes in soil physical properties, which have the potential to impact soil sustainability and forest productivity. Our objective was to investigate the effects of traffic frequency, trail slope, and soil moisture content on soil compaction, total porosity and rut depth. Treatments included a combination of three different traffic intensities (3, 7, and 14 passes), t...

Soil wettability is especially important for rainfed agriculture in climates with a dry period during the growing season. The effect of aggregate structure and soil organic C content on wettability of soil aggregates was determined for grassland (grass) and tilled fields (tillage). Soil organic C, plastic limit, aggregate total porosity, and wettability at 100 mm (rapid wetting) and 300 mm (slo...

ground skidding on skid trails affects the physical properties of soil. the objective of this study was to evaluate changes in soil physical properties on skid trails formed due to traffic of metal-tracked skidders with regard to soil bulk density, total porosity, water content and penetration resistance. the studies were implemented on two levels of slope – 20% (sc2) – and three levels of traf...

Tillage operations disrupt surface layers of agricultural soils, creating a loosened structure with a substantial proportion of interaggregate porosity that enhances liquid and gaseous exchange properties favorable for plant growth. Unfortunately, such desirable soil tilth is structurally unstable and is susceptible to change by subsequent wetting and drying processes and other mechanical stres...

Harvest traffic with heavy equipment causes damage to forest soils. Whereas increased soil damage has been reported with increasing harvest equipment traffic and on increasing slope gradients, it is unclear how much soil damage is caused by different directions of skidding. We examined the effects of traffic frequency, skid trail slope and skidding direction on the dry bulk density and total po...

Self-similar fractals are useful models of the soil solid and pore sets along lines, across areas and inside volumes. The scaling properties of these sets, analysed by the divider method within the known scale range over which the fractal extends, were described by three parameters, the solid (Ds) and pore (Dp) linear box or capacity empirical fractal dimensions, and the total number of rulers ...

Soil fertility is important factors for growth and productivity of vegetation. The relationship between vegetation and soil fertility deserves attention due to its scientific importance and practical applications. However, the effects of soil fertility on vegetation development and succession are poorly documented. Here we study soil fertility in Yanhe watershed at northern Shaanxi on five diff...

This study aims to evaluate soil moisture and bulk density effects on penetration resistance dynamics of Dark Red Latosol, located in the Microregion of Goiânia, Goias. Area under rotating pasture were sampled 1) in lines and 2) between lines; 3) pasture renewal area; 4) area under Central Pivot; 5) area under no-tillage and 6) forest. Penetrometry tests were done for three different soil moist...