Soil Porosity and Water Infiltration as Influenced by Tillage Practices on Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria Soil

 Abstract

The relations between soil pore structure induced by tillage and infiltration play an important role in flow characteristics of water and solutes in soil. The effects of agricultural management practices on soil physical parameters aid the effective sustainability of soils. In this study, three tillage methods common to the study area on porosity and water infiltration were assessed. Tillage treatments include zero tillage (Plot covered with vegetation (conservation tillage)), disc plough (ploughing to the depth of 16 cm, conventional tillage (CT)) and disc harrow (harrowing to a depth of 16 cm, conventional tillage (CT)). Porosity was determined by the core method, water infiltration by the double-ring infiltrometer and hydraulic conductivity from the steady state flow rate. Based on the result obtained there was no significant difference between the zero tillage and disc plough tillage while there was significant difference between the zero tillage and disc harrow tillage. More so, there was significant difference between the plough tillage and harrow tillage. Based on analysis and comparison of results, it’s indicated high soil sorptivity, porosity and infiltration capacity values for zero tillage follow by disc plough tillage and disc harrow tillage respectively. The bulk density decreased with depth for all the tillage practice while moisture content and porosity increased with depth for all the tillage practices. Furthermore, it has been found that porosity decreased in the order disc harrow tillage (49.90 %) follow by disc plough tillage (42.62%) and zero tillage (41.17 %) respectively. Meanwhile, infiltration capacity increased in the order zero tillage (24.40 cm/hr) follow by disc plough tillage (32.30 cm/hr) and disc harrow tillage (39.40 cm/hr). It was also observed that there was positive correlation between the infiltration capacity and porosity. The infiltration capacity increased with porosity.