Tillage, cover and traffic effects on runoff, infiltration and crop production

Level 1 General description

Purpose:

To assess the effect of wheel traffic on runoff, infiltration and crop production under three tillage practices.

Methods (brief)

Tullberg et al, 2001 and Li et al, 2001 studied a combination of traffic and tillage effects on runoff, infiltration and crop performance on a heavy clay soil over a four year period.

Li et al, 2008a calibrated PERFECT model for four tillage and traffic management practices, using daily weather, runoff, soil water and crop yield data obtained from experimental plots.

Li et al, 2008b simulated PERFECT model over a 44 year period to assess the long term effects of land management practices.

Key findings (brief)

• Tullberg et al, 2001 (a) found that mean annual runoff from wheeled plots was 63mm (44%) greater than that from controlled traffic plots, whereas runoff from stubble mulch tillage plots was 38mm (24%) greater than that from zero tillage plots.
• Wheeling produced a large amount and consistent increase in runoff, as opposed to tillage which produced a smaller increase.
• Tullberg et al, 2001 (b) found that wheel traffic significantly reduced time to ponding, steady infiltration rate, and total infiltration compared with non-wheeled soil, with or without residue cover. Non-wheeled soil had 4-5 times greater steady infiltration rate than wheeled soil, regardless of residue cover.
• Li et al, 2008 (a) found that the model explained 75-95% of variations daily, monthly and annual runoff, 70-84% of the variation in total available soil water, and 85% of the variation in yield. The PERFECT daily soil-crop simulation model could be used to generate accurate predictions of the interaction between crop, soil and water under different tillage and traffic systems.
• The results of the simulation model run by Li et al, 2008 (b) showed that conventional tillage and accompanying field traffic resulted in higher runoff and lower soil moisture and crop production. The most ideal management practice was controlled traffic zero tillage in a high crop intensity rotation.

Table 1. Mean annual runoff for each treatment. Soil loss was not available from the study (extracted from Tullberg et al, 2001 and data provided by Li)

Location

University of Queensland Gatton Research Station 27^o30’S, 152^o27’E

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