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Departamento de Agronomia, Universidade Estadual de Maringa, Av. Colombo, 5790, Maringa-PR, 87090-000, Brazil
b
Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz, Departamento de Ciencia do Solo, Universidade de Sao Paulo,
Bolsista do CNPq, Piracicaba-SP, 13418-900, Brazil
c
Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz, Departamento de Fsica, Universidade de Sao Paulo,
Bolsista do CNPq, Piracicaba-SP, 13418-900, Brazil
Received 30 November 1998; received in revised form 2 June 1999; accepted 13 September 1999
Abstract
Plant growth is directly affected by soil water, soil aeration, and soil resistance to root penetration. The least limiting water
range (LLWR) is dened as the range in soil water content within which limitations to plant growth associated with water
potential, aeration and soil resistance to root penetration are minimal. The LLWR has not been evaluated in tropical soils.
Thus, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the LLWR in a Brazilian clay Oxisol (Typic Hapludox) cropped with
maize (Zea mays L. cv. Cargil 701) under no-tillage and conventional tillage. Ninety-six undisturbed soil samples were
obtained from maize rows and between rows and used to determine the water retention curve, the soil resistance curve and
bulk density. The results demonstrated that LLWR was higher in conventional tillage than in no-tillage and was negatively
correlated with bulk density for values above 1.02 g cm3. The range of LLWR variation was 00.1184 cm3 cm3 in both
systems, with mean values of 0.0785 cm3 cm3 for no-tillage and 0.0964 cm3 cm3 for conventional tillage. Soil resistance to
root penetration determined the lower limit of LLWR in 89% of the samples in no-tillage and in 46% of the samples in
conventional tillage. Additional evaluations of LLWR are needed under different texture and management conditions in
tropical soils. # 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Least limiting water range; Bulk density; No-tillage; Available water; Soil resistance to root penetration
1. Introduction
In tropical soils, the loss of organic matter and the
degradation of soil structure are responsible for the
decline in productive potential (Cassel and Lal, 1992;
*
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: catormen@cca.uem.br (C.A. Tormena), apisilva@carpa.ciagri.usp.br (A.P. da Silva)
Matson et al., 1997). This process starts with mechanized land clearing of the areas (Alegre et al., 1986;
Ghuman and Lal, 1992) and is intensied with the large
scale implantation of mechanized agricultural systems
(Kayombo et al., 1991). Many reports are available
about the structure and physical properties of tropical
soils (Sanchez, 1976; Lal, 1979; Theng, 1980; Cassel
and Lal, 1992; Kayombo and Lal, 1993). The responses
of various crops to these modications have led to
0167-1987/99/$ see front matter # 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 1 6 7 - 1 9 8 7 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 8 6 - 0
224
(2)
225
0:7373D2s ;
;
SR 0:02232:6908 D8:2080
s
2:6908
SR 0:0194
(4)
D8:2080
;
s
(5)
R2 0:88:
Table 1
Soil physical parameters measured in NT and CT in an Oxisol
(Typic Hapludox) cropped with maize, at a depth of 00.10 ma
Variable
Mean
Standard deviation
Minimum
Maximum
NT
SR
Ds
1.426
1.153
0.356
0.936
0.065
0.059
0.306
0.950
0.239
5.082
1.320
0.459
CT
SR
Ds
1.116
1.129
0.346
0.745
0.075
0.058
0.312
0.930
0.213
3.603
1.330
0.457
a
SR: soil penetrometer resistance (MPa), Ds: bulk density
(g cm3), and : soil water content (cm3 cm3).
226
Fig. 1. Soil water content variation with bulk density at critical levels of field capacity (fc), at wilting point (wp), at air-filled porosity (afp)
and at soil resistance (sr) in NT (a) and CT (b). Shaded area represents LLWR.
variation in Ds and . The results obtained demonstrated that, under the same soil moisture and Ds, SR
was higher in NT, in agreement with data reported by
Cornish (1993). In CT, mobilization of the soil results
in the break of bonds between particles and/or aggregates, reducing SR (Dexter et al., 1988). The greater
SR in NT may be related to the occurrence of the
process of ``age hardening'' of the aggregates by
which the aggregates reacquire and maintain resistance a long time after the initial mobilization of the
soil (Utomo and Dexter, 1981; Kemper and Rosenau,
1984). According to Grant et al. (1985) and Semmel et
al. (1990), the persistence of the effects of drying and
wetting cycles as well as trafc results in larger and
denser aggregates, leading to higher SR in the NT
system (Cornish, 1993).
The LLWR limits, i.e., fc, wp, sr and afp are
presented in Fig. 1a and b for both tillage systems. Ds
increased fc up to Ds of 1.27 g cm3 in NT and
1.26 g cm3 in CT. According to Hill (1990), the
increase in water retention with Ds under elevated
potentials occurs due to the reduction in macroporosity. In contrast, wp was positively affected throughout
the Ds range in both systems. The magnitude of the
effects of Ds on water retention was lower under
higher than under low , resembling the behavior
of sandy soils described by Hill and Sumner (1967).
This is related to the fact that clayey Oxisols have
stable and well developed microstructure. According
to Van den Berg et al. (1997), in tropical soils with
strongly microaggregated structures, the greater water
retention at lower potentials with increasing Ds is due
to a larger amount of particles available for water
absorption allied to an increase in soil microporosity.
Other investigators have demonstrated a negative
effect of Ds on water retention under elevated potentials and a positive effect at low potentials (Smedemma, 1993; Gupta and Larson, 1979). These
investigators argue that, in the presence of elevated
, soil water retention is inuenced by total porosity,
whereas at low , soil water retention is controlled by
the volume of micropores, which in turn depend on Ds
(Carter, 1988). The available water content
(AWC FCWP) varied positively up to a Ds of
1.02 g cm3 in both systems and, starting from this
value, AWC was reduced by the positive effect of Ds
on wp and its negative effect on fc. The greater
reduction in AWC under NT conditions is due to
higher Ds compared to CT.
An increase in sr and a decrease in afp occurred
with increasing Ds in both tillage systems (Fig. 1a and
b). afp was progressively reduced with increasing Ds,
227
228
Fig. 3. Sensitivity of LLWR with different levels criticals of the soil penetration resistance in NT (a) and CT (b).
229
230
Fig. 4. The LLWR in critical soil penetration resistance of 4.9 MPa in NT and 3.6 MPa in CT.
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