Cover crops effects on anisotropy of unsaturated soil hydraulic properties

• DOI: 10.1016/j.still.2022.105601
• Publication Date: 2022-12-08T16:58:49Z
• Authors: Nicolás Guillermo...; Luis Alberto Lozano; Rafael Villarreal; María Paz Salazar; Esteban M. Melani; C. Germán Soracco
• Keywords: UNSATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY; https://purl.org/becyt/ford/4.1; SIMPLIFIED EVAPORATION METHOD; https://purl.org/becyt/ford/4; NO TILLAGE; 01 natural sciences; PORE SIZE DISTRIBUTION; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

No tillage (NT) is frequently implemented in simplified agricultural systems, which has negative effects on soil physical quality. Among the suggested practices to preserve the physical fertility of soils under NT are winter cover crops (CC). Soil physical degradation affects the soil pore configuration and therefore it can generate a change in the directionality of the properties that depend on it. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of cover crop incorporation under NT on the soil pore system configuration and on the anisotropy of the unsaturated hydraulic properties in a Typic Argiudoll. The results showed that the inclusion of cover crops modifies the soil pore configuration increasing the structure porosity. The inclusion of CC modifies the anisotropy of unsaturated hydraulic conductivity in the medium saturation region. The pore size distribution behaves as isotropic as expected for a scalar variable.<br/>Fil: Soracco, Carlos Germán. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales; Argentina<br/>Fil: Polich, Nicolás Guillermo. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales; Argentina<br/>Fil: Salazar, María Paz. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales; Argentina<br/>Fil: Villarreal, Rafael. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales; Argentina<br/>Fil: Lozano, Luis Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales; Argentina<br/>Fil: Melani, Esteban Miguel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; Argentina<br/>