Tag Archives: surface water runoff

63-72 D. Gutu, J. Hůla, P. Kovaříček and P. Novák,
The influence of a system with permanent traffic lanes on physical properties of soil, soil tillage quality and surface water runoff
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The influence of a system with permanent traffic lanes on physical properties of soil, soil tillage quality and surface water runoff

D. Gutu¹, J. Hůla¹, P. Kovaříček² and P. Novák¹,*

¹Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Engineering, Kamycka 129, 165 21 Prague 6 – Suchdol, Czech Republic; *Correspondence: novakpetr@tf.czu.cz
²Research Institute of Agricultural Engineering ,p.r.i. , Drnovska 507, 161 01 Prague 6 – Ruzyne, Czech Republic

Abstract:

The system with permanent driving tracks at the module of machines working width 6 metres, practised in a 10-ha field, allowed to consistently separate the area designed for restricted traffic lanes of farm machines from the production area of the field. The aim of the study is to assess the selected indicators of the condition of topsoil, which is characterized by soil porosity, indicators of soil workability, soil ability to absorb water from rainfall and soil loss by wash after four years of controlled traffic system application in a field trial. Indicators of soil condition were evaluated in four variants with different wheel impacts of tractors and other machines on the soil. A field trial was established in the spring 2010; the measured values in the study are from 2013 and 2014. The results show an advantage, which represents concentration of passages into permanent tracks aimed at protection of most part of a plot from soil compaction. Hardness of clods after tillage in autumn 2013 was five times higher in places with random traffic (356.7 kPa) than outside traffic lanes in the system of controlled traffic (70 kPa). An important result is that the system with permanent traffic lanes made it possible to increase the soil capacity of taking up water under intensive rainfall – in comparison to a part of the land with random passes. The results of measurements with a rainfall simulator in April 2014 showed that cumulative surface runoff after sixty minutes was 7.6 l m-2 on the land with random passes while 3.9 l m-2 outside the traffic lanes (32% of the area of the field). The soil loss by wash during water surface runoff was also lower with controlled traffic compared to the variant with random passes. Therefore it is to assume that suitable application of the controlled traffic farming system may be a contribution to soil protection from water erosion.

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