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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Morris, Minnesota » Soil Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #230845
Title: Soil translocation estimates calibrated for moldboard plow depth

Author
item SCHUMACHER, JOSEPH - SD STATE UNIV.
item SCHUMACHER, TOM - SD STATE UNIV.
item LOBB, DAVID - UNIV. OF MANITOBA
item LI, SHENG - UNIV. OF MANITOBA
item MOLLINEDO, JAVIER - SD STATE UNIV.
item Lindstrom, Michael

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/30/2008
Publication Date: 7/30/2008
Citation: Schumacher, J.A., Schumacher, T.E., Lobb, D., Li, S., Mollinedo, J., Lindstrom, M.J. 2008. Soil translocation estimates calibrated for moldboard plow depth [abstract]. Soil and Water Conservation Society. p. 99.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Over the past century, one of the biggest culprits of tillage-induced soil erosion and translocation has been the moldboard plow. The distance soil will move by moldboard plow tillage has been shown to be correlated with slope gradient. Lindstrom et al. (1992) developed regression equations describing the distance soil moves both parallel and perpendicular to the direction of tillage for the moldboard plow as affected by slope gradient. Points used to develop regression lines to characterize tillage erosion coefficients often show significant scatter. This variability is in part related to differences in machinery operation related to slope gradient and change in slope. One of the factors contributing to scatter is the effect of tillage depth. Gerontidis et al. (2001) indicated that a plow-depth reduction of 50% caused a >75% reduction of soil displacement in a tillage erosion study in Greece. A moldboard plow calibration method that accounts for tillage depth was developed to improve the statistical relationship between moldboard plow soil displacement measurements and slope gradient. A relationship was developed between soil translocation and moldboard plow depth. This relationship was applied to measured tillage depth during the development of tillage translocation regression equations. Application of this relationship increased the coefficient of determination (r squared) from 0.52 to 0.94 for the relationship between moldboard plow soil displacement and slope gradient.