ARS | Publication request: SOIL COMPACTION IN COTTON MICROIRRIGATED WITH BURIED LATERALS

Submitted to: Agronomy Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: November 3, 2003
Publication Date: November 3, 2003
Citation: BUSSCHER, W.J., BAUER, P.J. SOIL COMPACTION IN COTTON MICROIRRIGATED WITH BURIED LATERALS [abstract]. AGRONOMY ABSTRACTS. 2003 CDROM.

Technical Abstract: Compaction became so severe in a loamy sand Aquic Hapludult soil irrigated with subsurface microirrigation that root limiting values of soil cone index occurred in both the Ap horizon and the genetic hardpan below it. Different tillage systems were evaluated for their ability to alleviate compaction. Surface tillage was disking, chiseling plus disking, or no tillage; deep tillage was subsoiling or not. Tillage operations were careful to not disrupt laterals that were buried under each row or in every other mid-row. Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) was grown in the plots in 0.97-m wide rows. Soil strength measurements showed that tillage tools loosened the soil; but the loosening did not improve yields. Since both 2001 and 2002 were dry years, yield was improved by irrigation.