The effect of subsoiling on soil resistance and cotton yield

Soil compaction occurs due to heavy wheeling or repetitive tillage in the field. Soil compaction changes the soil physical parameters and water infiltration that cause reduction in the crop yield. Proper subsoiling alleviates the negative effect of soil compaction. The objectives of the research was to examine the effects of subsoiling on the resistance of the soil and to find out deep tillage effects on the cotton yield and the convenient time for applying subsoil treatment for reducing the soil compaction. One-pass (B) and two-passes (C) subsoil treatments were applied in the fields where wheat, silage maize (Zea mays L.) and cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) crops were grown by 2 years rotation. The experiment was started in 1998 and carried out for 4 years. Soil penetrations were measured during the experiments years at thaw conditions of silty-clay soil (43% clay, 50% silt, 7% sand) before seedbed preparation in autumn seasons. According to the results, the subsoiling treatments created statistically significant effects on the soil resistance (P < 0.05) comparing the control plots (A). The initial disruption in subsoiled plots has almost disappeared after 2 and 4 years in B and C plots, respectively. The soil resistance in C plots was lower than in B plot. The percentage of decrease in the soil resistance from A to B and A to C plots was calculated as 13.3 and 26.2%, respectively, in the first year. In the effective subsoiling area from 0.20 to 0.50 m depth, the ratio of penetration decrease in both plots was about 7-8% per year. The difference of penetration decrease between B and C plots was found to be about 15.8% level. Cotton yields at each subsoiled plots increased slightly comparing with control plots (A) where subsoiling was not applied. However, these increments were found to be statistically insignificant. It may be concluded that the subsoiling treatments does not affect the crop yield in intensive and fully irrigated field conditions. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.