Soil Compaction from Wheel Traffic under Three Tillage Systems

Agricultural fields are usually subjected to high amounts of traffic from field operations. The influence of traffic on sandy loam soil in three tillage systems were investigated in a field experiment. The field was located in a Canadian prairie region. In the experiment, the treatments were three tillage systems: no-tillage, disc tillage, and spring-tine tillage. Following tillage operations, field plots were trafficked with one pass of a sub-compact tractor. Soil properties were measured before and after the traffic to examine the effects of tillage systems and wheel traffic. For the effects of the tillage systems on the soil bulk density, soil shear strength, soil surface resistance, and soil cone index, the no-tillage system had higher values for all the soil properties when compared with the disc and spring-tine tillage systems. The plant (canola) population density ranged from 18.2 plants/m2 to 34.9 plants/m2, with the no-tillage having the lowest plant densities. For the effects of wheel traffic, one pass of the tractor in the disc and spring-tine tillage plots resulted in a 2.7% and 17.4% reduction in soil moisture content, respectively. After wheel traffic, the average soil shear strength for the disc and spring-tine systems were still significantly lower than the no-tilled system. Sinkages of 40 and 50 mm were observed for the spring-tine and disc tillage systems, respectively. The results of this study highlight the importance of preventing the demerits of soil compaction induced by wheel traffic after tillage operations.