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Tillage Effects on Soil Thermal Properties in a Semiarid Cold Region

Northern Agriculture Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Box 29, Beaverlodge, AB, Canada T0H 0C0

*Corresponding author (arshadc{at}em.agr.ca).

ABSTRACT

Tillage and residue management may sufficiently alter soil thermal properties in cold, semiarid regions, causing significant changes in crop growth. Soil thermal diffusivity (D_b) and heat flux density (J_s) were measured in conventional tillage (CT), no-tillage (NT), and modified no-tillage where surface residue was pushed away from a 7.5-cm zone above the planting row (MNT) on a Donnelly silt loam (Typic Cryoboralf) in northern British Columbia during barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) growing seasons of 1992 and 1993. The D_b for 0- to 30-cm depth ranged from 0.00126 to 0.00194 m² h^-1 in NT, 0.00129 to 0.00196 m² h^-1 in MNT, and 0.00133 to 0.00199 m² h^-1 in CT during the two growing seasons. Differences in D_b were highly related to soil water content, where soil water in NT MNT > CT during most of the growing season. Mean diurnal temperature at 5-cm depth during the first 3 wk after planting in 1992 was 12.4°C in MNT, 11.2°C in NT, and 13.3°C in CT. Mean of maximum soil heat flux at 5-cm depth was lower by 10.0 W m^-2 in MNT and by 20.7 W m^-2 in NT than in CT in 1992 and it was lower by 23.7 W m^-2 in MNT and by 34.7 W m^-2 in NT than in CT in 1993. Seed-row residue removal in MNT increased soil temperature, maintained soil water similar to NT, and led to increased seed-zone heat flux density.

Received for publication July 28, 1994.