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SOIL & WATER MANAGEMENT & CONSERVATION

Impacts of Long-Term Wheat Straw Management on Soil Hydraulic Properties under No-Tillage

Carbon Management and Sequestration Center, FAES/OARDC, School of Environment and Natural Resources, Ohio State Univ., 2021 Coffey Rd., Columbus, Ohio 43210-1085

^* Corresponding author (blanco.16{at}osu.edu).

Crop residues left on the soil surface conserve soil and water, but residue impacts on near-surface soil hydraulic properties have not been widely studied. Therefore, soil hydraulic properties were determined under uncropped no-tillage (NT) plots receiving three levels of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) straw mulch (0, 8, and 16 Mg ha^–1 yr^–1) application for 10 consecutive yr on a Crosby silt loam (fine, mixed, active, mesic Aeric Epiaqualfs) in central Ohio. Water infiltration rates, earthworm population, saturated hydraulic conductivity (K_sat), soil water retention (SWR), total porosity, and pore-size distribution were determined and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity was estimated from SWR and K_sat data. Mulching significantly impacted hydraulic properties in the 0- to 3-cm soil depth (P < 0.01), but water infiltration rate was unaffected. Earthworm counts were 0 m^–2 in the unmulched treatment, 158 ± 52 m^–2 (mean ± SD) in treatments with 8 Mg ha^–1 yr^–1 of straw, and 267 ± 58 m^–2 in those with 16 Mg ha^–1 yr^–1 of straw. Mulched treatments had a K_sat 123 times greater and retained 40 to 60% more water between 0 and –1500 kPa than the unmulched treatment. Soil porosity increased by 28% under 8 Mg ha^–1yr^–1 of straw and by 44% under 16 Mg ha^–1yr^–1 in the 0- to 3-cm depth compared with the unmulched treatment. Pore volume of macro- and mesopores was greater in mulched treatments and that of fine mesopores was greater in the unmulched treatment in the 0- to 3-cm depth. Straw mulching appears to be a viable practice to improve near-surface hydraulic properties in long-term NT soils, although residues may not increase water infiltration rates.

Abbreviations: K_sat, saturated hydraulic conductivity • K(), unsaturated hydraulic conductivity • NT, no-tillage • SOC, soil organic carbon • SWR, soil water retention • , volumetric water content • _e, effective porosity • _b, bulk density.