J. Agronomy & Crop Science, 156, 45—49 (1986)© 1986 Paul Parey Scientific Publishers, Berlin and HamburgISSN 0044-2151

Indian Institute of Technology, Rural Development Centre, Kharagpur, India

Effect of Compaction and Tillageon the Yield and Percolation Loss

of Rice in Lateritic Sandy Loam Soil

P. B. S. BHADORIA

Author's address: Dr. P. B. S. BHADORIA, 715, Congresgebouw IAC, Lawiekse Allee 11, 6701AN-Wageningen, The Netherlands.

th 3 tables

Received August 10, 1984; accepted November 26, 1984

Abstract

There is a large area of acid lateritic soils (Acrorthox) around Kharagpur in the state of WestBengal, India, where the top thin layer of soil mostly of detrital material, is underlain by a deepand highly porous lateritic crust (burried). Management of these soils poses a problem for theirexceedingly high permeable nature. With the objective of increasing the production of rice inlateritic tract by way of reducing deep percolation, artificially compaction with the help of roller(800 kg) at the surface and subsurface levels were introduced under field conditions. Resultsindicate that the 6 passes of roller reduced the percolation by more than 3 folds over control.The increase in percolation rate with tillage depth was associated with the change in poregeometry obtained by tillage. The percentage increase in grain yield over the control was about37 per cent at 4 passes of compaction, the increase was attributed to the reduction of deeppercolation losses. The decrease in yield at high level (6 passes) compaction may be attributed toincreased mechanical impedence and reduced condition (low Eh) in the compacted soil. Yield ofrice has increased significantly with tillage depths at high level (6 passes) compaction probablydue to increased root penetration.

Key Words: Highly permeable soil, artificial compaction, percolation loss.

Introduction

Preliminary research suggests that two problems at present are the main constraints toagricultural production of the lateritic soil of West Bengal, India: a) low fertihty includinglow pH and high phosphorous fixation and b) drought stress due to low water holdingcapacity of the soil. Although total rain received in this region should satisfy most cropwater requirements, but plant water deficits originate due to one or more of the followingfactors: a) low water retention capacity of the soils, b) shallow root development probablydue to excess Al and acidity, c) high evapotranspiration demands.

Among several crops, the paddy is the main crop grown during kharif season. Thepurpose of the present study is to reduce the percolation losses and thereby decrease inwater requirements which ranges from 150 to 180 cm for submerged paddy crop. The

U.S. Copyright Clearance Center Code Statement: 0044-2151/86 /5601-0045$02 .50 /0

46 BHADORIA

percolation loss under flooding was estimated to be 50 to 60 per cent of the total waterrequirement under lateritic soil condition in Kharagpur, West Bengal (PANDE and MITTRA

1970,1971). YADAV (1972) also reported that of the total water applied to the crop nearly 60to 80 per cent was lost through percolation. It is well known that percolation removes notonly soluble products of soil but also causes removal of essential plant nutrients in the soil.PANDE and ADAK (1971) found that N loss was three times greater under flooding conditionthan when soil moisture tension ranged from 0 to 0.1 atm. These factors necessitate thedevelopment of suitable measures to control the excessive loss of water. Control measureswill be of practical value if as a consequence, the decrease in excessive percolation willcompensate the cost of measures adopted. Various methods attempted to offset thepercolation losses are compaction and puddling or addition of bentonite. Puddling orcompaction of soil has been reported to decrease the loss of water by reducing hydraulicconductivity (VARADEand GHILDYAL 1967). Other workers, however, proposed to reducethe percolation loss by laying subsurface barriers (RAO et al. 1972), BHADORIA andSuBRAMANiAM 1978). In evaluating the prospects and needs for compaction one mustconsider the soil type, climatic factors and crops to be grown. The work reported hereinwas undertaken to determine the effect of compaction and tillage on the yield andpercolation rate of rice in lateritic sandy loam soil of Kharagpur, India.

Materials and Methods

The experiment was conducted during 1979 and 1980 on a Kharagpur sandy loam soil. Thesoil has the following characteristics, sand 58.9 per cent, silt 22.6 per cent and clay 18.4 per cent,field capacity 14.5 per cent and wilting point 4.5 per cent, pH 5.4, porganic matter 0.39 percent. Annual precipitation of the experimental site is about 130 cm, nearly 80 per cent occurringduring the monsoon (June to October) period. The soil is very low in supplies of plant nutrientand is underlain by laterite, which is composed primarily of colloid iron and aluminumhydroxides at about 70 cm depth. The experimental site was divided into five strips of 10 X120 m. Each strip was then deeply ploughed, levelled and compacted at moisture content whichis near to proctor value (9.8 per cent). There were 4 compaction treatments viz. zero pass,2 passes, 4 passes and 6 passes of 800 kg iron roller and three tillage depths viz. 5, 10 and 15 cmmaking a total of 12 treatments. The 12 treatments were rephcated three times in a randomizedblock design. Individual plots were 10 m long and 12 m wide. Rice variety Bala manually sownin the last week of June was raised under submergence (3 ± 1 cm water) condition. Arecommended fertilizer schedule was followed. Grain yield of rice was obtained from the plotsand reported on q/ha basis.

An estimation of percolation rate was made by measuring the intake rate of water in thesubmerged saturated soil.

Table 1 Percolation losses (cm/h) under rice crop as influenced by compaction and tillage(mean of two years)

Compaction

zero

2

6

passes

passes

pa5ses

passes

level

of

of

of

of

roller (control ]

roller

roller

roller

5

2.9

1.7

1.2

0.9

T llage depth,or

10

3 . i

2.3

1.4

1.1

Tl

15

3.7

2.7

1 .6

1.2

Effect of Compaction and Tillage on the Yield of Rice

Results and Discussion

47

The data on grain yield for two consecutive years are given in Table 2. The data indicatesthat within a certain range of compaction, grain yield increased significantly with theincrease in compaction level, but yield decreased with further increase in compaction level.The maximum yield was obtained when the soil was compacted to 4 passes of rollersuperimposed on 5 cm deep tilled soil (Table 3). A significant increase in the grain yield ofrice over control may be attributed to a) the increased availability of moisture by way ofreducing downward percolation, b) optimum mechanimcal strength for emergence andshoot growth, c) favourable plant response to the interaction between the soil physicalproperties brought out by compaction. Several other workers, FLOCKER et al. (1959),ROSENBERG and WILLITS (1962) have observed that plant responded well to soil compaction.The decrease in rice yield with the increase in compaction level may be attributed toincreased mechanical impedence and reduced condition (low Eh) in the compacted soil. Asa result of the low non-capillary porosity of the compacted layer, the root developmentand proliferation is retarted and thereby feeding zone is restricted which is ultimatelyresults in lower yield. VOMOCIL and FLOCKER (1961) reported that neither low bulk densitynor high bulk density would be optimum for good plant growth. With very low bulkdensity the root anchorage may not be proper and high bulk density will not allow theroots to proliferate.

Table 2 Effect of compaction and tillage on grain yield (q/ha)

Treatment

A. Compaction

zero passes of compaction

2 passes of compaction

it passes of compaction

6 passes of compaction

SEM 1

CD (P= 0.05)

B. Tillage

5 cm

10 cm

15 cm

SEM t

CD(P= 0.05)

Grain

1979

18.02

22.69

27.46

24.13

0.90

1 .86

23.48

23.47

22.27

0.72

1.49

yield

1980

23.04

28.57

32.19

29.58

0.59

1.22

29.19

28.86

27.60

0.51

1.06

48 BHADORIA

Table 3 Interaction effect on compaction and tillage on grain yield (q/ha)

Compaction level

zero passes of roller

2 passes of roller

A passes of roller

6 pa5ses of roller

SEM 1

CD (P = 0.05)

5

18.^0

2 i . 3 8

29.03

22.10

1 .02

2.1 1

1979

10

18.20

22. AO

27.50

25.80

Tillage depth,cm

15

17.45

21.30

25.85

24.52

5

24.08

30.83

34.44

27.40

1.55

3.22

1980

10

24.00

28.33

32.50

30.60

15

23.45

26.56

29.65

30.75

The grain yield was significantly affected by the depth of tillage during Kharif season ofrice. Yield crop tended to increase significantly with tillage depth at 6 passes of compactingroller although yield differences between 10 and 15 cm depth of ploughing was notsignificant. PATRICK et al. (1959) reported that the increase in yield measured were probablydue to increased root penetration and development in the subsoil that resulted from deeptillage. The results of ADEOYE (1982) has shown that in deep tilled plots the total root lengthwas 9 per cent greater than in shallow tilled plots. At low level of compaction (2 and 4passes), ploughing deeper than 5 cm was not accompanied by increased yields. A signific-ant decrease in grain yield at deeper tillage depth was probably due to excessive loss ofwater and nutrients due to percolation as seen from percolation data in Table 1.

Percolation rate

The percolation rate is found to be affected by levels of compaction. It is seen from theTable 1 that there has been a decrease in percolation rate with the increase in compactionlevel of soil. This may be due to a decrease in the movement of water due to reduction innon-capillary pores spaces resulting out of increased compaction levels. MEREDITH andPATRICK (1961) reported that at high level of compaction almost all the non-capillary poreswere destroyed and soil water permeability closely associated with non-capillary porosity.The increase in percolation rate with tillage depth was associated with the change in poregeometry obtained by tillage. Findings are in agreement of HOBBS et al. (1961). JACKSON

(1963) also observed that an increase in porosity by 0.047 resulted in a 40 per cent increasein distance to the water movement.

Zusammenfassung

Einflufi von Verdichtung und Bodenbearbeitungauf den Ertrag und Perkolationverluste

beim Anbau von Reis auf einem lateritischen, sandigen Lehmboden

Das Wachstum von Reis unter Bewasserungsbedingungen kann zu (ibermafiigen Was-ser- und Nahrstoff-Verlusten fiihren. Die Experimente wurden unternommen, um den

Effect of Compaction and Tillage on the Yield of Rice 49

Einflufi der Verdichtung und der Bodenbearbeitung auf den Ertrag und die Perkolations-rate zu erfassen. Eine signifikante Erhohung des Ertrages wurde bei bodenverdichtetenVarianten im Vergleich zur KontroUvariante erzielt. Die Zunahme des Ertrages kann derverbesserten Wasserverfugbarkeit als Folge reduzierter Perkolationsverluste interpretiertwerden. Der Reisertrag tendierte zu einer signifikanten Erhohung im Zusammenhang mitder Bearbeitungstiefe bei einem hohen Grad der Boden verdichtung; dies ist wahrscheinlichauf eine verbesserte Wurzelpenetration und -entwicklung in den Unterboden zuriickzu-fiihren, die sich aus der Bearbeitungstiefe ergibt. Es gibt eine deutliche Reduzierung derPerkolationsrate um das Dreifache bei einer Bodenverdichtung im Vergleich zur Kon-trolle. Dies ist wahrscheinlich auf die Minderung der Wasserbewegung aufgrund derAbnahme in der Porengrofienverteilung verdichteter Boden zuruckzufuhren.

References

ADEOYE, K. B., 1982: Effect of tillage depth on physical properties of tropical soil and on yieldof Maize, Soybean and Cotton. Soil and Tillage. Res. 2, 225—231.

BHADORIA, P . B. S., and T. SUBRAMANIAM, 1978: The influence of sub-surface treatment of taron percolation in lateritic sandy loam soil. Ind. J. Soil Cons. 6, 80—83.

FLOCKER, W . J., J . A . VOMOCIL, and F. D. HOWARD, 1959: Some growth response of Tomatoesto soil Compaction. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. Proc. 23, 188—191.

HoBBS, J. A., R. E. HuRRiNG, D. E. REASLEE, W . W . HARRIS, and G. E. FAIRBANKS, 1961: Deeptillage effects on soils and crops. Agron. J. 53, 313—316.

JACKSON, R. D . , 1963: Porosity and soil water diffusivity. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. Proc. 27,123—126.

MERDITH, H . L., and W. H. Jr. PATRICK, 1961: Effect of soil compaction on sub-soil rootpenetration and physical properties of three soils in Louisiana. Agron. J. 53, 163—167.

PANDE, H . K., and B. N. MITTRA, 1970: Response of low land rice to varying levels of soil,water and fertility management in different seasons. Agron. J. 62, 197—200.

, and , 1971: Effect of depth and submergence fertilization and cultivation on waterrequirement and yield of rice. Exp. Agr. 7, 241—243.

PANDE, H . K., and N. K. ADAK, 1971: Leaching loss of nitrogen in rice cultivation undersubmergence. Exp. Agr. 7, 329—330.

PATRICK, W . H . Jr., L. W. SLOANE, and S. A. PHILLIPS, 1959: Response of cotton and corn todeep placement of fertilizer and deep tillage. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. Proc. 23, 307—310.

RAO, K. V. P., S. B. VARADE, and H. K. PANDE, 1972: Influence of sub-surface barrier ongrowth, yield nutrient uptake and water requirement of rice. Agron. J. 64, 578—580.

ROSENBERG, N . J., and N. A. WILLITS, 1962: Yield and physiological response of barley andbeans grown in artificially compacted soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. Proc. 26, 78—82.

VARADE, S. B., and B. P. GHILDYAL, 1967: Mechanical impedence and growth of paddy inartificially compacted lateritic sandy loam soil. J. Ind. Soc. Soil Sci. 15, 157—162.

VOMOCIL, J. A., and W. J. FLOCKER, 1961: Transaction of the ASAE 49, 242—246.YADAV, J. S. P., 1972: Water management and irrigation scheduling in relation to rice

production, p. 120. In: Proc. Symp. Soil and water management, key to rice revolution,PAV Ludhuana, India.

J. Agronomy & Crop Science, Bd. 156, Heft 1