Akram A. Khalaf, Nahla M. Salem, *Ahmed S. Khalaf
The effect of stubble mulch and mulch tillage (post harvest tillage with mulcher), and different plough types; no tillage (NT) as control moldboard (MB), chisel plough (CP), vertical disk (VD) and mulcher (MU) at two soil depths (0-15 and 15-30 cm), was investigated on some soil dynamic traits, liquidity index (LI), plasticity index (Pl), shrinkage (%) and soil penetration resistance (PR) against tillage equipments. The results revealed that mulch tillage have a significance adverse impact on liquidity index (LI), it was raised from (1.09 )for stubble mulch to (1.30) for mulch tillage in other words it disturbed soil consistency for preparing good tilth, moreover mulch tillage also increased (PI) but not to a significant level . Apart from this the mulch tillage enhanced significantly soil texture in terms of (PR) in favor of crop growth, it reduced from (1.5)Kg/cm2 for stubble mulch to (1.34) Kg/cm2for mulch tillage. All plough types increased liquidity index(LI), but (MB) plough gave the highest value, the reverse for penetration resistance( PR) as all plough reduced, meantime plough types have no significant impact on soil plasticity index( PI) and shrinkage(%).The results displayed that the soil depth affected positively to significant level on the (LI) and (PI), whereas it has no effect on the shrinkage %. Soil liquidity (LI) and plasticity (Pl) indexes were declined with soil depth, while shrinkage percentage did not affected by depth. The interaction of plough types with mulch plough also significantly influenced soil liquidity index (LI), the combination of (MB) and (VD) with mulch tillage gave the highest value of soil (LI) and (PI), meantime all plough types with mulch tillage or without mulch tillage reduced soil penetration resistance. Soil shrinkage %, did not influenced significantly by this interaction. Moldboard and (VD) plough at depth (0-15cm) recorded highest value for liquidity and plasticity indexes and shrinkage %. Whereas mulch tillage at ( 0-15cm) depth recorded the highest value for soil (LI) and (PI) and shrinkage percentage. The second order interaction was also significant, similarly (MB) and (VD) plough with mulch tillage at (0-15cm) resulted in higher values for liquidity and plasticity indexes, but not significant for shrinkage %.
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