Tillage effects on physical qualities of a vertisol in the central highlands of Ethiopia

In the highlands of Ethiopia, tillage methods and frequency affect drainage, soil erosion, moisture conservation, weeding and harvesting of crops. This is through their effects on soil physical, chemical and biological qualities. In this study, four tillage methods for land preparation, "broad bed a...

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Autor principal: Erkossa, Teklu
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Academic Journals 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/41790
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author Erkossa, Teklu
author_browse Erkossa, Teklu
author_facet Erkossa, Teklu
author_sort Erkossa, Teklu
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description In the highlands of Ethiopia, tillage methods and frequency affect drainage, soil erosion, moisture conservation, weeding and harvesting of crops. This is through their effects on soil physical, chemical and biological qualities. In this study, four tillage methods for land preparation, "broad bed and furrows?,? green manure?, "reduced tillage "and the traditional tillage "ridge and furrows? were evaluated for their effects on soil physical quality indicators. The study was superimposed on the field experiment conducted on a vertisol area at Caffee doonsa for five years (1998 to 2002) in the central highland of Ethiopia. Penetration resistance (PR), aggregate stability, water-holding capacity, crust strength and thickness, texture, porosity, saturated hydraulic conductivity, bulk density and water holding capacity were the soil physical quality indicators considered. The result indicated that only PR was significantly (p<0.05) affected, where as the other parameter have shown a slight changes that are consistent with the effects on the bio-chemical parameters as previously reported. Broad bed furrows, and reduced tillage resulted in the highest and the lowest PR, respectively under both the moist and dry soil conditions. Green manure increased aggregate stability and reduced surface crust strength, which was linked to its increased organic matter content and consequent improved microbial activities.
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spelling CGSpace417902025-06-17T08:24:00Z Tillage effects on physical qualities of a vertisol in the central highlands of Ethiopia Erkossa, Teklu soil management field preparation tillage ridge tillage furrows soil analysis soil moisture soil water content hydraulic conductivity highlands rain In the highlands of Ethiopia, tillage methods and frequency affect drainage, soil erosion, moisture conservation, weeding and harvesting of crops. This is through their effects on soil physical, chemical and biological qualities. In this study, four tillage methods for land preparation, "broad bed and furrows?,? green manure?, "reduced tillage "and the traditional tillage "ridge and furrows? were evaluated for their effects on soil physical quality indicators. The study was superimposed on the field experiment conducted on a vertisol area at Caffee doonsa for five years (1998 to 2002) in the central highland of Ethiopia. Penetration resistance (PR), aggregate stability, water-holding capacity, crust strength and thickness, texture, porosity, saturated hydraulic conductivity, bulk density and water holding capacity were the soil physical quality indicators considered. The result indicated that only PR was significantly (p<0.05) affected, where as the other parameter have shown a slight changes that are consistent with the effects on the bio-chemical parameters as previously reported. Broad bed furrows, and reduced tillage resulted in the highest and the lowest PR, respectively under both the moist and dry soil conditions. Green manure increased aggregate stability and reduced surface crust strength, which was linked to its increased organic matter content and consequent improved microbial activities. 2011 2014-07-25T11:40:44Z 2014-07-25T11:40:44Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/41790 en Open Access Academic Journals Erkossa, Teklu. 2011. Tillage effects on physical qualities of a vertisol in the central highlands of Ethiopia. African Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 5(12):1008-1016. doi: https://doi.org/10.5897/AJEST10.089
spellingShingle soil management
field preparation
tillage
ridge tillage
furrows
soil analysis
soil moisture
soil water content
hydraulic conductivity
highlands
rain
Erkossa, Teklu
Tillage effects on physical qualities of a vertisol in the central highlands of Ethiopia
title Tillage effects on physical qualities of a vertisol in the central highlands of Ethiopia
title_full Tillage effects on physical qualities of a vertisol in the central highlands of Ethiopia
title_fullStr Tillage effects on physical qualities of a vertisol in the central highlands of Ethiopia
title_full_unstemmed Tillage effects on physical qualities of a vertisol in the central highlands of Ethiopia
title_short Tillage effects on physical qualities of a vertisol in the central highlands of Ethiopia
title_sort tillage effects on physical qualities of a vertisol in the central highlands of ethiopia
topic soil management
field preparation
tillage
ridge tillage
furrows
soil analysis
soil moisture
soil water content
hydraulic conductivity
highlands
rain
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/41790
work_keys_str_mv AT erkossateklu tillageeffectsonphysicalqualitiesofavertisolinthecentralhighlandsofethiopia