Studying the Effect of Implement of Two Plowing Depths and Manure Mixing with Soil on the Soil Moisture Content

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out in silty clay soil at Agricultural Research Station of Garmat Ali in order to study the effect of the plowing depths and manure application on soil moisture content at different soil depths (0-10 (d1), 10-20 (d2), 20-30 (d3), 30-40 (d4), 40-50 (d5) and 50-60 cm (d6)) and two periods (after plowing and after harvesting the sunflower crop). The experiment was conducted using an implement of plowing and manure mixing with soil, which consists of two main parts (two moldboard plows and two subsoilers).The implement was designed and manufactured in the Agriculture machines and Equipment Department in 2015. The treatments used in the study were included two levels of manure application (0 and 45.5 ton ha-1) and two plowing depths of moldboard plow (M) with three plowing depths of subsoiler (S). They were 20 cm of moldboard plow with 20, 30 and 40 cm of subsoiler (M20S20, M20S30 and M20S40), and 30 cm of moldboard plow with 10, 20 and 30 cm of subsoiler (M30S10, M30S20 and M30S30). The results showed that the soil moisture content (MC) was significantly decreased with increasing the plowing depths by the moldboard plows and subsoilers especially after soil plowing. While, the MC significantly increased with increasing the soil depth after the plowing and after harvesting the crop. In contrast, mixing the manure with soil at level 45.5 ton ha-1 by the manufactured implement increased the soil moisture content by 10.73% after the plowing and by 2.33% after the harvesting the sunflower crop compared with untreated soil with manure.