The influence of tillage measures on soil infiltration characteristics at different growth stages of typical crops in red soil slopes farmland
In this context,the present study selected maize,a representative crop in the southern red soil region,as the experimental object,and established experimental plots with four different tillage measures treatments:Downslope ridge tillage(DT),Cross-slope ridge tillage(RT),Conventional till-age(CT),and Plastic mulching tillage(PM).The infiltration rate and cumulative infiltration were measured by using the ring knife method to investigate the impact of different tillage measures on the soil infiltration characteristics during different growth stages of crops in the red soil sloping farmland.Moreover,the suitability of five typical infiltration models in the red soil sloping farmland was evalua-ted.The results indicate:1)There are significant differences in the soil infiltration rates and cumula-tive infiltration curves at different growth stages of crops.The soil infiltration process shows greater vari-ations under RT and PM,while it remains relatively stable under CT and DT;2)Overall,RT and PM exhibit higher initial infiltration rates with greater variations,whereas DT and CT show lower initial in-filtration rates with smaller variations.The saturated hydraulic conductivity is ranked as follows CT>RT>PM>DT;3)The initial infiltration rate under different tillage measures negatively correlates with soil bulk density and positively correlates with soil organic matter content.On the other hand,the stead-y-state infiltration rate and saturated hydraulic conductivity positively correlate with total nitrogen con-tent in the soil;4)All five infiltration models can effectively fit the soil infiltration process under dif-ferent tillage measures in red soil sloping farmland.Among them,the Horton model demonstrates the best overall fitting performance.The findings of this study provide a theoretical basis for rainwater runoff regulation and soil erosion control in red soil sloping farmland.
soil infiltrationtillage measuresred soil sloping farmlandcrop growth stagesinfiltration model