Impact of tillage and fertility management on Lixisol hydraulic characteristics – IJAAR

Idriss Serme, Korodjouma Ouattara, Vincent Logah, Jean Baptisse Taonda, Charles Quansah, Badiori Ouattara, C. Robert Abaidoo

Institut de L’Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles (INERA), Burkina Faso

Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture. Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana

Key words: Hydraulic conductivity, Infiltration, Sorptivity, Tillage options.

Abstract

Water and soil fertility are the most limiting factors to crop production in semi-arid zones. In Burkina Faso soil and water conservation techniques were developed and promoted in the Saharan zone where the annual rainfall is less than 600 mm. This study was conducted in Nadion located in the South Sudan zone of Burkina Faso to assess the impact of no-till, tied ridging; ripping and conventional tillage combined with soil fertility management options (control, compost, NPK + Urea, crop residues, and Compost+ NPK + Urea) on soil hydraulic characteristics. Infiltration tests were performed in the second year of the study, after harvesting (December) using a tension disc infiltrometer. The results showed that ripping improved soil steady state infiltration rate compared to the other tillage practices. The Tied-ridging improved soil saturated hydraulic conductivity and the hydraulically functioning pores size which may lead to an improvement in soil moisture storage. The mulching practice increased the field saturated hydraulic conductivity compared to the zero mulching. The improving tendency value of hydraulic conductivity in zero tillage practice on Lixisol soils suggests that Zero tillage has the potential for reducing runoff and soil erosion in the South Sudan Zone of Burkina Faso.