Abstract

ALONSO-BAEZ, Moisés; LOPEZ-GUILLEN, Guillermo  and  GRAJALES-SOLIS, Manuel. Improvement of soil hydraulic properties in soybean cultivation through subsoiling. Rev. Mex. Cienc. Agríc [online]. 2023, vol.14, n.5, pp.78-89.  Epub Sep 15, 2023. ISSN 2007-0934.  https://doi.org/10.29312/remexca.v14i5.3102.

The preparation of the soil for soybean sowing in El Soconusco, Chiapas, is carried out intensively and under wet soil conditions, which causes the soil to compact and the ‘plow floor’ to be formed approximately 35 cm deep. ‘The plow floor’ reduces infiltration and its hydraulic conductivity at saturation. The rupture of the ‘plow floor’ by subsoiling increases infiltration and improves the hydraulic properties of the soil. Therefore, the objective of this work was to evaluate for three consecutive years (2017 to 2019) the infiltration in three soil management systems: subsoiling (SUB), fallowing (FAL) and harrowing (HAR). Soil samples were taken from 0-30 cm depth before applying the treatments to estimate their physical and hydraulic properties. Then, SUB, FAL and HAR were applied on an area of 1.5 ha, respectively. Each year the infiltration was measured three times by the double cylinder method for approximately 10 h. Rates of infiltration, accumulated infiltration and hydraulic conductivity at saturation were determined. The results confirmed higher rates of infiltration with subsoiling followed by harrowing, fallowing, respectively; likewise, the accumulated infiltration as the hydraulic conductivity at saturation showed the same behavior. The rupture of the ‘plow floor’ through subsoiling increased infiltration, hydraulic conductivity at saturation and yield components.

Keywords : Soconusco; compaction; plow floor.

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