IMPACT OF THE REPEATED TRACTOR PASSES ON SOME PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF SILTY LOAM SOIL

The aim of this paper was to quantify soil compaction induced by tractor traffic on untilled wet silty loam soil (Mollic Fluvisol). Changes in penetration resistance, bulk density and total porosity were measured for detecting the soil compaction. Treatments include ten passes of a four-wheel drive tractor with the engine power of 54.0 kW and weight of 3560 kg (1580 kg on the front axle and 1980 kg on the rear axle, 2.41 m distance between axles). The tyres on the tractor were cross-ply, front 11.2-24 and rear 16.9-30, with the inflation pressure of 160 kPa and 100 kPa, respectively. The speed of tractor during passes over experimental plots was 5.0 km h-1. In comparison to control, each tractor pass induced an increase in soil penetration resistance at all depths, and the average increment ratios, determined as the average of all layers, were 9.8, 18.5 and 26.1% after one, five and ten passes, respectively. The bulk density also increased with number of tractor passes, but with less percentage increasing. The increment ratios comparison to the control were 3.6, 9.5 and 12.9% after one, five and ten passes, respectively. The total porosity decreased with the number of passes, and the decrement ratios were 4.5, 16.5 and 20.8% after one, five and ten passes, respectively.