Characteristics of soil infiltration capacity under different agricultural management

摘要

The extreme flood events in recent times led to great economic damage. Beside unfavourable weather conditions, the loss of infiltration capacity by soil sealing and the loss of mechanical stability and biological activity in arable soils produce faster runoff and increase the risk of severe flooding events. The impact of management on the infiltration properties of agriculturally used soils has been investigated. Soils located at five field sites with two management practices (conventional and organic); have been sampled for infiltration capacity, earthworm abundance and several other soil parameters. The results show that the abundance of earthworms at the organic farm soils is about 40% higher than in conventionally managed (CM) farms. Apparentlyearthworm numbers are major contributors to the measured infiltration capacity in OM, where the infiltration capacities of the OM soils are approximately twice as high as in CM farms. Overall, the results reveal that OM is beneficial to the soil properties in terms of infiltration capacity and could be used as an alternative strategy for preventive flood protection.