Effect Of Irrigated Soils Compaction In Some Physical And Water Properties Of Soil In Central And Southern Iraq

Abstract

A field study was carried out to reveal the effect of compaction of irrigated soils resulting from the movement of heavy machinery adopted in soil and crop management processes in central and southern Iraq on some physical, water and engineering properties of soil. The effect of compaction of heavy and light soils in the fields of cereal crops "wheat and rice" was studied. The study was conducted on eight sites in four stations of different textures, two sites in each station. The four sites are Al-Fajr district, Dhi Qar governorate (mixed texture soil), sand dunes station located on the FAO project between Dhi Qar and Al-Qadisiyah (mixed sandy soil), rice research station in Al-Mashkhab area / Najaf governorate (clay mixed soil), and Al-Qadisiyah region. Hor Salib (Alluvial clay soil). Samples were taken, ten replicates for each site, from the soil with a depth of 30-50 cm and some physical properties of the soil were measured, namely texture, bulk and real density, total porosity, soil resistance to penetration, accumulative water tip, tip rate and water conductivity. It was noted that there is a positive relationship between the apparent soil density and the total porosity affected by the compaction factor. The bulk density of the soil subjected to C1 compaction increased compared to the neighboring soil less susceptible to C0 compaction and sandy soil. The results showed a lower porosity in compacted soils compared to non-compact soils. And there was a clear effect of compaction operations on the values of soil resistance to penetration, tip rate and aggregate tip of C1 compacted soil and soils less exposed to C0 compaction operations in the studied sites. In general, the effect increased in clay soils, while there was no significant effect of compaction processes in sandy soils.