| Mechanically loosened subsoil has been shown to be prone to recompaction. We evaluated the degree of recompaction of a sandy loam mechanically loosened to a depth of 35 cm in 1997 and again in 1998. Perennial grass/clover was grown with limited traffic intensity in 1999 and 2000. The recompaction experiment was conducted in 2001 and 2002 when the soil was grown with oat and winter wheat, respectively. On-land ploughing was compared with traditional mouldboard ploughing with the tractor wheels in the furrow. In addition, the loosened plots were either light trafficked (<6 Mg axle load and <100 kPa inflation pressure) or heavy trafficked (10-18 Mg axle load and ~200 kPa inflation pressure), respectively. The soils loosened by non-inversion deep tillage... |
