Soil compaction is one of the major problems facing modern agriculture. Overuse of machinery, intensive cropping, short crop rotations, intensive grazing and inappropriate soil management leads to compaction. Soil compaction occurs in a wide range of soils and climates. It is exacerbated by low soil organic matter content and use of tillage or grazing at high soil moisture content. Soil compaction increases soil strength and decreases soil physical fertility through decreasing storage and supply of water and nutrients, which leads to additional fertiliser requirement and increasing production cost. A detrimental sequence then occurs of reduced plant growth leading to lower inputs of fresh organic matter to the soil, reduced nutrient recycling and mineralisation, reduced activities of micro-organisms, and increased wear and tear on cultivation machinery. This paper reviews the work related to soil compaction, concentrating on research that has been published in the last 15 years. We discuss the nature and causes of soil compaction and the possible solutions suggested in the literature. Several approaches have been suggested to address the soil compaction problem, which should be applied according to the soil, environment and farming system. The following practical techniques have emerged on how to avoid, delay or prevent soil compaction: (a) reducing pressure on soil either by decreasing axle load and/or increasing the contact area of wheels with the soil; (b) working soil and allowing grazing at optimal soil moisture; (c) reducing the number of passes by farm machinery and the intensity and frequency of grazing; (d) confining traffic to certain areas of the field (controlled traffic); (e) increasing soil organic matter through retention of crop and pasture residues; (f) removing soil compaction by deep ripping in the presence of an aggregating agent; (g) crop rotations that include plants with deep, strong taproots; (h) maintenance of an appropriate base saturation ratio and complete nutrition to meet crop requirements to help the soil/crop system to resist harmful external stresses.

Soil compaction in cropping systems: A review of the nature, causes and possible solutions

Soils are three-phase systems which undergo changes as soon as the external stresses exceed the internal soil strength, defined by the precompression stress value The three-dimensional stress propagation induces corresponding volumetric soil strain Soil compaction can result either in a higher bulk density or, when soil loading is attended with retarded water fluxes and high dynamic forces, in a completely homogenised soil characterised by a lower bulk density and a predominance of fine pores While in natural soils the structure can be described as macroscopically homogeneous, less careful mechanical treatment or reduced addition of organic substances results in less favourable types of soil aggregates As a result of applied external stresses, physical and chemical processes, such as mass flow and diffusion of water, ions and gases, are at least retarded or even completely altered Both increased bulk density and homogenisation cause decreased aeration and increased penetration resistance, which results in impeded root development Reduced water permeability may result in soil erosion, with serious negative effects on the environment Compacted soil may also contribute to global atmospheric warming due to increased emission of CO2, CH4 and N2O from such soils Anthropogenic changes in soil structure and soil functions remain constant for extended periods of time and efforts to restore deteriorated soil structure very often fail because of excessive loosening and homogenisation, cultivation of too wet soil or, afterwards, ill-adapted soil management practices, resulting in even worse soil properties The present paper gives a summary of relevant work performed by the authors

Soil compaction processes and their effects on the structure of arable soils and the environment

Compaction and shearing, as well as the rearrangement of soil aggregates and clods due to shrinkage, among other processes, can strongly affect the pore geometry of agricultural soils. These soil structural changes directly affect soil water movement by altering the hydraulic properties that are commonly described by the soil water retention curve (WRC) and the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity function (HCF). This review focuses on recent advances in the understanding and evaluation of changes in hydraulic functions in relation to compacted soil. The development of hydromechanical models due to recent advances with more sophisticated methods enables quantification of the effects of compaction on the hydraulic conductivity functions at the pore scale of aggregated soil. However, it remains unclear how to up-scale the dynamic, in terms of inter-aggregate pore models, into the continuum-scale dual-porosity models in the form of effective parameters, particularly regarding effective hydraulic properties for the preferential flow domain. While hydromechanical models fail to describe water flow and hydraulic conductivity at the relevant scales and water saturation ranges, the continuum-based flow models rely on effective parameters that are mainly empirical or are based on fitting model results to data. Input data usually do not address temporal changes in the arrangement of aggregates induced by soil compaction and shrinkage. This review presents a concept that summarizes the changes in structural and textural porosity upon compaction. It suggests focusing on the extension of existing hydraulic and hydromechanical models to include the pore structural changes that account for the movement and rearrangement of soil aggregates and the resulting changes in the soil hydraulic properties which basically manifest the effects of shearing and compaction on water flow.

/pdf/a-review-of-the-changes-in-the-soil-pore-system-due-to-soil-2ccr27mayw.pdf

A review of the changes in the soil pore system due to soil deformation: A hydrodynamic perspective

Soil compaction by wheeling may cause considerable damage to the structure of the tilled soil and the subsoil and consequently to crop production, workability and the environment. Soil compaction models are reviewed and their evaluation under laboratory or field conditions is discussed. The development of a compaction model includes: (i) modelling the propagation of the loading forces within the soil resulting from forces applied at the soil surface from farm vehicles; (ii) modelling soil stress–strain behaviour. Models predict stress distribution in the soil induced by farm vehicle and change in soil structure: increase in dry bulk density and rut depth formation. We conclude that models based on Boussinesq equations for stress propagation are useful since they use a small number of parameters. They have been successfully evaluated in field conditions for homogeneous soil under a wide range of soil and water conditions. The difference between simulations and observations becomes more apparent when dealing with heterogeneous structures (clods, firm subsoil). The models based on the finite element method (FEM) have been shown to be more adequate for modelling the 3D distribution of stress within the soil induced by wheeling and the complex stress–strain behaviour of soil. Nevertheless, these models require more mechanical parameters and have been evaluated under limited conditions in laboratory bins or in the field with low compaction intensities. This review stresses the need to test FEM soil compaction models, so as to extend the range of conditions where these models can be applied.

Models of soil compaction due to traffic and their evaluation

This article reviews the basic relationships between the geometry of tillage tools and soil physical properties on the nature of the soil disturbance ahead of the tool. These relationships are valuable to designers and operators of cultivation equipment in selecting the optimal design of the soil working elements and their supporting frame. In addition to the disturbance, the magnitude and direction of the resulting soil forces are important when both designing and using such equipment. Reference is made to an integrated model to predict these forces using a number of spreadsheets, which predict the draught force of a range of implements to within 20% of the measured value.

A review of the effect of implement geometry on soil failure and implement forces

Advances in Soil Mechanics of Structured Agricultural Soils - The North American Perspective.- Strength of Structured Soils Due to Loading: a Review of Processes on Macro- and Microscale European Aspects.- Soil Deformation and Fracture under Tensile Forces.- Soil Deformation under Compressive Forces.- Effective Stress in Structured Soils.- Strength of Low and Variable Charge Soils.- Effects of Dynamic and Static Loading on Compaction of Structured Soils.- Soil Cohesion Changes.- Unslaked Lime Versus Organic Soils Conditioners to Improve Soil Mechanical and Physical Properties of a Loamy Soil.- Interface Between Implements, Tillage and Soil Structure.- Modeling Soil Disturbance Due to Tillage and Traffic.- Modeling Soil Mechanical Behavior During Compaction.- Root System Responses to Soil Structural Properties: Micro and Macro Scale.- Root Activity Related to Shallow and Deep Compaction.- Tillage and Compactive Effects on Soil Hydraulic Properties and Water Flow.- Tillage and Compactive Modifications of Gaseous Flow and Soil Aeration.- Assessing the Suitability of Different Soils for New Cropping Systems in Terms of Rates of Change in Soil Structure.- Poster Paper Abstracts.- Workgroup Reports.

Mechanics and related processes in structured agricultural soils

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Mechanics and related processes in structured agricultural soils