Soil hydro-thermal regimes as affected by different tillage and cropping systems in a rainfed vertisol

The present investigation was aimed to study the short-term effect of different tillage and cropping systems on soil hydro-thermal properties under conservation agriculture (CA) practices. The field experiment consists of three different tillage systems [viz., conventional tillage (CT), reduced tillage (RT) and no-tillage (NT)] and four cropping systems [viz., soybean (Glycine max) + pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) intercropping (2:1), soybean – wheat (Triticum durum), maize (Zea mays) + pigeonpea intercropping (1:1), and maize – gram (Cicer arietinum)]. Results indicated that the surface layer (0-5 cm depth) recorded higher moisture content that decreased with increasing soil depth. The data on soil moisture retention at field capacity (FC) was not significantly influenced by tillage and cropping systems. Among different tillage systems, NT (38.9%, v/v) and RT (38.2%, v/v) recorded higher water content at field capacity than CT (37.5%, v/v). Similar to field capacity, soil moisture retention at permanent wilting point (PWP) was not influenced either by tillage or by cropping systems. Tillage and cropping systems had no significant effect on soil temperature recorded during rabi season. It was observed that tillage system, depth and their interaction (tillage × depth) had a significant effect on volumetric heat capacity in dry and saturated soil. Results showed that reduced tillage (0.68%) and no-tillage (0.67%) registered significantly (P < 0.05) higher soil organic carbon (SOC) than CT (0.62%) in the 0-5 cm layer. Study results reinforce the significance of CA practices, which is not only affecting soil hydro-thermal properties (soil moisture, temperature and volumetric heat capacity) but also favourably influencing bulk density, porosity and SOC in a Vertisol of Central India