The effects of farming on the physical properties of andisol soil in the department of Nariño

Abstract

In the district of Chimangual town, municipality of Sapuyes, the soil has been submitted to a system of excessive tillage by farmers for several years, which consists of the application of traditional cultural work in the downward direction of the slope with the use of plows disks or landfills to make the soil move towards the bottom of the lots, due to this situation this investigation is a preliminary assessment of the impact of such crops on some of the physical properties of soil. This zone is situated at an altitude of 3150 msnm, has a temperature 10 ° C and rainfall of 964 mm/year, apparent density, hydraulic conductivity, total porosity, pore distribution and penetrability under three tillage systems (conventional, reduced and minimum) were assessed in two directions furrowed (in the downward direction of slope and against of slope) in a field devoted to the cultivation of hillside potatoes, in three seasons of evaluation. We used an experimental design of complete blocks administering treatments at an arrangement of divided parcels. In assessing apparent density, hydraulic conductivity, total porosity, macroporosity and microporosity statistically significant differences were shown, however, to assess penetrability there were significant differences in the direction of the furrows, with the system in the downward direction of the slope presenting the greatest resistance to penetration compared with the system against the slope. The mesoporosity presented statistical significant differences for interaction in the direction of furrowed crops where conventional farming against the slope showed higher percentajes of mesopores.