The influence of tillage and crops on particle size distribution of water-eroded soil sediment on Stagnosol

Abstract

The influences of six different tillage treatments and five different crops on soil losses by water erosion were studied during a twenty-year period (1995–2014) on Stagnosol in central lowland Croatia. The aim of the study was to determine how the quantity of soil sediment, different tillage treatments and crops influence the particle size distribution (PSD) of soil sediment. During the studied period, total number of non-eroded soil samples was 60 and total number of soil sediments samples was 445. Significantly lower amounts of fine sand and higher amounts of clay and silt were determined in sediments compared to the non-eroded soil regardless of cover crop and tillage treatment, with the exception of bare cultivated soil. Generally, when quantities of soil sediments were higher, textural differences between non-eroded and eroded soil were lower. Very week negative correlation was determined between the quantity of soil sediment and the content of clay (r = –0.25) as well as the content of silt (r = –0.23). A very weak positive correlation (r = 0.23) was determined between the content of fine sand and the quantity of soil sediment, while non correlation (r = –0.02) was determined between the content of coarse sand and the quantity of soil sediment.