Soil Compaction Technology

Introduction

Soil compaction technology Chisel technology Bed planting technology Productivity of coarse-textured loamy sand soil is relatively low due to its excessive permeability, which causes deep percolation of water and nutrients beyond root zone, discouraging the farmers to use high level of these costly inputs. A 'compaction technology' which brings the soil particles close to each other, was developed to reduce percolation losses of water and nutrients, evaporation losses of water, and irrigation water requirement of crops grown on these soils. It involves having 4 to 20 rounds of a tractor or bullock drawn roller (depending upon its weight) in the field at an optimum moisture or within 24 hours of irrigation/heavy rainfall. The compacted sandy or loamy sand soils have 30-75 per cent reduced infiltration rate, require 40 per cent less water in each irrigation, retain moisture for a longer period, improve germination, provide anchorage to plant roots, reduce the attack of white ant and white grub and increase the uptake of nutrients, thereby enhancing the production potential of these soils by 15%. Compaction also resulted in higher moisture retention by soil, thereby reducing the leaching losses to a large extent.

For further information please contact :

Indian Agricultural Research Institute,
New Delhi