Resumen

QUIROGA, Alberto Raúl; FUNARO, Daniel Oscar; FERNANDEZ, Romina  y  NOELLEMEYER, Elke Johana. Soil and management factors that condition fallow efficiency in the Pampa region. Cienc. suelo [online]. 2005, vol.23, n.1, pp.79-86. ISSN 1850-2067.

In the semiarid and subhumid pampa region rainfall does not cover the crops' consumptive use and normally limits yields and fertilizer response. A substantial part of rain falls during the fallow period and a high proportion cannot be used by crops. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of a) fallow duration, b) variation in the water retention capacity (CRA), c) soil cover and d) tillage systems on: water contents, temperature, soil resistance (RP), nitrate N (N). The longest summer fallow period resulted in highest water storage (149 mm) and N contents (81 kg ha-1) with respect to intermediate fallow (112 mm water storage, 56 kg N ha-1) and short fallow (96 mm water storage, 34 kg N ha-1). In Hapludoll soils fallow length mostly affected N availability and no effect on water storage and RP were found, while in entic Haplustolls with calcium carbonate hardpans the most significant effects were on water storage, N and RP. En soils with low CRA (42 mm) no difference between fallow and no-fallow treatments were observed, while in soils with high CRA (90 to 210 mm) significant differences in water and nitrate content were found. Low soil cover levels caused a lower water storage and N availability efficiency during fallow. We also encountered significant differences in summer fallow water storage between zero tillage (163 mm) and conventional tillage (118 mm). Due to the higher water content in zero tillage, this treatment also showed lower values of RP. It can be concluded that management practices, and in particular zero tillage can increase the efficiency of summer fallow. The importance of their effects is conditioned by soil water storage capacity and rainfall.

Palabras clave : Soil quality; Tillage systems; Fallow; Soil water storage capacity; Soil cover.

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