ABSTRACT

Soil erosion and drought are significant environmental hazards for crop production in the northwestern coastal zone of Egypt, leading to increased soil resources degradation. In-situ rainwater harvesting techniques by changing the micro-topography of soil via tillage practices can increase runoff retention and improve soil productivity. In this study, field trials were conducted on a sandy loam soil to determine the effects of four tillage systems [integrated ridge-furrow tillage (RFT), integrated reservoir tillage (RT), conventional tillage (CT), and No tillage (NT)] on soil bulk density, volumetric water content, runoff, soil loss, precipitation use efficiency, and winter wheat yield during two growing seasons under-rainfed conditions. The results indicated that tillage systems significantly affected soil properties, precipitation use efficiency and wheat yield in the order of: RFT > RT > CT > NT. Compared with the CT, the mean runoff with the developed RFT and RT was significantly decreased by 55.4% and 40.3%, respectively. Meanwhile, the precipitation use efficiency increased by 18.1% and 9.5%, respectively. By taking into account the stability of soil productivity along with environmental protection, it is suggested that the RFT and RT are the tillage systems that can efficiently increase the availability of soil water and, consequently, wheat yield.

摘要

水土流失和干旱是埃及西北沿海地区作物生产的重大环境危害，导致土壤资源退化加剧。原位通过耕作改变土壤微地形的雨水收集技术可以增加径流保留并提高土壤生产力。在这项研究中，在沙壤土上进行了田间试验，以确定四种耕作系统的效果[综合垄沟耕作 (RFT)、综合水库耕作 (RT)、常规耕作 (CT) 和免耕 (NT) ] 在雨养条件下两个生长季节的土壤容重、体积含水量、径流、土壤流失、降水利用效率和冬小麦产量。结果表明，耕作制度显着影响土壤性质、降水利用效率和小麦产量，其顺序为：RFT > RT > CT > NT。与 CT 相比，RFT 和 RT 发达的平均径流显着降低了 55.4% 和 40.3%，分别。同时，降水利用效率分别提高了18.1%和9.5%。考虑到土壤生产力的稳定性和环境保护，建议 RFT 和 RT 是可以有效增加土壤水分利用率的耕作系统，从而提高小麦产量。