A. TAGAR1,2, J. CHANGYING1, D. QISHUO1, J. ADAMOWSKI3 and J. MALARD3
1 Nanjing Agricultural University, College of Engineering, Nanjing 210031, P. R. China
2 Sindh Agriculture University, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, Tandojam, 70060 -Pakistan
3 McGill University, Department of Bioresource Engineering, Quebec, Canada, H9X3V9
TAGAR, A., J. CHANGYING, D. QISHUO, J. ADAMOWSKI and J. MALARD, 2016. Soil fragmentation produced by soil cutting as infl uenced by various moisture contents near the soil’s sticky limit. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 22: 655–664
Soil fragmentation is greatly infl uenced by the moisture status. The optimum moisture content Wopt for a seedbed may be defi ned as the moisture content at which tillage produces more than 50% of medium size aggregates (0.5–8 mm). The objective of this study was to investigate soil fragmentation produced by soil cutting at fi ve moisture contents (110%, 100%, 90%, 80% and 70% of moisture content at the sticky limit of the soil, WSL) to assess soil fragmentation and optimum moisture content for seedbed in dry land and paddy soils. The highest fractal dimensions were found at 70% WSL, whilst lowest fractal dimensions were found at 110% WSL in both dry land and paddy soils. Similarly, in both soils, the highest specifi c surface area was observed at 70% WSL, whilst the lowest was found at 110% WSL. The optimum moisture content for seedbed was observed at 80% WSL for dry land soil and 90% WSL for paddy soil.