1. Impact of Production Practices on Soil Moisture and Health
Syam Dodla
Red River Research Station
Louisiana State University AgCenter

2. Soil Health: Importance
Increasing World Population
Food Production Demands
Decreasing land for agriculture

3. Soil Health and Soil Moisture
Physical
Aggregate stability
Porosity
Surface sealing
Compaction
Water infiltration
Chemical
Soil pH
Electric conductivity
CEC
Available nutrients
Biological
Organic matter
Microorganisms
Biological activity

4. Management Practices Cover crops Tillage No winter cover vs Cover Crop
No-till vs Conventional tillage

5. Tillage and Cover Crop Experiment
Hairy Vetch
Wheat
3224 lbs/ac
Control
4511 lbs/ac
949 lbs/ac

6. Effect of Winter Cover Crops on Soil Moisture

7. Effect of Tillage on Soil Moisture

8. Cover Crop vs Soil Moisture
Clover
Cereal Rye
Radish

9. Cover Crop vs Soil Moisture

10. Soil Organic Matter and Soil Moisture
1.18 in/ft
Sandy Loam
13.5%
1.04 in/ft
1.47 in/hr
1.99 in/hr
35%

11. Soil Organic Matter and Soil Moisture
1.66 in/ft
Silty Clay
1.73 in/ft
0.06 in/hr
0.15 in/hr
250%

12. Tillage System vs Infiltration
3 Years old
In Top 8” Infiltration: 20 to 30%

13. Tillage vs Soil Properties
CT 17 yr- Soybean monoculture SOM = 1.6 %
Forest
SOM = 4.3 %
Adopted from: Marlon Winger, NRCS, Idaho

14. Influence of Cover crop and Tillage on Soil Infiltration
S. Dakota, NRCS, 2017

15. Conventional Tillage vs Heavy Rain
Adopted from: Marlon Winger, NRCS, Idaho

16. Questions?