2022 AMA-AGRICULTURAL MECHANIZATION IN ASIA AFRICA AND LATIN AMERICA 2022 53(卷), 2(期), (12-20页)
Soil compaction increases in agricultural fields with use of heavy machinery by the farmers to meet the growing demand of food for world population. Extreme soil compaction has negative impact on agriculture and the environment. It adversely affect soil structure, reduces crop production, increases runoff and erosion, accelerates potential pollution of surface water by organic waste and applied agrochemicals, and causes inefficient use of water and nutrients due to slow drainage. In field operations, high energy requirement and other land management treatments are performed to enrich undesirable soil compaction. Soil compaction is the process through which soil grains are rearranged to reduce void space and take them into closer contact with each other, so increasing the bulk density. Soil compaction is caused due to severe loads applied to the unsaturated soils surface. Electrical Conductivity (EC) of soil-water mixtures also helps us to predict much important information that indicates the aggregate of salts available in the soil. Salt present in the soil arises from the irrigation water, fertilizer, and dissolving soil minerals. A soil comprises some salts, which are very essential for plant growth. Although, excess salts will interruption plant growth by distressing the soil-water balance. Soil from the semiarid and western arid areas of the country are mostly affected by salt, where the rainwater is less yearly, allowing salts to accumulate in the soil profile. Electrical conductivity measurement indicates the number of cations and anions (salts) in solution, if more in the number of anions or cations, greater is the electrical conductivity.