VICIA COMO CULTIVO PUENTE Y SISTEMAS DE LABRANZA: EFECTO SOBRE PROPIEDADES FÍSICAS DEL SUELO.

An alternative to pursue a soil physical property improvement is including cover/green manure crops (CP) between two cash crops in a crop sequence. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of using contrasting tillage systems (SL) and a CP on some soil physical properties of a Mollisol in the SEB. Soil samples and determinations were taken in a longterm SL experiment carried out in Balcarce. The factor CP was assigned to sub-sub-plots with two levels: with (Con V) and without (Sin V) vetch (V) (Vicia villosa Roth) preceded by corn (Zea mays L.) since 2008. Bulk density, EA, INF and RMP were determined after corn harvest. Aggregate stability decreased with the increase of tillage aggressiveness. No-tillage led to higher EA at the upper 5 cm with respect to LD and LC. On the other hand, at 5-20 cm, SD showed higher EA than LC but without difference with LD. Under SD, RMP in the first 10 cm of the soil layer it was higher than under LD and LC, but between 10 and 20 cm depth a sharp increase under LD was observed. Contrary to what was expected, DAP was higher under LC than under LD and SD in the upper 5 cm of soil, but there were no differences among SL at 5-20 cm depth. Infiltration rate was not significantly affected by SL. The inclusion of V as CP increased INF under all SL and decreased RMP under SD. However, the CP did not affect DAP nor EA. The soil loosening degree with tillage did not diminish DAP and did not increase INF. The V as CP improved INF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]