Improving water infiltration in croplands mitigates the effects of extreme rainfall events

Abstract

No-till system is a proven system for soil protection, however, if mismanaged can impact agronomic and environmental aspects. Here, our study aims to assess the short-term effects of soil disturbance, achieved through scarification, on soil physical and hydric attributes and soybean ones. In a subtropical climate, a compacted 20-year-old no-till system was subjected to scarification at different depths: 0–10, 0–20, 0–30, and 0–40 cm, a no-till without mechanical intervention, with four replications. We measured soil physical attributes (penetration resistance, water infiltration rate), cover crop quality (dry mass), some soil chemical properties (pH, Al, and available cations), and plant attributes (yield and root architecture). The physical parameters confirmed a soil compacted state on no-till. Soil disturbance caused by scarification at different depths consistently maintained penetration resistance below 1000 kPa. The soil disturbance increased the final water infiltration rate from 27.8 to 366 mm h⁻¹. However, the soil disturbance affected negatively soil cover by reducing straw dry mass. Soil disturbance affected marginally the soybean attributes. However, soybean yield production was positively correlated with total root length. The findings suggest that mechanical scarification in compacted soil improves its physical and hydric attributes. This practice can be implemented sporadically but in association with several other strategies to improve the compacted no-till system. The most significant environmental implication of soil mechanical scarification is that enhancing soil water infiltration mitigates the consequences of extreme rainfall events in croplands.