Effects of common tillage practices on soil moisture retention within a crop rooting zone in a sandy loam soil

Several reports states that global warming is likely to be about 1.0 ℃ above pre-industrial conditions and may even reach 1.5 ℃ between 2030 and 2052. It is therefore envisaged that as a result, climate change will intensify and rainfed arable conditions will become more unpredictable particularly in semi-arid conditions like those of Botswana due to increased heat stress resulting due to evaporative soil water losses. Considering this, several countries have therefore been experimenting with different climate smart technologies with a view to find suitable ones for arable crop production. A study was carried out at Botswana University of Agriculture & Natural Resources (BUAN) fields in 2014 to investigate the effects of different common tillage methods practiced in Botswana and how they influenced the resultant soil moisture retention. A Completely Randomized Block Design field study comprising Mouldboard ploughing, Disc ploughing, Chisel ploughing all at 200 mm depth and a no-till control were compared. During the study, soil moisture content measurements for each tillage method were taken during different sampling dates.
The results showed that the no-till method retained more soil moisture when compared to the other 3 tillage methods. It retained 10%, 20% and 29% more moisture than the Disc, Chisel and Mouldboard ploughing respectively.