标题：The Mechanical Impact of Water Affected the Soil Physical Quality of a Loam Soil under Minimum Tillage and No-Tillage: An Assessment Using Beerkan Multi-Height Runs and BEST-Procedure
摘要：The multi-height (low, L = 3 cm; intermediate, M = 100 cm; high, H = 200 cm) Beerkan run methodology was applied on both a minimum tilled (MT) (i.e., up to a depth of 30 cm) and a no-tilled (NT) bare loam soil, and the soil water retention curve was estimated by the BEST-steady algorithm. Three indicators of soil physical quality (SPQ), i.e., macroporosity (iPmac/i), air capacity (iAC/i) and relative field capacity (iRFC/i) were calculated to assess the impact of water pouring height under alternative soil management practices. Results showed that, compared to the reference low run, M and H runs affected both the estimated soil water retention curves and derived SPQ indicators. Generally, M–H runs significantly reduced the mean values of iPmac/i and iAC/i and increased iRFC/i for both MT and NT soil management practices. According to the guidelines for assessment of SPQ, the M and H runs: (i) worsened iPmac/i classification of both MT and NT soils; (ii) did not worsen iAC/i classification, regardless of soil management parameters; (iii) worsened iRFC/i classification of only NT soil, as a consequence of insufficient soil aeration. For both soil management techniques, a negative correlation was found between the iPmac/i and iAC/i values and the gravitational potential energy, iEsubp/sub/i, of the water used for the infiltration runs. A positive correlation was detected between iRFC/i and iEsubp/sub/i. The relationships were plausible from a soil physics point of view. NT soil has proven to be more resilient than MT. This study contributes toward testing simple and robust methods capable of quantifying soil degradation effects, due to intense rainfall events, under different soil management practices in the Mediterranean environment.
