Two-Dimensional Spatial and Temporal Variation of Soil Physical Properties in Tillage Systems Using Electrical Resistivity Tomography

he objective of this research was to assess the effects of different tillage systems on the spatial and temporal variation of soil resistivity and soil features related to resistance to penetration and porosity using Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT). Two-dimensional (vertical and horizontal) ERT was performed on long-term conventional deep tillage (CT), minimum tillage (MT), no-tillage (NT), and by tilling a no-till plot (freshly tilled no-till [FTNT]). The tillage treatments were compared in two different studies with measurements taken at different scale and with two different sampling configurations. The first study consisted of ERT measured on a 5.75 m linear transect with horizontal and vertical high resolution measurements and a second study performed at the field scale using an on-the-go automatic resistivity profile. The on-the-go equipment collected data simultaneously at three different depths (50, 100, 200 cm) and data were referenced by differential global positioning systems (DGPS). Total variation in soil resistivity was significantly explained by tillage treatment and soil depth and by their interaction. The response of soil resistivity to tillage was able to significantly discern between tilled and untilled soil, and between FTNT and the old tillage. Soil resistance to penetration also allowed to detect highly significant differences between the untilled and other treatments at 5 cm, but did not discriminate between FTNT and the other tilled treatments, due to high variability. The automatic resistivity profiling (ARP) measurements were affected by fresh tillage, given the strong response of resistivity to soil bulk density for the first layer.