A simple Micro-relief Meter for Estimating Surface Roughness and Rilled Layer Porosity

Abstract

A simple micro-relief meter which can be operated by one person and be used both in the field and the laboratory was designed and used to measure the surface micro-relief of ploughed (P), ploughed and then harrowed (PH), and ploughed, harrowed and then rolled (PHR) soils. The measurements were used to estimate the plough layer porosity of the tilled soils. The estimated values of tilled layer porosity (P) were compared with those determined in a laboratory from 100 cubic cm core samples and from water retention curves (WRC) of the soils. The results showed that both WRC and core methods gave significantly lower values of P for the ploughed soil, which the WRC method consistently gave lower values of P for all the tilled soils. The results indicated that such a meter can be used to characterize surface roughness of tilled soils and that the micro-relief measurement method can give reasonable estimates of the porosity of freshly tilled soils with rough structures dominated by large clods and often loose soil material.

UNISWA Research Journal of Agriculture, Science and Technology Vol 3 (1) 1999: pp 21-26