Abstract

Physical and chemical properties of the soil are key determinants of farm soil compaction. The purpose of this study is to study the effects of depth and soil physiochemical properties on soil compaction. Soil compaction was measured using a Spot On digital compaction meter. During the soil compaction field test five different depths were selected. In the soil laboratory, soil texture, soil pH, soil electric conductivity (EC), soil organic content, and soil cation exchange capacity are determined for the farm field soil. The correlation of soil compaction within the experimental field was performed. From the average of all sample points, the maximum and minimum values of the soil compaction value are 3947.3 and 2667.7 Kpa at 25 and 5 cm depth, respectively. The soil laboratory result shows farmland soil is a mixture of clay loam with 36.7% of sand, 30.3% of clay, and 33% silt. The maximum and minimum percentage of soil moisture values were 13.97 and 16.04 at 0 to 10 and 20 to 30 cm depth respectively. Total organic carbon, organic matter, and total nitrogen exhibit positive relationships with both depth and soil compaction.

Key words: Depth, soil compaction, soil chemical properties, soil physical properties.