Effects of cover crops and tillage methods on selected physical and water retention properties of Luvisol

The study aimed to assess the impact of spreading cover crops and different tillage methods on specific physical and water retention properties of Luvisol. The experiment analysed the influence of two factors on the tested properties. The first-order factor was the sowing of cover crops; three levels were analysed in the experiment: without cover crop, field pea sown after the wheat harvest, and white mustard sown after the wheat harvest. The second-order factor was the tillage method for intercrop seeding and spring wheat; four levels were analysed: conventional tillage, strip-till, reduced tillage, and no-till. After three years of the field experiment, four composite bulk samples with disturbed structure and eight core samples (100 cm3) with undisturbed structure were taken from the humus horizon (15 cm) of each treatment. The collected soil samples were used to analyse the total carbon content, basic physical properties, and water retention properties. The use of the cover crops positively influenced the soil properties, whereas the simplified cultivation had a negative effect. The impact of sowing the cover crops was greater than that of the tillage method. Despite the statistical significance of the impact of the tested factors, their practical impact seems to be negligible.