Effect of tillage on soil physical properties
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1. Pore space: Soils are made up of particles of different sizes. Air filled spaces between these particles constitute pore space.

2. Soil structure: Soils with crumbly and granular clods are considered as soils with good structure. When the soil is subjected to tillage at optimum moisture level, crumb structure is developed so that loss of soil by erosion is greatly reduced. Rain water is held in the large pores, between the aggregates and also in the micro pores of the aggregates.

3. Bulk density:When the soil is loosened, the soil volume increases without any effect on weight. Therefore, bulk density of tilled soil is less than the untilled soil.

4. Soil colour: Organic matter is mainly responsible for the dark brown to dark grey colour of the soil. Tillage increases oxidation and decomposition of organic matter, resulting in fading of colour.

5. Soil water: Tillage improves soil water in different ways. The amount of available water depends on soil porosity, soil depth and random roughness. All these characters are increased by tillage.

6. Soil temperature: Tillage creates soil temperature optimum for seed germination and seedling establishment. Tillage loosens the soil surface resulting in decrease of thermal conductivity and heat capacity.


Different types of soil structure