A Review of Soil Compaction- Concerns, Causes and Alleviation

Soil compaction is an important soil management issue of the sustainable agriculture throughout the world. High weight of tractors and farm machineries increases the concern about the soil compaction. This review act as a guide for farm persons on the negative impact of soil compaction on crops causes and soil management practices and methods for alleviation of compaction with decreasing the risk of more extensive compaction damage in the future. Compaction changes many soil properties and negative effects are related to a decrease in permeability to air and water in root zone of crops. This results into decreased crop production and increased draft of tillage operations. The major causes of the soil compaction are use of heavy machinery traffic, performing same farm operations on the field, poor crop diversification and time restrictions in the crop cycle. To correct soil compaction problem, first tactile method is to avoid or limit farm operations that causes the compaction. Major methods to alleviate compaction include optimized tilling of soil, incorporating priming crops in crop rotation, subsoiling and controlled traffic farming. Monitoring of soil conditions constantly and wise use of farm machinery is the most viable approach to tackle the soil compaction.