Effect of animal drawn puddling implements on hydraulic conductivity of lateritic sandy clay loam soil in West Bengal, India

To determine out the suitable animal drawn puddling implement in terms of reduction in hydraulic conductivity of soils were investigated in this research study. In rice (Oriza sativa L.) cultivation in West Bengal, India, reduction in hydraulic conductivity of soil facilitates better rice growth. To determine, the effect of puddling implements, i.e., an animal drawn rotary puddler (I₁), a 3-tine tiller (I₂) and a local plough (I₃), and number of passes of the implements on hydraulic conductivity of the puddled as well as the non-puddled layer of a lateritic sandy clay loam with respect to relative age (i.e., elapsed time after puddling operation) was studied under controlled soil-bin conditions. It was concluded that the hydraulic conductivity of soil decreases with the number of passes and relative age. A mathematical model was developed for calculating the hydraulic conductivity of puddled soil layer. It was concluded that the hydraulic conductivity obtained with the rotary puddler was 2.27 times less than that with the 3-tine tiller and 3.09 times that with local plough after the fifth pass of puddling operations.