Soil pressure, deformation, and changes in soil physical parameters caused by silage maize harvest chain in 2017

In recent years, agricultural machinery became steadily larger and heavier. Especially under wet soil conditions, when soil is susceptible to compaction, heavy wheel load field traffic can lead to harmful soil compaction. This data set contains soil data from a wheeling experiment with agricultural vehicles from the silage maize harvest chain (maize chopper (total weight: ~20 t), tractor with mulcher (total weight: ~12 t), and tractor with silage trailer (total weight: ~32 t)). The experiment was conducted in 2017 on an agricultural test field in Adenstedt (Hildesheim district, Lower Saxony, Germany). The soil type is Stagnic Luvisol derived from Loess and was tilled with a cultivator up to a depth of 25 cm (reduced tillage). For the wheeling experiment, the harvest chain vehicles passed defined plots in the inner field area one after another (8 wheel passes). Maximum soil pressure und plastic soil deformation evoked by vehicle passing was measured simultaneously with a multi-channel device consisting of Bolling probes (Bolling, 1987) and hydrostatic measuring hoses (Nolting et al., 2006). Maximum soil pressure and plastic soil deformation was measured in 20, 35, and 50 cm depth directly below the center of the tires. To investigate changes in soil physical parameters, soil structure, and soil functions caused by harvest chain vehicles driving, undisturbed soil cores (100 cm³) were taken before (unwheeled) and after wheeling (wheeled). The sampling sites were located in the inner field area. Two soil pits were sampled per wheeling variant. A total of 30 undisturbed soil samples were taken per each soil pit, 10 per each soil depth (20, 35, 50 cm). The soil biopores were counted in every one of the three soil depths. 5 of the 10 undisturbed sampling rings were used to investigate soil water retention and the other 5 for saturated hydraulic conductivity. The determination of pF values was conducted in the soil laboratory using sand and clay boxes as well as pressure pots according to DIN ISO 11274. Saturated hydraulic conductivity was analyzed using a soil water permeameter (open system) according to ISO / FDIS 17312. The soil parameters total pore volume, air capacity, field capacity, usable field capacity, permanent wilting point, dry bulk density, and current water content during soil sampling were derived from the soil laboratory results.