Effect of Puddling Intensity on Soil Water Retention and the Amount of Water Required for Puddling in Three Soil Textures of Paddy Fields in Guilan Province

Puddling is the most common method of land preparation for lowland rice cultivation. The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of various intensities of puddling on percolation rate، water retention by soil and the amount of water used for different puddling intensities in three dominant soil textures of paddy fields in Guilan province. Undisturbed soil samples were taken from 3 different soils including silty clay، clay loam and loam، with 3 replications. The soil samples were puddled by a laboratory apparatus with different intensities. The results showed that the low puddling intensity treatment caused a 29. 3، 32. 4 and 36% reduction of percolation rate in silty clay، silty loam and loam textures، respectively. Increasing puddling intensity from low to medium reduced percolation rate significantly، but high intensity was not effective. Soil moisture characteristic curves of all three soils showed that water retention was increased by puddling treatments. Water retention in silty clay was higher than the other two soils. The high intensity treatment needed more water than low intensity for puddling. Increasing puddling intensity from medium intensity to high intensity caused 15. 4، 14. 1 and 16. 3% increase in the amount of water required for puddling in silty clay، silty loam and loam textures، respectively. Generally، in all the three studied soil textures، the amount of water used for high-intensity puddling was more than medium-intensity puddling، while it had no significant effect on water percolation rate and soil water retention.