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In the conditions of the Chuvash Republic, the effect of slottingbetween rowson hop yield and on the water-physical properties of gray forest soil was studied. Soil slotting was used during 2017-2019 in autumn after the completion of harvesting operations (late September-early October) on hop plantations of the Podvyazny variety. Tillage with a SCHX-1.6slotting device (Czech Republic) was carried out to the depth of 50 and 65 cm at different time intervals (annually and three years later). As the control, there was taken the conventional tillage without the use of aparaplow combined with autumn tillage of row spacing to a depth of 20 cm. Studies have shown that the use of aparaplow to a depth of 50 and 65 cm improved the aeration and water permeability of the soil (the specific weight of the 20-25 cm soil layer decreased by 0.1-0.2 g/cm3, the volume weight of the same layer-by 0.1-0.3 g/cm3) and contributed to an increase in hop yield by 1.4-3.1centners per hectare (LSD05 =1.3 centners/ha) compared to the conventional tillage of row spacing (20.9 centners/ha). The content of alpha-acids in hop cones was not affected by slotting between the rows of hops. The specific weight of the 50-55 cm soil layer significantly decreased in all variants in comparison with the control. The highest moisture content of the deep layers of the soil (30-55 cm) was achieved with conventional tillage combined with annual autumn slotting to 50 cm depth. All the studied variants in comparison with the control give a significant increase in the yield of hop cones. For the production, the variant with the lowest costs for deep tillage should be recommended. It is the annual processing of the top soil layer combined with the autumn slotting every 3 years to 50 cm depth.

In the sandy soils of northeast Thailand, root development is generally limited to the topsoil (0–20 cm depth) but a simple slotting intervention (20–40 cm) significantly increased the root frequency in the slotted material (Eslot) compared with the undisturbed subsoil (E horizon). The aim of this study was to investigate the consequences of slotting on the soil structure by analysing at different scales the pore characteristics of the original soil profile and of the soil material inside the slot. These characteristics were studied using bulk density measurements, image analysis of thin sections and mercury porosimetry. Our results showed that the total porosity of the E horizon and Eslot material was similar when measured in 100 cm3 cylinders, but that the pore size distribution had been changed by slotting. The unaltered E horizon contained mainly small pores characterized by a narrow distribution related to close packing of the sand grains, associated with some biological macropores probably with poor continuity as they did not contain roots despite their size. On average, pores were larger in the Eslot material, with a broader distribution resulting from looser packing of the sand grains but with fewer biological macropores. Although slotting reduced the number of biological pores, the looser packing appeared to be more favourable to root development than the presence of macropores in the E horizon. Finally, the comparison of the porosity in the different horizons with the porosity of the Eslot material, indicated the significance of the closeness of the sand packing on root development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]