Hort. Sci. (Prague), X:X | DOI: 10.17221/143/2024-HORTSCI

Degree of seedbed compaction and response of spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) under different traffic treatmentsOriginal Paper

Esra Nur Gül ORCID...1, Emine Polat ORCID...1, Engin Özgöz ORCID...1, Naif Geboloğlu ORCID...1
1 Department of Biosystems Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Tokat Gaziosmanpasa University, Tokat, Türkiye
2 Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University, Tokat, Türkiye

Soil compaction has negative impacts on plant productivity. Degradation of soil structure as a result of soil compaction can inhibit the development of plant roots and make it difficult for plants to take up water and nutrients. This can negatively affect plant growth and productivity. Compaction restricts plant root growth by increasing mechanical resistance, reducing oxygen uptake, and thus reducing crop yields as it inhibits plant development. In this study, the effects of soil compaction due to machinery traffic on the physical structure of soil, morphological characteristics and yield of spinach were investigated in Tokat, where vegetable farming is intensively practised. In the study, four different tractor traffic treatments [C – zero tractor traffic (control), T1 – 1 tractor traffic, T3 – 3 tractor traffic, T5 – 5 tractor traffic] were used. As traffic increased, the penetration resistance, bulk density, and porosity increased, and the lowest volume weight was obtained from the control treatment. Plant weight losses in T1, T3 and T5 treatments compared to the control treatment were 1.92%, 31.09% and 64.64%, respectively. The yield value, which was 62.0 t/ha in the C treatment, was determined to be 31.8 t/ha in the T5 treatment, representing a 48.70% decrease. The proper use of modern agricultural machinery plays an important role in preventing soil compaction and increasing plant productivity.

Keywords: penetration resistance; spinach marketable yield; spinach root diameter; tractor traffic

Received: July 26, 2024; Revised: March 18, 2025; Accepted: April 2, 2025; Prepublished online: October 16, 2025 

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