ABSTRACT
The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has successfully reduced erosion on highly erodible lands by establishment of a permanent vegetative cover and development of a stable soil structure. Differences were observed during the wet runs in 1995, with the tilled treatments exhibiting less infiltration than the no-till or the vegetated CRP. Ideally, the soil quality improvements derived from the CRP should be maintained as CRP lands are returned to crop production. Water infiltration is a key indicator of soil quality as described by D. L. Karlen and D. E. Stott in their conceptual soil quality model. Time domain reflectometery was used to measure changes in soil water content during the 1995 sprinkling infiltrometer measurements. Soil carbon will also decline rapidly due to short-term tillage-induced fluxes of carbon dioxide and increased microbial activity. In 1994, the major effect was related to tillage and the length of time since conversion to cropland.
