Abstract
Significantly higher moisture content, bulk density and penetration resistance were measured in the wet season at the lower end of a silty clay soil field which was converted from the cambered bed layout to the Louisiana bank system with a 0.133 per cent. field grade. Soil porosity, particularly non-capillary porosity, was significantly higher at the high end of the field. These factors seemed to have contributed to the significantly greater rooting depths and stalk heights of sugar-cane at the higher end of the field in the wet season. The significant differences in stalk heights, but not rooting depths, were maintained in the dry season. It is recommended that when similar fields with limited depths of topsoil are converted, parts of the field should not be denuded of topsoil, and the drainage at the lower end of the fields should be improved.
