Organic carbon, water repellency and soil stability to slaking under different crops and managements: a case study at aggregate and intra-aggregate scales

This research studies the distribution of organic C and intensity of water repellency in soil aggregates with different size and in the interior of aggregates from Mediterranean soils under different crops (apricot, citrus and wheat) and management (con- 5 ventional tilling and no tilling/mulching). For this, undisturbed aggregates were sampled and carefully divided in size fractions (0.25–0.5, 0.5–1, 1–2, 2–5, 5–10 and 10–15 mm) or peeled to obtain separated aggregate layers (exterior, transitional and interior). Organic C content in the fine earth fraction of soils under different crops did not show important variations, although it increased significantly from conventionally tilled to 10…