4.3. Soil cracking between the YPF soil and OPF soil
Under field conditions, the maximum Dc was 10.0% (water content
0.26 m3 m−3) in the YPF, which was much higher than the maximum
Dc (5.67% at water content 0.38 m3 m−3) in the OPF (Zhang et al.,
2013). Such difference may partially result from the different drying
conditions. However, at air dried condition in the laboratory, the Dc
was also significantly higher in the YPF soil than that in the OPF soil
for the water treatment (Table 5). Similar result was also observed
under the simulated puddling experiment in this study (Table 4).
Thus, the difference probably resulted from the difference in aggregate
size distribution between the two paddy soils. The YPF soil was less