We focused on soil porosity, hydraulic conductivity (k(鈭?0 mm)) and sorptivity (S) estimated by mini-disc infiltrometer, water drop penetration time (WDPT), and water repellency index (R).
The results indicate that cultivation (mainly liming) the fallow soil alleviated the water repellency to its subcritical level, what is also the main explanation for different water repellency persistence levels in fallow versus meadow soil. Notwithstanding, cultivation has not substantially increased water infiltration properties confirming the hypothesis that subcritical water repellency may still retard water infiltration. Some stability of wetting patterns observed in the meadow and fallow soils resulted in only insignificant increase of k(鈭?0 mm) during the rainy periods.
Long dry spells enhanced the infiltration capacity in wettable reference material because of sorptivity increase. Sorptivities of water repellent meadow and fallow soils, however, remained restrained during both, the rainy and dry spells due to higher water content (when wet) and to stronger water repellency (when dry). As a result, only small seasonal variability in infiltration rates was observed in both water repellent soils.