Open Journal of Soil Science, 2015, 5, 199-209 Published Online September 2015 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/ojss http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojss.2015.59020 How to cite this paper: Norman, R., Brye, K.R., Gbur, E.E., Chen, P. and Rupe, J. (2015) Long-Term Effects of Alternative Re- sidue Management Practices on Soil Water Retention in a Wheat-Soybean, Double-Crop System in Eastern Arkansas. Open Journal of Soil Science, 5, 199-209. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojss.2015.59020 Long-Term Effects of Alternative Residue Management Practices on Soil Water Retention in a Wheat-Soybean, Double-Crop System in Eastern Arkansas Ryan Norman 1 , Kristofor R. Brye 1 , Edward E. Gbur 2 , Pengyin Chen 1 , John Rupe 3 1 Department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, USA 2 Agricultural Statistics Laboratory, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, USA 3 Department of Plant Pathology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, USA Email: kbrye@uark.edu Received 13 August 2015; accepted 12 September 2015; published 15 September 2015 Copyright © 2015 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Abstract Soil water retention is a critical aspect of agricultural management, especially in areas such as the Lower Mississippi River Alluvial Valley that face potential water shortages in the near future. Pre- vious studies have linked changes in soil water retention characteristics to agricultural manage- ment practices, especially as they affect the accumulation of soil organic matter (SOM). Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the relationship between soil water potential and gra- vimetric soil water content in the top 7.5 cm as affected by nitrogen (N) fertilization/residue level (high and low), residue burning (burning and non-burning), tillage (conventional and no-tillage), and irrigation (irrigated and non-irrigated) after 12 complete cropping cycles in a wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)-soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], double-crop production system in the Delta region of eastern Arkansas using soil wetting curves. The soil investigated was a Calloway silt loam (fine silty, mixed, active, thermic Glossaquic Fraglossudalf). The slope characterizing the relationship between the natural logarithm of the soil water potential and the gravimetric soil water content was only affected (P < 0.05) by the N-fertilization/residue-level treatment, while the intercept was unaffected by any field treatment. Averaged across tillage, burning, and irrigation, soil water contents under the high- exceeded those under low-N-fertilization/residue-level treat- ment at the same water potential, with the greatest differences observed at water contents > 0.12 g∙g −1 . Understanding the ways in which alternative residue management practices affect soil water retention characteristics is an important component of conserving irrigation water resources.