Soil cracking is a common phenomenon dominating the agricultural field. Several observers affirmed that this phenomenon can have positive or negative impacts on the soil hydrodynamic including water retention, soil water permeability, and soil desiccation which in turn adversely affect the crop productivity. However, the mechanisms of soil cracking remain unclear and its effect on soil water characteristics is hard to measure and quantify. This is due to the fact that a deep understanding requires both knowledge of crack analysis (image analysis) and soil hydrology. The study is more complex and scarcer if agricultural parameters such as tillage and residue management are added into the research. Yet, knowing soil cracking process under actual agricultural management (tillage + residue management) will help improving crop productivity. The first major challenge in this research concerns the methodology adopted in order to obtain information on the dynamics of cracking. While crack analysis has been conducted before; detailed crack observations under undisturbed agricultural soils are rare. Digital image analysis (RGB and two-dimensional) is a promising option because it is proven scientifically and technically acceptable thanks to the open-source software ImageJ and PCAS. These software evolve rapidly due to evolution of technology and growing interaction between users and scientific members. However, the quality and the accuracy of the results (cracking) reside mainly on the modality of image acquisition, manipulation and processing. By investigating several techniques specific to crack analysis, we were able to adopt an improved and semi-automated approach that required the use of ROI (Region Of Interest). This consists of converging the image analysis on the probable areas of cracking in order to reduce the contrasting effects of the image background. The objective of this thesis is to analyse crack dynamics in connection with soil water properties and mucilage application; under contrasting conditions of ...