Puddling is the most common method of land preparation for lowland rice cultivation in Asian countries. Puddling has its advantages as well as disadvantages on soil physical conditions. The soil that is more susceptible to changes in structure is easy to puddle. Generally, farmers have a tendency to do a very fine puddling activity that actually may not be required. Moreover, puddling affects chemical and biological characteristics of soils. These changes may affect plant growth and rice yield. The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of various intensities of puddling on the soil physical properties in different paddy soils of Guilan province, north of Iran , under field and laboratory conditions. Experiments were conducted to measure the changes in soil water content, bulk density, water infiltration rate, soil water retention and the amount of water needed for puddling. Undisturbed soil samples were taken from 3 different soils (silty clay, clay loam and loam) with cylindrical samplers (diameter and height of 50 cm), with 3 replications. The soil samples were puddled by a laboratory apparatus with different intensities: P 0 (no puddling), P 1 (low puddling intensity), P 2 (medium puddling intensity) and P 3 (high puddling intensity). The results showed that the water content of the puddled layers decreased with an increase in settling time. During drying period, P 0 dried faster than P 1 , P 2 and P 3 . Generally, the loamy soil lost water faster than silty clay soil. Measurement of bulk density in 0-15 cm depth showed that P 1 caused bulk density of silty clay and clay loam soil to decrease 23.8 and 22.8%, respectively, while, it caused bulk density of loamy textured soil to increase 4.1%. Increasing puddling intensity caused an increase in soil bulk density. In all the three soils, bulk density increased from 2 to 144 hours after puddling. Soil bulk density also increased with depth. Puddling with low intensity reduced significantly the infiltration rate of water into the soil in loam, clay loam and silty clay textures. This reduction was 29.3, 32.4 and 36.0%, respectively, for silty clay, clay loam and loam soils. Increasing puddling intensity from P 1 to P 2 reduced percolation rate significantly but additional puddling did not reduce percolation rate significantly. Soil moisture characteristic curve of all three soils and for all puddling intensities showed that puddling increased the amount of water retained over the whole range of suctions. In addition, the increase in soil water retention due to puddling was greater for silty clay soil as compared to clay loam and loam textures. Increasing puddling intensity from P 1 to P 3 enhanced the am
