Conservation practices are implemented on farm fields in the USA through Farm Bill programs; however, there is a need for greater verification that these practices provide environmental benefits (e.g., water quality). This study was conducted to assess the impact of Farm Bill eligible conservation practices on soluble P (SP) and total P (TP) losses from four fields that were monitored between 2...

Problem statement: There is a growing trend in the adoption of conservation tillage as an alternative to conventional tillage farming system. Implications of this agricultural management shift with respect to nitrous oxide (N2O) emission, which has been a topic of intense research for the past few decades, is not yet completely understood. Approach: This study was conducted on a 2.4 ha field lo...

The experiments were conducted at Green Acres Agronomy farm near Gainesville, Florida, on an Arredondo loamy sand, a member of the loamy, silicious, hyperthermic family of grossarenic Paleudults. The field study started in 1976 included cropping systems of oat (Avena sativa)/soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) versus oat/grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) that were split plots of four tillage treatm...

Conservation tillage has significant potential as a water management tool for cotton production on sandy, drought-prone soils. Plant residue remaining at the soil surface from prior crops serves as a vapor barrier against water loss, reduces raindrop impact energy, slows surface runoff, and often increases infiltration. By increasing infiltration, the potential for greater plant-available water...

satellite imagery was used as a rapid and spatially explicit method to delineate crop residue cover and to estimate the use and intensity of conservation tillage. the potential of multispectral high-spatial resolution of worldview-2 local data was evaluated using 11 satellite spectral indices and linear spectral unmixing analysis (lsua). experimental plots were examined; residue cover was measu...

different conservation tillage practices are nowadays suggested as the best solution for prevention of soil from erosion. this could be done by leaving the previous crop residue on the soil surface. a new idea to plant in the conservation tillage system is the use of punch planters by which one can plant through a heavy depth of previous crop surface residue. the study was conducted using a 2?3...

Soil erosion is a major threat to global economic and environmental sustainability. This study evaluated long-term effects of conservation tillage with poultry litter application on soil erosion estimates in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) plots using RUSLE 2.0 computer model. Treatments consisting of no-till, mulch-till, and conventional tillage systems, winter rye (Secale cereale L.) cover cro...

Increasing atmospheric CO(2) concentration has led to concerns about potential effects on production agriculture. In the fall of 1997, a study was initiated to compare the response of two crop management systems (conventional tillage and no-tillage) to elevated CO(2). The study used a split-plot design replicated three times with two management systems as main plots and two atmospheric CO(2) le...

Conservation agriculture is often presented as being ‘climate smart’ due to anticipated increases in soil moisture. The extent of enhanced water availability in farmers’ fields is, however, poorly documented. This paper presents five data sets describing soil moisture in fields of small-scale conservation and conventional farmers in the Agro-ecological Zone IIa, Zambia. The data include (1) soi...

A field study was conducted to assess the effects of soil tillage practices and straw management on soil CO2, and yield-scaled CO2 emissions in a rain-fed summer corn field on the Loess Plateau. Tillage treatments consisted of sub-soiling tillage (CP), no tillage (NT) and moldboard plow tillage (CT). Wheat straw was removed from half of the CP, NT and CT plots after harvest, allowing us to test...