Spring and summer tillage are usually followed by irrigation before planting crops in California's summer-dry Mediterranean-type climate. Tillage treatments such as rototillage or disking are known to disturb the soil structure to different extents, but little is known about how the intensity of a tillage event and subsequent irrigation affect the microbial biomass, respiration, CO2 efflux, and...

A major challenge for agriculture is to enhance productivity with minimum impact on the environment. Several studies indicate that cover crops could replace anthropogenic inputs and enhance crop productivity. However, so far, it is unclear if cover crop effects vary between different cropping systems, and direct comparisons among major arable production systems are rare. Here we compared the sh...

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) seeds are susceptible to low temperature and excess moisture in soil during seed emergence in years with high rainfall and low temperature in spring. Therefore, a two-year field experiment was carried out to evaluate effects of ridge tillage formed in autumn (RT-I), ridge tillage formed about a month before planting (RT-II) and flat conventional tillage (CT) culti...

The cultivation of agricultural soils has until recently predominantly been achieved by inverting the soil using tools such as the plough. Soil tillage is one of the basic and important components of agricultural production technology. Various forms of tillage are practised throughout the world, ranging from the use of simple stick or jab to the sophisticated para-plough. The practices develope...

The existence of a shallow water table (surface to 0.54 m from June to October) is common phenomenon in Tarai (foothills of the Himalaya) of Uttar Pradesh, India. Puddled rice (Oryza sativa L.) crop followed by conventional land preparation for the succeeding wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) crop is normal cultivation practice in the region. This shallow water table can be effectively utilised to a...

ABSTRACT The population density of the reniform nematode, Rotylenchulus reniformis, was monitored at depths of 0 to 30, 30 to 60, 60 to 90, and 90 to 120 cm in a tillage and crop sequence trial in south Texas in 2000 and 2001. Main plots were subjected to three different tillage systems: conventional tillage (moldboard plowing and disking), ridge tillage, and no-tillage. Subplots were planted w...

The effects of conservation-tillage practices on the root environment of corn (Zea mays L.) may differ with varying amounts of irrigation. Dryland, 50% irrigation, and 100% irrigation treatments were applied in combination with disc, no-tillage, and a postemergence chisel treatment designed to allow rapid infiltration of irrigation water. The study was conducted during the 1980 growing season a...

In this study a comparison of the soil CO2 fluxes emitted from two maize (Zea mays L.) fields with the same soil type was performed. Each field was treated with a different tillage technique: conventional tillage (30 cm depth ploughing) and no-tillage. Measurements were performed in the Po Valley (Italy) from September to October 2012, covering both pre- and postharvesting conditions, by means ...

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...