Soil C change and CO2 emission due to different tillage systems need to be evaluated to encourage the adoption of conservation practices to sustain soil productivity and protect the environment. We hypothesize that soil C storage and CO2 emission respond to conservation tillage differently from conventional tillage because of their differential effects on soil properties. This study was conduct...

Recently tillage manufacturers have been promoting vertical tillage systems claiming that their use can overcome production limitations associated with no-till while maintaining sufficient residue cover to provide erosion protection. Vertical tillage refers to systems where soil disturbance is confined to soil movement mostly in the upward direction and/or confined to a slot or strip where the ...

Tillage has been and will always be integral to crop production. Tillage can result in the degradation of soil, water, and air quality. Of all farm management practices, tillage may have the greatest impact on the environment. A wide variety of tillage equipment, practices and systems are available to farmers, providing opportunities to enhance environmental performance. These opportunities hav...

Literature reporting the development of conservation tillage and the research that has been conducted on nematode control in crops grown in conservation tillage systems is reviewed. Effects of different types of conservation tillage on population densities of various nematode species in monocropping and multicropping systems, effects of tillage on nematode distribution in the soil profile, effe...

The no-tillage system is perceived as having lower soil temperatures, wetter soil conditions, and greater surface penetration resistance compared with conventional and other conservation tillage systems. Concerns associated with the effect of the no-tillage system on certain soil physical properties (i.e. soil temperature, moisture, and compaction) prompted this study to evaluate the effect of ...

In 1987, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA-ARS) National Sedimentation Laboratory, in cooper­ ation with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experi­ ment Station (MAFES) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), initiated an interdisciplinary research project to develop profitable and environmentally sustainable conservation production systems for silty upland...

Appropriate tillage plays an important role in mitigating the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) in regions with higher crop yields, but the emission situations of some reduced tillage systems such as subsoiling, harrow tillage and rotary tillage are not comprehensively studied. The objective of this study was to evaluate the emission characteristics of GHG (CH4 and N2O) under four reduced til...

Accurate simulation of agricultural management effects on N loss in tile drainage is vitally important for understanding hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. An experimental study was initiated in 1978 at Nashua, Iowa of the USA to study long-term effects of tillage, crop rotation, and N management practices on subsurface drainage flow and associated N losses. The Root Zone Water Quality Model (RZWQM...

Methods for evaluating soil conditions as influenced by tillage are often limited to analysis of bulk samples. The application of medical computed tomography (CT) to the characterization of tillage effects on soil provides an alternative tool for measurement since it is at a more detailed scale. The objective of this study was to compare soils under conventional and notillage (NT) systems using...

Introduction Conservation tillage has been one of the most rapidly adopted agricultural practices of the past 15 years (CTIC, 1983). The primary impetus for conservation tillage has been decreased soil erosion; fuel, labor, and machinery costs; and increased soil water storage and yields (USDA, 1975). Conservation tillage may be broad­ ly defined as tillage practices that reduce soil and water ...