In cold climates, snowmelt runoff often exceeds rainfall runoff during the year. Conservation tillage practices may be effective in reducing runoff during the cropping season but not during the snowmelt period. A plot study was conducted on a cropped hillslope to assess how tillage practices affect snowmelt runoff and the associated losses of sediment, phosphorus (P), and chemical oxygen demand...

Comprehensive assessment of the total greenhouse gas (GHG) budget of reduced tillage agricultural systems must consider emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4), each of which have higher global warming potentials than carbon dioxide (CO2). Tillage intensity may also impact nitric oxide (NO) emissions, which can have various environmental and agronomic impacts. In 2003 and 2004, we us...

Wilhelm, W.W., Schepers, J.S., Mielke, L.N., Doran, J.W., Ellis, J.R. and Stroup, W.W., 1987. Dryland maize development and yield resulting from tillage and nitrogen fertilization practices. Soil Tillage Res., 10: 167-179. Conservation tillage ( 7 30% residue cover) has proven to be very effective in reducing runoff and erosion and in increasing soil water storage. In dryland cropping situation...

The effect of tillage, crop establishment and weed management was studied on theperformance of wheat grown after soybean at New Delhi, India during 2010-11 to 2011-12.Sixteen treatment combinations involved 2 tillage, viz. conventional tillage (CT) and zero tillage(ZT), two crop establishment practices, viz. raised-bed and flat-bed and four weed management,viz. isoproturon + hand weeding, mesos...

Simplified cultivation technologies for rice have become increasingly attractive in recent years in China because of their social, economical and environmental benefits. To date, several simplified cultivation technologies, such as conventional tillage and seedling throwing (CTST), conventional tillage and direct seeding (CTDS), no-tillage and seedling throwing (NTST), no-tillage and direct see...

Interest in tillage impacts on sequestration of soil organic carbon (SOC) has increased greatly during recent years. The use of reduced and no-tillage (NT) practices generally increases the SOC concentration in surface few centimeters when compared to conventionally tilled soils. However, use of conservation tillage does not always result in increased SOC storage overall. The effects of sample ...

Objectives The objective of this research is to characterize biological, physical and chemical soil quality parameters and monitor their changes over time in minimum tillage and no-till seeding systems as affected by tillage, crop species and management systems to identify soil quality attributes that can be used in the development of best management practices for conserving soil quality and en...

Agriculture is facing a major challenge nowadays: to increase crop production for food and energy while preserving ecosystem functioning and soil quality. Argentine Pampas is one of the main world producers of crops and one of the main adopters of conservation agriculture. Changes in soil chemical and physical properties of Pampas soils due to different tillage systems have been deeply studied....

Organic farming has been identified as promoting soil quality even though tillage is used for weed suppression. Adopting zero tillage and other conservation tillage practices can enhance soil quality in cropping systems where synthetic agri-chemicals are relied on for crop nutrition and weed control. Attempts have been made to eliminate tillage completely when growing several field crops organi...

Gaining a greater understanding of the plant microbiota and its interactions with its host plant heralds a new era of scientific discovery in agriculture. Different agricultural management practices influence soil microbial populations by changing a soil's physical, chemical and biological properties. However, the impact of these practices on the microbiota associated with economically importan...