For centuries tillage has been used to prepare suitable seedbed to grow crops, and to control weeds and incorporate fertilizers, pesticides, manures and other amendments. In early years conversion of native ecosystems by tillage helped to unlock nutrients stored in soil organic matter, and thus `mine' naturally fertile soils to grow crops with minimum inputs for the growing population. However,...

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...

high intensity evaporation from the soil surface due to low air humidity and poor soil structure and organic matter are constraints of agriculture in arid and semi-arid regions of iran. regionally, maintaining plant residue with tillage management is one method to improve these conditions. in this study, for a barley-corn rotation, four barley residue management methods for standing stubble (bu...

tillage systems influence soil physical, chemical and biological characteristics which in turn may alter, root characteristics, growth, and development. a three year study was conducted to investigate the effects of seven tillage systems on some soil (fine-loamy mixed, typic haplocambids) physical characteristics and wheat (triticum aestivum l.) root morphology. tillage treatments included ...

It is widely believed that soil disturbance by tillage was a primary cause of the historical loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) in North America, and that substantial SOC sequestration can be accomplished by changing from conventional plowing to less intensive methods known as conservation tillage. This is based on experiments where changes in carbon storage have been estimated through soil samp...

Interest in reduced tillage methods is expanding in response to concerns for soil quality in vegetable systems. Reduced tillage (RT) refers to systems that minimize soil disturbance and maintain at least 30% residue cover. These systems can reduce soil and wind erosion, overcome compaction challenges typical of vegetable soils, conserve organic matter and improve overall soil health. In additio...

Soil structural deterioration from continuous cropping systems can adversely affect crop development. Conservation tillage systems are useful to control soil degradation, but may lead to excessive soil compaction, negatively impacting crop growth. Physical measurements were made during 1994 on a Chernozemic loam soil (Petrocalcic Paleudoll) with a petrocalcic horizon at a depth of 1.2 m in Balc...

To study Assessing the impact of tillage practices on soil carbon losses dependents it is necessary to describe the temporal variability of soil CO2 emission after tillage. It has been argued that large amounts of CO2 emitted after tillage may serve as an indicator for longer-term changes in soil carbon stocks. Here we present a two-step function model based on soil temperature and soil moistur...