Soil microorganisms are important for climate regulation as well as for plant nutrition. In agricultural soils the microorganisms are affected by management choices, like which type of tillage that is used. Moldboard plowing, the most common tillage practice, increases mineralization which leads to soil organic carbon (SOC) loss, and may thus reduce soil quality. Conservation tillage practices ...

In maize growing technologies, tillage technological operations are the most time-consuming and require the greatest fuel input. Substitution of conventional tillage, involving deep ploughing, by other reduced tillage methods can reduce technological production costs, diminish soil degradation and environmental pollution from greenhouse gas emissions, as well as improve economic competitiveness...

The objectives were to promote farmer adoption of reduced and modified tillage (RT) systems and to investigate the efficacy of deep zone tillage systems to reduce the disease severity in crops affected by Phytophthora capcisi. It was our intent to evaluate the ability of reduced tillage (RT) systems to ameliorate large fluctuations in water supply, which may result from climate change and, in p...

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...

Although it is common to alternate between till and no-till practices, past research has considered farmers’ tillage options to be limited to the dichotomous choice of whether or not to switch to a long-term no-till regime. This paper expands farmers’ options and models their choices of tillage frequency. Less frequent tilling sequesters more carbon but permits a greater accumulation of weeds, ...

in order to evaluate the influence of different tillage methods and autumn pea cultivars (arman, hashem, ilc-482) in first cultivation on corn forage yield (variety of single cross-704) in second cultivation, this research has been done. the experiment was conducted as split-plot in rcbd with the replication of 4 in tehran university from karaj in 2012. the main plots included different tillage...

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) defines conservation tillage as a tillage system that leaves enough crop residue to adequately protect the soil from erosion throughout the year. The percent of cover required varies by field according to soil type, slope, crop rotation, winter cover crops used and other factors (NRCS website). Conservation tillage in general and notill practice...

Strip tillage with various crop covers in peanut (Arachis hypogaea, L.) production has not shown a clear yield advantage over conventional tillage, but has been found to reduce yield losses from some diseases. This study was conducted to determine pod yield and disease incidence between two tillage practices, five winter cover crops, three peanut cultivars, and three fungicide programs. Convent...

Arizona is the first state in the nation to regulate agricultural practices in order to reduce dust emissions near urbanizing areas. This BMP program requires dust mitigation actions in some combination of tillage and harvest, crop land, and non-crop land activities. Contingent valuation methods were used to estimate the willingness-to-adopt reduced tillage equipment. At $10-26 per acre in long...

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 ...