drafts of major primary tillage implements were measured in a clay loam soil using a tension loadcell. implements consisted of a moldboard, a disk and a chisel plow each equipped with one tillage unit. a photoelectric speed sensor was used for actual forward speed measurements. during the study, the effects of forward speed and tillage depth on draft requirements were investigated. a general re...

in conventional tillage systems, uniform depth tillage is applied over the entire field; however, the depth of hardpan layer varies greatly within the field. site-specific tillage, which modifies physical properties of soil only where the tillage is needed for crop growth, could achieve significant savings in fuel consumption and drawbar power requirements. site-specific tillage can be implemen...

Field experiments were conducted to study weed population shifts in long-term conservation tillage systems. The objectives of this study were to determine weed community abundance, diversity and composition on conventional tillage (CT), minimum tillage (MT), no-tillage with paraplow (ZT) and no-tillage (NT) systems, and to identify species that are associated with specific tillage systems. The ...

Agricultural productivity relies on a wide range of ecosystem services provided by the soil biota. Plowing is a fundamental component of conventional farming, but long-term detrimental effects such as soil erosion and loss of soil organic matter have been recognized. Moving towards more sustainable management practices such as reduced tillage or crop residue retention can reduce these detriment...

Your tillage system is important to the long-term sustainability of the farm enterprise. Matching a crop tillage system that is suited to your farm resources can provide both economic and environmental benefits. It is important to evaluate your land and determine what options would be appropriate. Several questions have arisen regarding new approaches or options in tillage systems compared to a...

The effects on sugarcane yields of deep tillage for land preparation on five different soil types in the coast lowlands of Natal are presented. Yields from the. rainfed plant and first ratoon crops indicate that, in general, there is little advantage in ploughing or subsoiling to depths greater than the conventional 20-25 cm. The only worthwhile response to deep tillage was obtained in a recent...

The principles are discussed of bench terracing and deep tined tillage, on the level contour, appliedto selected shallow soils on steep slopes of the Ifafa area on the Natal south coast. Results from 36 month old timber (Eucalyptus grandis) and [4 month old sugarcane (N16) grown on bench terraces are reported and compared with current practices. The implications of this site-specific technique ...

Tillage is a common agricultural practice affecting soil structure and biogeochemistry. To evaluate how tillage affects soil microbial CO2 fixation, we incubated and continuously labelled samples from two paddy soils and two upland soils subjected to simulated conventional tillage (CT) and no-tillage (NT) treatments. Results showed that CO2 fixation ((14)C-SOC) in CT soils was significantly hig...

ern Tennessee (Stevens et al., 1992; Bradley, 1993; Triplett et al., 1996), conservation tillage practiced on silty clay Yield reductions from no-tillage cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) soils in northern Alabama resulted in 8 to 15% yield jeopardized adoption of conservation systems in the Tennessee Valley region of north Alabama in the early 1990s. We conducted a study from reductions compared ...

Anhydrous ammonia (AA) is a major fertilizer source in North America that can promote greater emissions of nitrous oxide (NO) than other nitrogen (N) fertilizers. Previous studies found that injection of AA at a shallow depth (0.1 m) decreased NO in a rainfed clay loam but increased NO in an irrigated loamy sand compared with the standard injection depth of 0.2 m. The objective of this study wa...