soil enzyme activities can be used as indicators of soil quality for assessing the sustainability of agricultural ecosystems. the objective of this study was to determine the effects of barley residue input rate, burning, urea fertilizer and tillage management on activities of alkaline phosphatase and urease under field conditions, after a period of 90 days. the experiment was carried out based...

The southeast, despite its abundant rainfall, suffers short-term summer droughts with detrimental effect on crop yield. No-till production systems provide added insurance against such conditions by improving infiltration, and conserving moisture in drought-prone soils. In three years of experiment near Watkinsville, GA, no-till cotton treatments maintained higher soil moisture content, more veg...

1545 Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 73:1545-1558 doi:10.2136/sssaj2008.0311 Received 26 Sept. 2008. *Corresponding author ([email protected]). © Soil Science Society of America 677 S. Segoe Rd. Madison WI 53711 USA All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any informatio...

The compositions of the germinable weed seedbank and aboveground weed communities in a long-term tillage and rotation study were characterized 4, 5, and 6 yr (2002 to 2004) after the adoption of glyphosate-tolerant corn and soybean. Averaged across rotation, mean germinable weed seed density and diversity were greatest in the no-tillage treatment as compared to the minimumand conventional-tilla...

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 ...

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...

abstract in order to assess the environmental impact of agricultural activity, the long-term sustainability should be considered. in order to achieve solutions to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions in the production of rainfed sunflower, this assessment was conducted in the north east of iran. four production methods, i.e. conventional tillage (ct), tow reduced tillages (rt1and rt2)...

In this study, a fixed-site field experiment was conducted to study the influence of different combinations of tillage and straw incorporation management on carbon storage in different-sized soil aggregates and on crop yield after three years of rice-wheat rotation. Compared to conventional tillage, the percentages of >2 mm macroaggregates and water-stable macroaggregates in rice-wheat double-c...

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...