Although it is widely acknowledged that rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations will increase crop root growth, no study has considered how this response could be influenced by agricultural management practices. Therefore, we examined the influence of elevated atmospheric CO2 (ambient + 360 mmol mol ) on root dynamics of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) produced under conventional (tillage following win...

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....

local information about tillage intensity and ground residue coverage is useful for policies in agricultural extension, tillage implement design and upgrading management methods. the current methods for assessing crop residue coverage and tillage intensity such as residue weighing methods, line-transect and photo comparison methods are tedious and time-consuming. the present study was devoted t...

Few studies have examined the water quality impact of manure use in no-tillage systems. A lysimeter study in continuous corn (Zea mays L.) was performed on Maury silt loam (fine, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Paleudalf) to evaluate the effect(s) of tillage (no-till [NT] and chisel-disk [CD]), nitrogen fertilizer rate (0 and 168 kg N ha(-1)), and dairy manure application timing (none, spring, f...

The Upper Yangtze River Basin comprises a densely-populated agricultural region with mountainous and hilly landforms. Intensive cultivation has been extended onto steep hillslopes, which constitute the principal source area for sediment production. Soil conservation on sloping arable lands is thus of utmost priority for persisting sustainable agricultural production and maintaining sound ecosys...

Kucey and Schaalje, 1986; Reeves et al., 1993; Randall et al., 1997; Torbert et al., 2001). Tillage and N management systems can have a significant effect Many soil and water quality problems are associated on N use by corn (Zea mays L.) and nitrate (NO3–N) movement with conventional tillage, along with other problems that through the soil profile. Potential water quality and NO3–N loss probaff...

Increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration has led to concerns about potential effects on production agriculture as well as agriculture’s role in sequestering C. In the fall of 1997, a study was initiated to compare the response of two crop management systems (conventional and conservation) to elevated CO2. The study used a split-plot design replicated three times with two management systems as m...

Blowing dust from excessively tilled fallow fields is a major soil loss and air quality concern in the low precipitation (<300 mm annual) wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production region of the Inland Pacific Northwest (PNW) of the United States. A 2-year tillage-based winter wheat-summer fallow (WW-SF) rotation is practiced on >90% of rainfed cropland in the region. Earlier research proved the u...

Biological indicators based on abundances of soil organisms are powerful tools for inferring functional and diversity changes in soils affected by agricultural perturbations. Field plots, combining organic and conventional practices with no tillage, conservation tillage and standard tillage maintained different nematode assemblages and soil food webs. Soil food web indices based on nematode ass...

Mulching and tillage are widely considered to be major practices for improving soil and water conservation where water is scarce. This paper studied the effects of FM (flat mulching), RFM (ridge-furrow mulching), SM (straw mulching), MTMC (mulching with two materials combined), MOM (mulching with other materials), NT (no-tillage) ST (subsoiling tillage) and RT (rotational tillage) on wheat yiel...