Soil erosion from agricultural lands can be reduced by adoption of conservation management practices. The objectives of this study were to investigate the effectiveness and cost-benefit of conservation management practices on sediment reduction under a corn–soybean rotation. The experimental site was 6.4 ha (15.8 ac) and located within the Four Mile Creek watershed in eastern Iowa. Management p...

BACKGROUND A three-year field experiment was conducted to examine the responses of corn yield and soil nitrous oxide (N2O) emission to various management practices in middle Tennessee. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS The management practices include no-tillage + regular applications of urea ammonium nitrate (NT-URAN); no-tillage + regular applications of URAN + denitrification inhibitor (NT-in...

Improper tillage with no manure may cause a range of undesirable processes (destruction of soil structure, accelerate erosion, depletion of organic matter and fertility). A field experiment was conducted to observe the change in soil properties after incorporation of green manure crops and to find out the residual effect of green manure crops along with tillage on maize and rice yields during 2...

The sugarbeet industry in the Pacific Northwest is interested in strip tillage (ST) primarily due to the potential savings in tillage costs. This study was conducted to evaluate the use of ST in the Pacific Northwest compared to conventional tillage (CT) practices and to evaluate N requirements of sugarbeet under ST and CT. The effect of tillage method (ST, moldboard plow [MP] system, and chise...

The cultivation of agricultural soils has until recently predominantly been achieved by inverting the soil using tools such as the plough. Soil tillage is one of the basic and important components of agricultural production technology. Various forms of tillage are practised throughout the world, ranging from the use of simple stick or jab to the sophisticated para-plough. The practices develope...

BACKGROUND Tillage practices greatly affect carbon (C) stocks in agricultural soils. Quantification of the impacts of tillage on C stocks at a regional scale has been challenging because of the spatial heterogeneity of soil, climate, and management conditions. We evaluated the effects of tillage management on the dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) in croplands of the Northwest Great Plains e...

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...

A two year (2010-2012) study was conducted to assess the effects of different agronomic management practices on the emissions of CO2 from a field of non-irrigated wheat planted on China's Loess Plateau. Management practices included four tillage methods i.e. T1: (chisel plow tillage), T2: (zero-tillage), T3: (rotary tillage) and T4: (mold board plow tillage), 2 mulch levels i.e., M0 (no corn re...

the effect of tillage (conventional and zero tillage), crop establishment (raised-bed and flat-bed), and weed management practices (herbicide alone and integrated approach) was studied on productivity, profitability, nutrient uptake and physico-chemical properties of soil in soybean–wheat cropping system, at new delhi during 2010–2012. sixteen treatment combinations consisting of four tillage a...

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 ...