Conventional field cropping systems have been criticized as being unsustainable because they contribute to on-farm and off-farm environmental degradation, and are often economically uncertain. Methods to increase environmental and economic sustainability are needed. There is a critical need to develop management technologies to maximize yield and crop quality yet improve environmental impacts o...

Comprehensive assessment of the total greenhouse gas (GHG) budget of reduced tillage agricultural systems must consider emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4), each of which have higher global warming potentials than carbon dioxide (CO2). Tillage intensity may also impact nitric oxide (NO) emissions, which can have various environmental and agronomic impacts. In 2003 and 2004, we us...

Water infiltration into the soil profile and runoff losses in arable lands are related to the condition of the top layer. The tillage treatment (included no-till) of the top layer plays a key role in changes of the hydro-physical properties, mainly saturated hydraulic conductivity (K) of the treated layer. This paper is focused on the influence of repeated tillage treatments in the same localit...

efficient energy use in agriculture sector is one of the prerequisites to sustainable agriculture, because it allows financial savings, fossil resources preservation along with decreasing trend of air pollution. this research was conducted at the agricultural research field of zanjan university to determine the level of input energy in different tillage systems in forage maize production when i...

Organic agricultural production has become a major economic and cultural force. However, in water-limited environments the tools used for weed control and nutrient supply, namely tillage and cover crops, may not be environmentally or economically sustainable as tillage damages soil and cover crops use valuable water. Thus, a major challenge has been finding appropriate ways to minimize tillage ...

Stratification of nutrient availability, especially of P, that develops with continuous no-till (NT) can affect runoff nutrient concentration and possibly nutrient uptake. The effects of composted manure application and one-time tillage of NT on the distribution of soil chemical properties, root colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizae (AM), and plant P uptake were determined. Research was conduc...

To take advantage of conservation tillage systems (including direct drilling and non-inversion) in central Iran, it is important to study the effects of different cultivation practices on soil structural stability as a physical indicator. A four-year study was conducted to investigate the effects of seven tillage systems on aggregate properties of a clay-loam soil (Calcic Cambisol) with continu...

This study, intending to understand the effects of crop rotation and tillage on blackleg disease, was conducted in a field at Carman, Manitoba, Canada, from 1999 – 2002. Canola, wheat and flax were among the rotated crops. Rotations were performed under conventional or zero-till conditions. The number of infected plants, infected leaves per plant, lesions per plant, and percentage of leaf cover...