Effects of different tillage practices on rill distribution of sloping farmland

In Haryana (India) cotton is generally sown with conventional tillage practices witnesses poor germination and plant establishment. Poor plant stand is attributed by burning of emerging plants due to very high temperature at the time of planting, which is further worsen by crust formation due to pre-monsoon showers. Keeping these points in view, an experiment was conducted with farmers' participatory research mode in village Hajwana of Kaithal district. Cotton sown with zero tillage technique resulted in approximately five percent higher yield i.e. 136.3 kg ha-1 over conventional tillage. Mean returns over variable cost of all the three years were 10.8 percent i.e. Rs. 11794 ha-1 more in zero tillage over conventional tillage. Benefit: cost ratio were 3.86, 3.86 and 4.61 in conventional method of planting, bed planting and zero tillage technique, respectively. Zero tillage planting of cotton reduced fuel consumption by 93.4 % and 91.7 % compared to bed planting and conventional planting respectively.

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Effect of period of sugarcane cultivation on the abundance and distribution of weed seeds in the soil profile

Planta Daninha ◽

10.1590/s0100-83582014000300006 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 32 (3) ◽

pp. 507-513

Author(s):

R.O. Adereti ◽

F.O Takim ◽

Y.A. Abayomi

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Soil Depth ◽

Seed Banks ◽

Soil Samples ◽

Soil Tillage ◽

Fallow Period ◽

Tillage Practices ◽

Weed Seeds ◽

Seed Distribution ◽

Screen House

An experiment was laid down in a screen house to determine the distribution of weed seeds at different soil depths and periods of cultivation of sugarcane in Ilorin, Nigeria. Soil samples from different depth levels (0-10 cm, 11-20 cm and 21-30 cm) were collected after harvesting of canes from three different land use fields (continuous sugarcane cultivation for > 20 years, continuous sugarcane cultivation for < 10 years after long fallow period and continuous sugarcane cultivation for < 5 years after long fallow period) in November, 2012. One kilogram of the sieved composite soil samples was arranged in the screen house and watered at alternate days. Germinating weed seedlings were identified, counted and then pulled out for the period of 8 months. Land use and soil depth had a highly significant (p £ 0.05) effect on the total number of weeds that emerged from the soil samples. The 010 cm of the soil depth had the highest weed seedlings that emerged. There was an equal weed seed distribution at the 11-20 cm and 21-30 cm depths of the soil. Sugarcane fields which have been continuously cultivated for a long period of time with highly disturbing soil tillage practices tend to have larger seed banks in deeper soil layers (11-20 cm and 21-30 cm) while recently opened fields had significantly larger seed banks at the 0-10 cm soil sampling depth.

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Study on appropriate straw mulching application rate on sloping farmland in karst area of Southwest China based on soil and water conservation function

Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science ◽

10.1080/03650340.2021.1949710 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-18

Author(s):

Lidong Pan ◽

Qinggui Li ◽

Jiayong Gao ◽

Pingping Yang ◽

Kai Huang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Conservation ◽

Southwest China ◽

Application Rate ◽

Soil And Water Conservation ◽

Karst Area ◽

Straw Mulching ◽

Sloping Farmland ◽

Soil And Water

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Effect of tillage, slope, and rainfall on soil surface microtopography quantified by geostatistical and fractal indices during sheet erosion

Open Geosciences ◽

10.1515/geo-2020-0036 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 232-241

Author(s):

Na Ta ◽

Chutian Zhang ◽

Hongru Ding ◽

Qingfeng Zhang

Keyword(s):

Surface Roughness ◽

Fractal Dimension ◽

Soil Surface ◽

Rainfall Events ◽

Tillage Practices ◽

Surface Microtopography ◽

Artificial Rainfall ◽

Soil Surface Roughness ◽

The Difference ◽

Sheet Erosion

AbstractTillage and slope will influence soil surface roughness that changes during rainfall events. This study tests this effect under controlled conditions quantified by geostatistical and fractal indices. When four commonly adopted tillage practices, namely, artificial backhoe (AB), artificial digging (AD), contour tillage (CT), and linear slope (CK), were prepared on soil surfaces at 2 × 1 × 0.5 m soil pans at 5°, 10°, or 20° slope gradients, artificial rainfall with an intensity of 60 or 90 mm h−1 was applied to it. Measurements of the difference in elevation points of the surface profiles were taken before rainfall and after rainfall events for sheet erosion. Tillage practices had a relationship with fractal indices that the surface treated with CT exhibited the biggest fractal dimension D value, followed by the surfaces AD, AB, and CK. Surfaces under a stronger rainfall tended to have a greater D value. Tillage treatments affected anisotropy differently and the surface CT had the strongest effect on anisotropy, followed by the surfaces AD, AB, and CK. A steeper surface would have less effect on anisotropy. Since the surface CT had the strongest effect on spatial variability or the weakest spatial autocorrelation, it had the smallest effect on runoff and sediment yield. Therefore, tillage CT could make a better tillage practice of conserving water and soil. Simultaneously, changes in semivariogram and fractal parameters for surface roughness were examined and evaluated. Fractal parameter – crossover length l – is more sensitive than fractal dimension D to rainfall action to describe vertical differences in soil surface roughness evolution.

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Nutrient and Stoichiometric Characteristics of Aggregates in a Sloping Farmland Area under Different Tillage Practices

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13020890 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 890

Author(s):

Jie Zhang ◽

Yaojun Liu ◽

Taihui Zheng ◽

Xiaomin Zhao ◽

Hongguang Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Organic Matter ◽

Size Distribution ◽

Soil Aggregates ◽

Soil Aggregate ◽

Elemental Content ◽

Stoichiometric Ratio ◽

Longitudinal Ridge ◽

Stoichiometric Ratios ◽

Sloping Farmland ◽

Ridge Tillage

Sloping farmland is prevalent in hilly red soil areas of South China. Improper tillage patterns induce decreased soil organic matter, soil aggregate breakdown, and nutrient imbalance, thereby restricting crop production. However, the stoichiometric characteristics could reflect the nutrient availability which was mostly studied on bulk soil. The stoichiometric characteristics of soil aggregates with multiple functions in farmlands has rarely been studied. The study was to reveal the impact of tillage patterns on the size distribution, nutrient levels, and stoichiometric ratios of soil aggregates after 20 years’ cultivation. Soil samples of 0–20 cm and 20–40 cm from five tillage patterns, bare-land control (BL), longitudinal-ridge tillage (LR), conventional tillage + straw mulching (CS), cross-ridge tillage (CR), and longitudinal-ridge tillage + hedgerows (LH) were collected. The elemental content (C, N and P) and soil aggregate size distribution were determined, and the stoichiometric ratios were subsequently calculated. Through our analysis and study, it was found that the nutrient content of >2 mm soil aggregates in all plots was the highest. In the hedgerow plots, >2 mm water-stable soil aggregate content was increased. Therefore, LH plots have the highest content of organic matter and nutrients. After 20 years of cultivation, stoichiometric ratio of each plot showed different changes on soil aggregates at different levels. the C:N, C:P, and N:P ratios are lower than the national average of cultivated land. Among of them, the stoichiometric ratio in the LH plot is closer to the mean and showed better water-stable aggregate enhancement. Therefore, longitudinal-ridge tillage + hedgerows can be recommended as a cultivation measure. This study provides a reference for determining appropriate tillage measures, balancing nutrient ratios, and implementing rational fertilization.

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Soil as an Archetype of Complexity: A Systems Approach to Improve Insights, Learning, and Management of Coupled Biogeochemical Processes and Environmental Externalities

Soil Systems ◽

10.3390/soilsystems5030039 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (3) ◽

pp. 39

Author(s):

Benjamin L. Turner

Keyword(s):

Complex Systems ◽

Systems Approach ◽

Environmental Externalities ◽

Supporting Evidence ◽

Soil System ◽

Tillage Practices ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Tightly Coupled ◽

Conservation Adoption ◽

Systems Framework

Due to tightly coupled physical, chemical, and biological processes that often behave in nonlinear, counterintuitive ways, it is argued that soil is an archetype of a complex system. Unfortunately, human intuition and decision making has been shown to be inadequate when dealing with complex systems. This poses significant challenges for managers or policy makers responding to environmental externalities where soil dynamics play a central role (e.g., biogeochemical cycles) and where full ranges of outcomes result from numerous feedback processes not easily captured by reductionist approaches. In order to improve interpretation of these soil feedbacks, a dynamic systems framework is outlined (capturing feedback often excluded from investigation or left to intuition) and then applied to agroecosystem management problems related to irrigation or tillage practices that drive nutrient cycling (e.g., soil water, nitrogen, carbon, and sodium). Key soil feedbacks are captured via a variety of previously developed models simulating soil processes and their interactions. Results indicated that soil system trade-offs arising from conservation adoption (drip irrigation or no-tillage) provided reasonable supporting evidence (via compensating feedbacks) to managers justifying slow adoption of conservation practices. Modeling soils on the foundation provided in the complex systems sciences remains an area for innovations useful for improving soil system management.

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