Effects of Six Tillage Methods on Residue Incorporation and Crop Performance in a Heavy Clay Soil

Effects of six primary tillage implements on energy inputs and residue cover in Central Italy

“…The availability of data on energy requirement, fuel consumption and force of traction of tillage implements is the main factor to determine the power class of the required tractor (Moitzi et al, 2013;Pochi et al, 2013) and to estimate the effects of different implements in relation to the quality of the tillage in specific soil types, in terms of depth of tillage, soil cloddiness and crop residue or biomass cover (Raper et al, 2000;Chen et al, 2004;Sahu and Raheman, 2006).…”

“…Conventional tillage systems may produce undesirable effects, such as worsening of soil structure due to compaction, loss of nutrients in deeper layers and of organic matter in upper depths (Lal, 2004), increasing soil erosion caused by wind or by surface runoff (De Laune and Sij, 2012), excessive energy requirements and costs (Perfect et al, 1997). These effects can be reduced, especially in compact clay soil, by replacing conventional implements with soil conservation tillage equipment, to reduce the number of passes, the working depth, the fuel consumption and the energy input (Raper and Bergtold, 2007;Fanigliulo and Pochi, 2011), by using one pass implements with wider working width and equipped with suitable geometry working tools (Godwin, 2007).The availability of data on energy requirement, fuel consumption and force of traction of tillage implements is the main factor to determine the power class of the required tractor (Moitzi et al, 2013;Pochi et al, 2013) and to estimate the effects of different implements in relation to the quality of the tillage in specific soil types, in terms of depth of tillage, soil cloddiness and crop residue or biomass cover (Raper et al, 2000;Chen et al, 2004;Sahu and Raheman, 2006).Studies on conventional and reduced tillage in scientific literature have provided a large amount of information on methods, labour and energy in different soil conditions (Al Suhaibani and Al-Janobi, 1997;Arvidsson et al, 2004;Wandkar et al, 2013), but only a few gave a comprehensive picture of the energy request and of the quality of tillage for the most common methods performing primary tillage in compact soils. McLaughlin et al (2008) studied energy inputs and draft for eight different primary tillage implements in a clay loam soil, but no data on tillage quality parameters were provided.…”

Effect of tillage speed and straw length on soil and straw movement by a sweep

“…Crop residue incorporation has been used as a means to maintain the level of soil carbon. That is, part of the crop residue needs to be incorporated into soil (Chen et al, 2004). The incorporation of crop residue into soil can be beneficial if the carbon-nitrogen ratio remains at an adequate level in the soil.…”

A new approach for determination of seed distribution area in vertical plane

“…Table 2 illustrates some of the important technical properties of no-till seeders. Sowing depth was determined by measuring the mesocotyl length of summer vetch (Chen et al 2004). Distances in the transverse direction of plants to a straight line parallel to the row were measured to determine lateral seed scatter (Karayel & Özmerzi 2005).…”