Reduced Tillage and No-Till in Organic Farming Systems, Germany—Status Quo, Potentials and Challenges

Zikeli, Sabine; Gruber, Sabine

doi:10.3390/agriculture7040035

Cited by 70 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…conservation tillage systems, including RT and NT 7,13 . Dedicated research in long-term trials as presented in this paper has contributed to this awareness and to a willingness to replace ploughing.…”

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confidence: 99%

Enhanced soil quality with reduced tillage and solid manures in organic farming – a synthesis of 15 years

Krauss

Berner

Perrochet

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

105

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, frédéric perrochet, Robert frei, Urs niggli & paul Mäder Demands upon the sustainability of farming are increasing in step with climate change and diversity loss. Organic farming offers a viable approach. To further improve organic management, three strategies with potential to enhance soil quality are being tested in a long-term trial since 2002 on a clay loam in temperate Switzerland: reduced tillage vs. ploughing, solid vs. liquid manures and biodynamic preparations. A synthesis of 15 years reveals an increase in topsoil organic carbon (SOC, +25%), microbial biomass (+32%) and activity (+34%) and a shift in microbial communities with conversion from ploughing to reduced tillage. Soils under reduced tillage are more stratified in SOC and nutrients. Additional application of composted manure has increased SOC by 6% compared to pure slurry application, with little impact on soil microbes. Biodynamic preparations have had a minor impact on soil quality. Fertilisation and biodynamic preparations did not affect yields. Both higher and lower yields were harvested in the reduced tillage system in relation to ploughing. the main yield determinants were n supply and higher weed infestation under reduced tillage. continuously reduced tillage in organic farming has been proven to enhance soil quality at this site, while also presenting more challenges in management. Various global challenges are calling for change. Soil erosion and degradation, loss of biodiversity and pollution of adjacent natural systems all call current agricultural management practices into question. To meet sustainability requirements, there is a special need to develop, beyond individual innovations, alternative systems that consider the surrounding environment. Organic farming can serve as an alternative to conventional farming, as it has been shown to lower environmental impacts while being able to feed the world if consumption behaviour is adjusted 1. Organic farming is based on a low external input strategy with legumes, green manures, wide crop rotations and organic fertilisation. All of those approaches build and maintain soil quality 2. Biological mobilisation of soil nutrients for crop nutrition is more important in organic than conventional farming, meaning that soil quality needs to be maintained at a high level. Yet there are management practices and trends in organic farming that may jeopardise soil quality and hence require rethinking and improvement. Regarding primary tillage, mouldboard ploughing is common in organic farming in Europe, where it is an important tool for weed control and organic matter management 3. A bare soil surface is left after ploughing. This increases the risk of soil erosion and hence loss of fertile soil 4. Ploughing is assigned to "conventional tillage" (CT) in the context of the present study. As an alternative, conservation tillage systems have been developed globally for nearly a century 5. Conservation tillage includes "no-till" (NT) with direct drilling of seeds and various kinds of "reduced tillage" (R...

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confidence: 99%

Enhanced soil quality with reduced tillage and solid manures in organic farming – a synthesis of 15 years

Krauss

Berner

Perrochet

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

105

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“…In this study, we explored the possibilities for reducing primary tillage in organic cereal cropping without jeopardizing crop yield due to increasing weed infestation. In addition to relying on crop competiveness against weeds, we introduced tailored CC treatments to suppress weed growth complementarily, recognizing that weed management is one of the key challenges if fields are not plowed (Melander et al 2013;Zikeli and Gruber 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With the aim of saving time and fuel in cropping operations, reduced tillage has become more common, primarily in conventional cropping (Salonen et al 2012). Conservation tillage would bring economic benefits to organic cropping and support the common aim of preserving soil quality and fertility (Peigne et al 2007Zikeli and Gruber 2017). However, replacing plowing with reduced tillage causes reasonable concerns regarding disease and weed management (Andert et al 2016;Scherner et al 2016) and maintaining crop yields .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Undersown cover crops have limited weed suppression potential when reducing tillage intensity in organically grown cereals

Salonen

Ketoja

2019

Org. Agr.

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Adoption of reduced tillage in organic cropping has been slow, partly due to concerns about increasing weed infestation. Undersown cover crops (CCs) are considered to be a feasible option for weed management but their potential for weed suppression is insufficiently investigated in low-till organic cropping. The possibilities to reduce primary tillage by introducing CCs to maintain weed infestation at a level that does not substantially jeopardize crop yield were studied in a field experiment in southern Finland during 2015-2017. Eight different CC mixtures were undersown in cereals and the response in weed occurrence was consecutively assessed in spring barley, winter wheat, and finally, as a subsequent effect, in spring wheat. Growth of CCs was too slow to prevent the flush of early emerging weeds in spring barley whereas in winter wheat, CCs succeeded in hindering the growth of weeds. However, CCs could not prevent the increase of perennial weeds in a reduced tillage system in which the early growth of spring wheat was retarded in cool 2017. Consequently, after 2 years of reduced tillage, weed biomass was about 2.6 times higher and spring wheat yield was 30% lower than in plowed plots, respectively. No major differences in weed control efficacy among CC treatments were evident. A grain yield benefit was recorded after repeated use of leguminous CCs. The need for long-term field studies remains of particular interest regarding post-harvest performance and influence of CCs on perennial weeds before the inversion tillage.

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“…Halde et al [40] echo some of the concerns expressed by others about organic no-till, including limitations in cover crop germplasm [39], increased and sometimes excessive weed pressure [35,36,38], and cash yield depression [37], among others. Halde et al [40] point out that considerable research has been conducted on organic no-till in eastern Canada, but most of this is published in French in technical reports rather than in peer-reviewed scientific journals.…”

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“…The focus of the paper by Zikeli and Gruber [36] is on the status of organic conservation-tillage in Germany. The authors point out that few, if any, German organic farmers or researchers have worked, or are working, with no-till systems where cash crops are planted directly into rolled-crimped cover crop mulch like the systems being studied in North America.…”

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confidence: 99%

Guest Editorial: Conservation Tillage for Organic Farming

Carr

2017

Agriculture

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There is interest in reducing or even eliminating tillage in organic production systems. In this special Issue, research teams in Europe and North America summarize recent and on-going efforts to develop conservation-tillage systems that can be used on commercial organic farms. While progress is being made in the development of organic no-tillage (no-till) systems, considerable work still needs to be done before there will be wide-spread adoption by organic farmers.Keywords: conservation tillage; cover crops; no-till; reduced-tillage; organic; organic no-till; regenerative agriculture Tillage has, and continues to be, widely used for weed control on organic farms globally, in spite of the deleterious impacts that tilling the soil can have on aggregation [1,2], biology [3][4][5][6], erosivity [7,8], and other ecosystem services [9,10]. This reliance on tillage has led some to openly criticize organic farming proponents as advocating for an agro-ecological system that is not sustainable [11,12]. Recognizing the negative impacts that tillage can have on soil quality, Creamer et al. [13] and others [14,15] worked on alternative weed control systems that did not rely on tillage or herbicides, beginning in the 1990s. Cover crops were a key component in these no-tillage (no-till) systems because of the vegetative mulch that could be produced when these crops were killed. This vegetative mulch proved effective at suppressing weeds when retained on the soil surface, as long as amounts of dry matter exceeded 5000 to 6000 kg·ha −1 [16].Different kill methods for terminating cover crops were compared in early organic no-till research, but most involved rolling or mowing [13][14][15]. Over time, interest focused on rollers with blunt blades welded or otherwise connected to the rollers in various configurations [17]. The blades crushed or crimped the cover crops while being rolled, enhancing kill and speeding desiccation of the vegetative mulch. A breakthrough came when an effective "roller-crimper" was built and tested in the eastern USA. Using this implement, organic maize (Zea mays L.) following rolled-crimped hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) and soybean (Glycine max L.) following rolled-crimped cereal rye (Secale cereale L.) cover crops reportedly could be grown profitably in the U.S. mid-Atlantic region without tillage [18].Research teams throughout North America attempted to reproduce the success in growing organic crops without tillage that was described by Moyer [18]. Efforts also were made to grow other cash crops using organic no-till practices in addition to maize and soybean. A summary of this effort was described in several papers published in the March 2012, issue of the Journal of Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. Some research teams reported success, particularly when soybean and wheat (Triticum spp.) were planted directly into the vegetative mulch created by rolled-crimped cover crops [23,24,26]. Others were able to grow some cash crops with little difficul...

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Reduced Tillage and No-Till in Organic Farming Systems, Germany—Status Quo, Potentials and Challenges

Cited by 70 publications

References 31 publications

Enhanced soil quality with reduced tillage and solid manures in organic farming – a synthesis of 15 years

Enhanced soil quality with reduced tillage and solid manures in organic farming – a synthesis of 15 years

Undersown cover crops have limited weed suppression potential when reducing tillage intensity in organically grown cereals

Guest Editorial: Conservation Tillage for Organic Farming

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