A Strip-Till One-Pass System as a Component of Conservation Agriculture

Iwona Jaskulska,Piotr Wojewódzki,Dariusz Jaskulski,Kestutis Romaneckas

doi:10.3390/agronomy10122015

Iwona Jaskulska, Piotr Wojewódzki + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10122015

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Abstract

Conservation agriculture has three main pillars, i.e., minimum tillage, permanent soil cover, and crop rotation. Covering the soil surface with plant residues and minimum mechanical soil disturbance can all result from introducing a strip-till one-pass (ST-OP) system. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of the ST-OP technology on the management of plant residues, soil properties, inputs, and emissions related to crop cultivation. We compared the effect of a ST-OP system against conventional tillage (CT) using a plough, and against reduced, non-ploughing tillage (RT). Four field experiments were conducted for evaluating the covering of soil with plant residues of the previous crop, soil loss on a slope exposed to surface soil runoff, soil structure and aggregate stability, occurrence of soil organisms and glomalin content, soil moisture and soil water reserve during plant sowing, labour and fuel inputs, and CO2 emissions. After sowing plants using ST-OP, 62.7–82.0% of plant residues remained on the soil surface, depending on the previous crop and row spacing. As compared with CT, the ST-OP system increased the stability of soil aggregates of 0.25–2.0 mm diameter by 12.7%, glomalin content by 0.08 g·kg−1, weight of earthworms five-fold, bacteria and fungi counts, and moisture content in the soil; meanwhile, it decreased soil loss by 2.57–6.36 t·ha−1 year−1, labour input by 114–152 min·ha−1, fuel consumption by 35.9–45.8 l·ha−1, and CO2 emissions by 98.7–125.9 kg·ha−1. Significant favourable changes, as compared with reduced tillage (RT), were also found with respect to the stability index of aggregates of 2.0–10.0 mm diameter, the number and weight of earthworms, as well as bacteria and fungi counts.

Highlights

According to the FAO definition [1], conservation agriculture is a system that promotes minimal tillage and the covering of soil with vegetation and/or mulch
The compared methods of tillage and crop sowing can be sorted in increasing order by mass of residues remaining on the field surface, as follows: CT < strip-till one-pass (ST-OP) 36 < ST-OP 72
Plant residues on the surface reduce surface runoff and soil loss [58,59], and protect soil aggregates and soil structure

Summary

Introduction

According to the FAO definition [1], conservation agriculture is a system that promotes minimal tillage and the covering of soil with vegetation and/or mulch. Reducing tillage is one of the main agrotechnical methods for increasing the retention of organic carbon in the soil [2], improving physical properties [3,4], increasing the water penetration resistance of soil aggregates and the stability of soil structure [5,6], and reducing erosion and nutrient depletion [7,8]. Soil tillage systems can be classified in descending order in terms of their propensity to facilitate soil erosion as follows: conventional tillage. The strip-till system fulfils the principles of conservation agriculture. Narrow strips of soil are loosened, though to a considerable depth. They constitute a maximum of one third of the field area

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