Book ChapterDOI
Conservation agriculture, improving soil quality for sustainable production systems?
Nele Verhulst,Bram Govaerts,Els Verachtert,A. Castellanos-Navarrete,Monica Mezzalama,Patrick C. Wall,A. Chocobar,Jozef Deckers,Ken D. Sayre +8 more
- pp 137-208
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TLDR
In this article, a comparative soil quality evaluation is performed in which the performance of the system is determined in relation to alternatives, and the results show that the effect of a reduction in tillage on the variation in total porosity with depth may be related to differences in traffic on different sites, or on soil quality at the time tillage was reduced or stopped.Abstract:
Conservation agriculture has been proposed as a widely adapted set of management principles that can assure more sustainable agricultural production. Conservation agriculture removes the emphasis from the tillage component alone and addresses a more enhanced concept of the complete agricultural system. Applying conservation agriculture essentially means altering literally generations of traditional farming practices and implement use. Within the framework of agricultural production, high soil quality equates to the ability of the soil to maintain a high productivity without significant soil or environmental degradation. A comparative soil quality evaluation is one in which the performance of the system is determined in relation to alternatives. Inconsistent effects of a reduction in tillage on the variation in total porosity with depth may be related to differences in traffic on different sites, or on soil quality at the time tillage was reduced or stopped.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Effect of conservation farming practices on soil organic matter and stratification in a mono-cropping system of Northern China
TL;DR: Wang et al. as discussed by the authors investigated how tillage and soil type affected the vertical distribution of soil organic matter (SOM) in four regions of northern China (Tailai, Wuchuan, Nailin, and Yaodu) and found that long-term no-tillage with straw cover significantly improved topsoil conditions and whole of soil profile SOM and this improvement was obvious in different layers.
Book ChapterDOI
Conservation Agriculture and Soil Carbon Sequestration
TL;DR: In this article, the potential impacts of CA mainly on carbon sequestration, collates information on the influence of tillage, integrated nutrient management (INM), fertilizers, residue management and cover crops on organic carbon stocks, and deliberates on the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, economics, etc.
Journal ArticleDOI
Conservation agriculture affects arthropod community composition in a rainfed maize–wheat system in central Mexico
TL;DR: This first report of the effects of CA on arthropods in this long-term trial indicates that CA in central Mexico may contribute to conservation of certain arthropod predators and biological control of insect pests.
Book ChapterDOI
Soil Quality and Plant Nutrition
Hassan El-Ramady,Hassan El-Ramady,Tarek Alshaal,Tarek Alshaal,Megahed Amer,Éva Domokos-Szabolcsy,Nevien Elhawat,Nevien Elhawat,József Prokisch,Miklós Fári +9 more
TL;DR: The concept of soil quality or health, like that of human health, is not difficult to understand or recognize when the system is viewed as a whole as discussed by the authors, and the challenge is to manage soils such that they are able to perform the various uses they are put to without degradation of the soils themselves or the environment.
Journal ArticleDOI
Erosion and hydrological response in no-tillage subjected to crop rotation intensification in southern Brazil
Dinis Deuschle,Jean Paolo Gomes Minella,Tiago A.N. Horbe,Ana Lúcia Londero,Fabio José Andres Schneider +4 more
TL;DR: In this article, the water and soil losses were monitored in natural hillslope (Macroplots) approximately 90m in length and 6000m2 in area and with a rectilinear plane curvature and a slope of 9%.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Organic matter and water-stable aggregates in soils
Judith. Tisdall,J.M. Oades +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the effectiveness of various binding agents at different stages in the structural organization of aggregates is described and forms the basis of a model which illustrates the architecture of an aggregate.
Journal ArticleDOI
Stabilization mechanisms of soil organic matter: Implications for C-saturation of soils
TL;DR: The relationship between soil structure and the ability of soil to stabilize soil organic matter (SOM) is a key element in soil C dynamics that has either been overlooked or treated in a cursory fashion when developing SOM models as discussed by the authors.
Journal ArticleDOI
Soil structure and management: a review
C.J. Bronick,Rattan Lal +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, soil organic carbon (SOC), biota, ionic bridging, clay and carbonates are associated with aggregation by rearrangement, flocculation and cementation.
Journal ArticleDOI
A history of research on the link between (micro)aggregates, soil biota, and soil organic matter dynamics
TL;DR: In this article, Tisdall and Oades [J. Soil Sci. 62 (1982) 141] coined the aggregate hierarchy concept describing a spatial scale dependence of mechanisms involved in micro- and macroaggregate formation.
Journal ArticleDOI
Environmental and Economic Costs of Soil Erosion and Conservation Benefits
David Pimentel,Celia A. Harvey,P. Resosudarmo,K. Sinclair,D. Kurz,M. McNair,S. Crist,L. Shpritz,L. Fitton,R. Saffouri,R. Blair +10 more
TL;DR: With the addition of a quarter of a million people each day, the world population's food demand is increasing at a time when per capita food productivity is beginning to decline.