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
Soil hydraulic response to conservation agriculture under irrigated intensive cereal-based cropping systems in a semiarid climate
Sridhar Patra,Sridhar Patra,Sridhar Patra,Stefan Julich,Karl-Heinz Feger,Mangi L. Jat,Hanuman S. Jat,Parbodh C. Sharma,Kai Schwärzel +8 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluated the long-term effect after eight years of conservation agriculture practices and shortterm effect of crops on near-saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, k(h), and water transmission properties under irrigated intensive cereal-based cropping systems in a semiarid climate (NW Indo-Gangetic Plains, India).
Dissertation
You can’t eat your mulch and have it too : cropping system design and tradeoffs around biomass use for Conservation Agriculture in Cameroon and Madagascar
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the relationship between the quantity of biomass and soil cover for different kinds of residues, and used these relationships to explore the variability of soil cover that could be generated in farmers' fields, and to estimate how much of the biomass could be removed to feed livestock while leaving sufficient soil cover.
Journal ArticleDOI
Effect of conservation agriculture on stratification of soil organic matter under cereal-based cropping systems
TL;DR: In this paper, the degradation of soil quality caused by conventional tillage practices is a major concern for the sustainability of rice-wheat cropping systems in South Asian region, therefore, suitable conservation conservation is needed.
Journal ArticleDOI
Yield and Economic Effectiveness of Soybean Grown Under Different Cropping Systems
TL;DR: In this paper, the influence of cropping system and tillage system on yield, some quality characteristics of soybean seeds and economic evaluation was evaluated. But, it was only observed in the 4th year of the experiment that a decreasing trend in yield of monocultured soybean was observed.
Journal ArticleDOI
Tillage effect on soil organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon and crop yield in spring wheat-field pea rotation
TL;DR: In this paper, the influence of long-term tillage system on soil organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon, root biomass and crop yield in spring wheat-field pea rotation fields in a rainfed semi-arid environment from 2013 through 2015 was assessed.
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
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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.