Tillage Methods on Soil Properties and Crop Growth

Dear Colleagues,

The development of tillage systems throughout history, in many ways, mirrors the development of civilization. From the ancient plough to the modern agricultural machinery which became a symbol of modern agriculture and enabled us to feed the ever-increasing world population, tillage is a primary field operation that has been part of most agricultural systems throughout the years. Tillage has an immense effect on physical, chemical, and biological soil properties and, thereby, on crop productivity and environment. Although proper and timely use of tillage overcomes edaphic constraints to crop production, inopportune tillage may cause a variety of adverse effects, such as enhanced soil compaction, erosion, and degradation; loss of organic matter and fertility; disruption of water, carbon, and nutrient cycles; and negative effect on soil biota and biodiversity.

Today, as our civilization is shifting towards sustainable development, our tillage systems must also change in a way to increase or retain crop productivity, while simultaneously preserving the natural resource base.  In this context, conservation tillage practices (such as zero tillage, no-till, reduced/minimum tillage, mulch tillage, ridge tillage to contour tillage) have shown to be a viable option to ensure sustainable food production with minimal impact on soil and environment in different agroecosystems. This Special Issue seeks to review the current knowledge on different conservation tillage systems and their effects on both soil properties and crop productivity.  Tillage requirement of a crop is site, environment, and soil specific. Therefore, the aim is to present a collection of research articles and review papers that cover a broad range of cropping systems and practices from different farmland ecosystems.

We invite manuscripts from integrative studies that assess the overall impact of conservation tillage methods on the establishment and yield of crops, growth of plants and roots, soil physics and erosion, soil–water relations, cycling of carbon and nutrients, greenhouse gas emissions, leaching, run-off, weed, pest and disease control, soil health and biodiversity, as well as their interaction and links to other soil functions in the context of environmental quality, climate change adaptation/mitigation, and soil quality/health.

Dr. Ognjen Žurovec
Dr. Nani Raut
Dr. Sabrija Čadro
Guest Editors

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