Search Results (23)

Conservation agriculture is increasingly recognized as a sustainable alternative to conventional farming in temperate regions due to its benefits in terms of reducing soil erosion, enhancing water retention, and mitigating climate change. Despite these benefits, these practices are not broadly adopted, partially due to perceived weed management challenges in conservation systems. This paper explores how a conservation system that uses cover crops and non-inversion tillage (chiselling) influences the weed flora abundance and evolution before cover crop termination and over a complete rotation cycle (sunflower–winter wheat–maize–sunflower) in southeastern Romania when compared to conventional tillage (ploughing). Overall, the conservation system significantly reduced weed density by 31%, preserving a higher diversity and evenness (H′ = 0.75, E = 0.46) by the end of the rotation cycle and an evenly distributed weed community compared to the conventional system, where the opportunistic species Veronica hederifolia exhibited dominance. Full article

This study investigated the impact of conventional ploughing (CT), minimum multitiller tillage (MT), and reduced loosening tillage (RT), with and without straw mulch on Fluvisol properties and crop yields in Croatia over three years (2019–2021). While conservation tillage practices are well studied in arid regions, our study addresses the unique challenges and benefits of these practices in humid conditions. Plots treated with straw mulch (2.75 t/ha) showed significant improvements in soil physical properties compared to bare plots. Penetration resistance (PR) decreased under 3-year mulch application in all tillage systems, with a reduction of up to 28% compared to bare plots. Water-holding capacity (WHC) was significantly higher in mulched MT (52.4%) than in bare CT (41.6%). Aggregate stability increased by 15–20% under mulch, with the highest stability in MT plots. Soil organic matter (SOM) peaked in mulched MT in 2021, reaching 4.5%, compared to 3.6% in bare CT. Yield results varied by crop: soybean yield was unaffected by tillage treatment but increased by 21% under mulch in MT; maize yield was highest in RT without mulch (13.95 t/ha); and spring wheat yield significantly improved in mulched MT (3.83 t/ha), compared to bare plots (1.75 t/ha). These findings highlight the synergistic benefits of non-inversion tillage and straw mulch in enhancing soil quality and crop yields, offering a sustainable management strategy for Central European agroecosystems. Full article

Fractals are widely recognized as one of the best geometric models to depict soil roughness on various scales from tillage to micro-topography smaller than radar wavelength. However, most fractal approaches require an additional geometric description of experimental sites to be analysed by existing radiative transfer models. For example, fractal dimension or spectral parameter is often related to root-mean-square (RMS) height to be characterized as the microwave surface. However, field measurements hardly represent multi-scale roughness. In this study, we rescaled Power Spectral Density with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)-inverted rms height, and estimated non-stationary fractal roughness to accommodate multi-scale roughness into a radiative transfer model structure. As a result, soil moisture was retrieved over the Yanco site in Australia. Local validation shows that the Integral Equation Model (IEM) poorly simulated backscatters using inverted roughness as compared to fractal roughness even in anisotropic conditions. This is considered due to a violation of time-invariance assumption used for inversion. Spatial analysis also shows that multi-scale fractal roughness better illustrated the hydrologically reasonable backscattering partitioning, as compared to inverted roughness. Fractal roughness showed a greater contribution of roughness to backscattering in dry conditions. Differences between IEM backscattering and measurement were lower, even when the isotropic assumption of the fractal model was violated. In wet conditions, the contribution of soil moisture to backscattering was shown more clearly by fractal roughness. These results suggest that the multi-scale fractal roughness can be better adapted to the IEM even in anisotropic conditions than the inversion to assume time-invariance of roughness. Full article

Soil structure (SS) plays an important role in relation to climatic change, with the most important task the decreasing of CO₂ in the atmosphere by carbon sequestration in the soil and the prevention of floods by better water infiltration into the soil. However, the evaluation of its condition is very different because of the various parameters and their inappropriate uses. The aim of this study was to determine the responses of the parameters of SS on the soil type and tillage system as the most important factors that influence it through changes in the soil organic matter and soil texture. The soil factor, which was represented by seven soil types (EF, Eutric Fluvisol; MF, Mollic Fluvisol; HC, Haplic Chernozem; HL, Haplic Luvisol; ER, Eutric Regosol; EG, Eutric Gleysol; DS, Distric Stagnosol), should be included in all evaluations of SS because of the specifics of each soil type. The tillage factor (shallow non-inversion-reduced, RT; deeper with inversion-conventional, CT) was chosen because of a high sensitivity of SS to soil disruption by cultivation, which represents high potential for the mitigation of climate change. The study included 126 sampling places in different parts of Slovakia on real farms (7 soil types × 3 localities × 3 crop rotations × 2 tillage systems × 2 soil depths). The soils were analysed for the aggregate fraction composition, particle size distribution, and parameters of organic carbon. The data of different parameters of SS were calculated and evaluated. The most sensitive parameter of the tested ones was the coefficient of structure (K_st), which manifested up to the level of the fractions of humus substances and indicated a better condition of SS in more productive soils than less productive soils. The coefficient of soil structure vulnerability (K_v) and mean weight diameter in water-resistant macroaggregates (MWD_w) showed a worse condition of SS in the soils, which developed on Neogene sediments. A better condition of SS in RT was predicted particularly by the primary parameters (index of crusting, I_c; critical content of soil organic matter, S_t), and in CT, they were mainly the secondary parameters (K_st; water-resistant of soil aggregates, K_w). Overall, the suitability of the parameters of SS should be evaluated in relation to a specific soil type with its characteristics and should not be used universally. Full article

At the time of tillage, the properties of the soil change, thereby changing the conditions of crop development and, ultimately, their productivity and quality. The effect of non-inversion tillage or no-till on faba bean development is still not widely understood. For this reason, on the basis of a long-term experiment (since 1988), investigations of tillage systems using deep and shallow ploughing, chiselling, disking and no-till were undertaken at Vytautas Magnus University, Agriculture Academy, Lithuania, in 2016–2019. The aim of this study was to highlight the interaction between tillage methods and crop vegetative conditions, and its effect on faba bean development parameters. Soil chiselling generally led to better faba bean canopy development rates than other treatments. Faba bean roots developed somewhat better in non-tilled plots. Different tillage methods had less impact on faba bean development than vegetative conditions during the growing seasons. This shows that, due to rapid climate change, the conditions of each vegetative season are unique, which may lead to significant changes in crop development parameters. In addition, in this case, agrotechnologies must be precisely used, such as the use of varieties resistant to abiotic stresses, as well as technical and technological approaches. The complex effects of these agrotechnological elements should be investigated in more detail. Full article

The agricultural sector is constantly evolving. The rise in the world’s population generates an increasingly growing demand for food, resulting in the need for the agroindustry to meet this demand. Tractors are the vehicles that have made a real difference in agriculture’s development throughout history, lowering costs in soil tillage and facilitating activities and operations for workers. This study aims to successfully design and build an autonomous, electric agricultural tractor that can autonomously perform recurring tasks in open-field and greenhouse applications. This project is fully part of the new industrial and agronomic revolution, known as Factory 4.0 and Agriculture 4.0. The predetermined functional requirements for the vehicle are its lightweight, accessible price, the easy availability of its spare parts, and its simple, ordinary maintenance. In this first study, the preliminary phases of sizing and conceptual design of the rover are reported before subsequently proceeding to the dynamical analysis. To optimize the design of the various versions of the automated vehicle, it is decided that a standard chassis would be built based on a robot operating inside a greenhouse on soft and flat terrains. The SimScape multi-body environment is used to model the kinematics of the non-back-drivable screw jack mechanism for the hitch-lifting arms. The control unit for the force exerted is designed and analyzed by means of an inverse dynamics simulation to evaluate the force and electric power consumed by the actuators. The results obtained from the analysis are essential for the final design of the autonomous electric tractor. Full article

Conservation tillage is often discussed as an effective tool to improve the soil quality in agriculture. Four sites across Europe (in Germany, Romania, Spain, and Sweden) were investigated as case studies for country-specific reductions in tillage intensity. Conventional tillage (CT) by mouldboard ploughing was compared with shallow and deep non-inversion minimum tillage (MT) and/or no-tillage (NT). In Sweden, NT and MT had positive effects on the concentrations of soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (N), and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) in the upper 20 cm compared with CT. At the German site, MT increased SOC, N, and MBC concentrations in the top 10 cm. In contrast, CT increased MBC contents and bulk density between 20 and 30 cm soil depth. At the Romanian site, soil parameters showed no differences between inverse tillage (CT) and non-inverse tillage (MT), both with a working depth of 25 to 30 cm. At the Spanish site, the use of NT significantly increased the concentrations as well as the stocks of C, N, and MBC compared to CT. In conclusion, reduced tillage improved soil microbial properties in most cases. However, the effectiveness of reduced tillage appears to be highly dependent on site conditions such as pH, soil texture, and climatic conditions. Full article

Soil compaction forms a major threat to the well-functioning of agricultural soils. This threat is primarily driven by the increasing wheel loads of modern farming machinery and the increased frequency of field operations in periods when the soil is moist to wet and thus more prone to compaction. The application of slurry in early spring can have a highly detrimental impact, certainly for a crop like sugar beet, which is sensitive to soil compaction. A one-year experiment was set up on silt loam soil in the Belgian loess belt to assess the short-term impact of this field operation on soil under conventional ploughing and under non-inversion tillage. Two types of farming machinery were compared: a widely used tractor-trailer combination and a less common self-propelled slurry spreader, with the latter having higher wheel loads. Both machines were operated according to common or standard practice and a practice that aims at preventing soil compaction. For the tractor-trailer, this was with tyre inflation pressure recommended for road traffic and field traffic, respectively, corresponding with high and low tyre inflation pressure. The self-propelled slurry spreader was operated under standard and crab steering, respectively. Lowering the tyre inflation pressure to the recommended level for field traffic limited soil compaction and sugar beet yield loss. Although the effects of crab steering were less pronounced, it lowered the impact on the soil by limiting the number of passages. The overall machinery effect remained limited. The heavier self-propelled slurry spreader did not significantly increase the level of soil compactness and reduce sugar beet yield compared to the more common tractor-trailer combination. Soil under conventional ploughing showed more soil compaction, while the effectiveness of reducing tyre inflation pressure as a prevention strategy was lower compared to non-inversion tillage. The tillage practice, however, did not have any overall influence on sugar beet yield. Full article

We present an on-farm approach to measure the effect of crop diversification on farmers’ field economic values. Eleven years of data (2010–2020) on the chemical herbicide use, tillage practices and crop yields of 17 farms in north-eastern Germany were examined for winter wheat (WW) and winter oilseed rape (WOSR). We used a common conceptual framework to classify farmers’ crop sequences according to their susceptibility to weeds (‘riskiness’). Linear mixed models were used to analyse the relationship between crop sequence, tillage practice (inversion/non-inversion) and the response variables ‘total herbicide costs’, ‘crop yield’ and ‘economic income’. Our results indicate that farmers in the area surveyed commonly grow crop sequences with a high risk of weeds. The driving forces behind this classification are high ratios of winter cereals and WOSR in the sequences. The most interesting result of our analysis is that farmers’ total herbicide costs (THC_fy) significantly decreased from a higher to a lower riskiness class. Diversified crop sequences decreased the THC_fy for WW by up to 12 EUR ha⁻¹ and for WOSR by 19–56 EUR ha⁻¹. Considering the crop diversification effects, the combined influence of tillage and crop sequence seems to be important. Significant differences in crop yield between the riskiness classes were found in WW and WOSR solely in non-inversion tillage systems. Hence, the analysis of farmers’ ‘economic income’ revealed the great impact of crop diversification for non-inversion tillage systems. Indeed, we found that simplifying both crop sequence diversity and tillage intensity implies higher herbicide costs and, thereby, higher economic input. The best strategy for reducing herbicide costs in WW and WOSR cropping is to increase the use of summer crops or field grass as previous crops. Full article

Spiders (Araneae) create abundant and diverse assemblages in many agroecosystems, where they play a crucial role as the main group of predators and pest controllers. However, seasonal disturbance in the agricultural environment (e.g., harvesting or ploughing) affects spider assemblages. The main aim of this research was to compare assemblages of Araneae colonising cereal fields cultivated under two different systems of soil tillage: conventional with ploughing and non-inversion tillage. The research covered plantations of triticale, wheat, and barley, situated in northeastern Poland. Ground-dwelling spiders were captured into modified pitfall traps filled up to 1/3 height with an ethylene glycol solution. In total, 6744 spiders representing 67 species classified in 13 families were caught. The traps were emptied every two weeks from the end of April until the end of July. A total of 2410 specimens representing 55 species were captured in the fields with simplified cultivation, while the remaining 4334 specimens representing 49 species were trapped in conventional fields where ploughing was performed. The Shannon diversity (H’) and evenness (J’) indices reached higher values in the fields without ploughing. According to IndVal Erigone, dentipalpis and Bathyphantes gracilis were signifi-cantly characteristic (p < 0.05) for non-inversion soil tillage, whereas six species, Oedothorax apicatus, Pardosa prativaga, Pardosa paludicola, Pachygnatha clerki, Dicimbium nigrum brevisetosum, and Clubiona reclusa, were typical of soil tillage with ploughing. The research showed that simplification of soil tillage in cereal fields improves the biodiversity of arachnofauna in agricultural ecosystems. The use of conventional tillage systems with ploughing promotes agrobiontic species of the families Linyphiidae and Lycosidae. Full article

Modern agriculture promotes non-inversion, ploughless tillage systems, and simplified plant cultivation methods. Environmentally friendly plant production technologies must nevertheless guarantee high yields of good quality. In the years 2017/18–2019/20, studies were carried out in which it was assumed that these conditions could be met by strip soil tillage with simultaneous application of fertilisers and paired-row sowing (strip-till one-pass (ST-OP). Two field experiments were conducted to compare two cereal cultivation technologies: ploughless, non-inversion tillage, seedbed preparation, entire-surface fertilisation, and narrowly spaced row sowing (PL-ES); and ST-OP, with two narrow spaced rows (12 cm apart) in a strip of tilled (paired-row sowing), fertilised soil, and a 24.4-cm-wide inter-row of untilled soil. Fields of winter wheat and spring barley were investigated, assessing plant density and spatial variation, plant height, yield components, and yield. The morphological and physiological indices of the plants and canopies determined were leaf area index (LAI), photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), leaf stomatal conductance, and relative chlorophyll content in leaves. The ST-OP technology provides uniform planting in the canopy, especially under conditions of insufficient rainfall. Fields of winter wheat and spring barley cultivated by this method featured shorter plants with more stalks with spikes, and spikes with greater weight and number of grains, than in the fields of cereals grown under PL-ES. The LAI and PAR indices in the narrow inter-rows were similar to the PL-ES technology and higher than in the wide, untilled inter-rows. Leaves of cereals grown under ST-OP contained more chlorophyll and had a higher leaf stomatal conductance. This technology, which provides higher winter wheat and spring barley yields, is an alternative to ploughless tillage with row sowing. Full article

Modern cereal cultivars are highly adapted to, and normally bred and trialled under, high input, high soil disturbance conditions. On-farm conditions are often suboptimal for high yield and frequently use minimal soil tillage, sometimes no-tillage, and therefore, cultivars may be differentially adapted to such conditions. We report a series of trials across 10 years comparing multiple cultivars within years and smaller numbers across years to identify stable cultivars showing preferential adaptation to different levels of soil tillage. Cultivars responded differentially to inversion and non-inversion tillage but were not affected by the level of cultivation within each of these tillage types. Yield declined over time but much more so in the non-inversion tillage treatment. Rhynchosporium symptoms were also increasingly suppressed in the non-inversion tillage type. Several cultivars were identified that showed strong adaptation to tillage type, and some of these were consistent across several trial years. These cultivars can be used to identify traits and genotypes associated with tillage adaptation to target breeding for on-farm conditions. Full article

Given the problem of climate change and the requirements laid down by the European Union in the field of gradual decarbonization of production, it is necessary to implement solutions of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into agricultural practice. This research paper aimed to evaluate the carbon footprint and life-cycle costs of grain maize production in various tillage systems. The material for the analyses was data from 2015–2017 collected on 15 farms located in the Wielkopolska region (Poland) and growing maize for grain in three tillage systems: conventional, reduced, and no-tillage. The life-cycle assessment and life-cycle costing methodologies were applied to assess the GHG emissions and costs associated with the grain maize production in the stages from “cradle-to-farm gate”, i.e., from obtaining raw materials and producing means for agricultural production, through the processes of maize cultivation to grain harvesting. The calculated values of the carbon footprint indicator for maize production in conventional, reduced, and no-tillage systems were 2347.4, 2353.4, and 1868.7 CO₂ eq. ha⁻¹, respectively. The largest source of GHG emissions was the use of nitrogen fertilizers. Non-inversion tillage with cover crops and leaving a large amount of crop residues in the field increased the sequestration of organic carbon and contributed to a significant reduction of the carbon footprint in maize production. The conventional tillage system demonstrated the highest overall life-cycle costs per hectare. Full article

Zero till cropping systems typically apply broad-spectrum herbicides such as glyphosate as an alternative weed control strategy to the physical inversion of the soil provided by cultivation. Glyphosate targets 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate (EPSP) synthase in plants. There is growing evidence that this may have a detrimental impact on non-target organisms such as those present in the soil microbiome. Species of commercial importance, such as arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi that form a symbiotic relationship with plant roots are an important example. This study investigates the impact of soil cultivation and glyphosate application associated with conventional tillage (CT) and zero tillage (ZT) respectively on AM fungi populations under field and glasshouse conditions. Topsoil (<10 cm) was extracted from CT and ZT fields cropped with winter wheat, plus non-cropped control plots within the same field boundary, throughout the cropping year. Glyphosate was applied in glasshouse experiments at rates between 0 and 350 g L⁻¹. Ergosterol, an indicator of fungal biomass, was measured using high performance liquid chromatography before and after glyphosate application. Fungal root arbuscules, an indicator of AM fungi–root symbiosis, were quantified from the roots of wheat plants. Under glasshouse conditions root arbuscules were consistently higher in wheat grown in ZT field extracted soils (P = 0.01) compared to CT. Glyphosate application however inhibited fungal biomass in both the ZT (P < 0.00001) and CT (P < 0.001) treatments. In the absence of glyphosate, the number of stained root arbuscules increased significantly. Ergosterol levels, used as a proxy for fungal biomass, remained lower in the soil post glyphosate application. The results suggest that CT has a greater negative impact on AM fungal growth than ZT and glyphosate, but that glyphosate is also detrimental to AM fungal growth and hinders subsequent population recovery. Full article

Tillage is an agrotechnical practice that strongly affects the soil environment. Its effect on soil properties depends on the system and, more specifically, on the degree of soil inversion and loosening. Strip-till is a non-inversive method that loosens only narrow soil strips. In strip-till one-pass (ST-OP) technology, tillage is combined with a simultaneous application of fertilizers and seed sowing. In a static multi-year field experiment, the soil properties after application of ST-OP for 8 years were compared to those of soil under conventional tillage with the use of a moldboard plough to a depth of 20 cm (CT), and equally deep loosened and mixed reduced tillage (RT). A field experiment of these three treatments was performed since 2012 in sandy loam soil, Luvisol. A total of 44 features were examined that described the physical, chemical, biological, and biochemical soil properties in the 0–20 cm layer, and penetration resistance (PR), bulk density (BD), and soil moisture (SM) in the 25–30 cm layer. The influence of the ST-OP technology on the yield of crops was also determined. Multivariate analysis shows that the ST-OP method, in terms of affecting the soil properties, differs considerably from RT and CT treatments. The soil after the ST-OP method contained two- to four-fold more earthworms (En), with a mass (Em) 2- to 5-fold higher, than those in the soil following RT and CT, respectively. In the ST-OP soil the content of available phosphorus (Pa) and available potassium (Ka); the total count of bacteria (Bt), cellulolytic microorganisms (Bc), and fungi (Ff); and the activity of phosphatases (AlP, AcP) were significantly higher. Compared with CT, the content of total organic carbon (Ct) and its content in the fractions of organic matter were also higher, with the exception of humins (C_H). The yields of winter rapeseed and winter wheat using the ST-OP technology were marginally higher compared with those using the CT and RT technology. Full article