Climate change (CC) is undoubtedly induced and accelerated by human activity and can pose a serious threat to mankind by reducing food production. Significant weather aberrations in form of the uneven precipitation pattern, more frequent and intense occurrence of temperature fluctuations accompanied by changes in wind intensity and frequency, amount of clouds, intensity and quality of sunlight can be expected. Maybe the most vulnerable sector affected by CC is agriculture. So, it is important to mitigate and adapt to a new situation through different and most adaptable agricultural strategies. Accordingly, scientists, experts, politicians, decisionmakers, and others increasingly emphasize the need for further development of sustainable agricultural production, whose management will be compatible with different ecosystems (agroecosystem compliance with global ecosystems), while simultaneously restoring degraded agricultural land. One of the best solutions for sustainable agricultural production, under CC conditions, can be Conservation agriculture. Climate change is not only an abstraction, which is why one of the most important roles of conservation agriculture today is its ability to adapt and mitigate these changes. The basis of conservation agriculture production is in management set on three fundamental postulates, which contextually unify climate-soil-plant, while respecting agroecological and socioeconomic differences.
Two tillage systems for maize (Zea mays) a�er soybean (Glycine max), no-till (NT) and conventional till (CT), which consisted of double disking in the spring, were included in the experiment on two sites in Indiana, USA. Each tillage plot had three winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cover crop levels: no cover crop (N), early desiccation (E), 3-4 weeks prior to planting the maize, and regular desiccation (R), within the maize planting week. Due to the mulching effect, both E and R for both tillage systems increased soil moisture, except in the case of spring drought, when E proved dominant. Soil temperature for both tillage systems showed N > E > R order. Young maize plants tended to grow taller and have greater shoot biomass in NT than in CT. Both E and R improved early maize growth. In the case of drought, the E proved significantly be�er for maize on both tillage treatments, due to the be�er soil water conservation, therefore the winter wheat cover crop should be desiccated early in given climate conditions.
Eight different tillage systems were compared in soybean production on one experimental field (chernozem) located in the Baranya region of Croatia over a 4-year period (2001/2002, 2002/2003, 2003/2004, 2004/2005). The dry conditions experienced in 2003 exacerbated the effects of NT and CWNS on the soybean yield. The most stable grain yield was obtained using CSNW and CSDW in all four experimental years. DH, CH and CWDS did not result in any significant reduction in crop yield compared to CT. There was no clear trend regarding the applied tillage systems and grain yield components. The greatest effects on soybean yield and yield components were due to climatic conditions. Different tillage systems had a significant effect on the soybean grain yield and yield components in the four experimental years. The largest differences in stem height were determined between CSNW and NT. The number of pods per plant, the hectolitre mass and the grain yield were significantly lower under NT than under the other tillage systems. The number of fertile nodes of soybean and the number of branches per plant in the experimental years had approximately the same values for all the tillage systems. To sum up, the results achieved with DH, CH, CSDW, CWDS and CSNW were on par with each other and slightly better than CT, and these systems could represent adequate replacements for conventional tillage. No tillage could not be considered as the most favourable for soybean growing.
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