Infiltration, soil moisture, root rot and nematode populations after 12 years of different tillage, residue and crop rotation managements

Agricultural water management and poverty in Ethiopia

“…The yield trends were affected by pre-season (fallow) rainfall which was better conserved in NTSM and ASRT than CT. During normal rainfall cropping periods also the crop yields for NTSM and ASRT treatments were higher by 5-27%. In maize-wheat systems in Mexico, Govaerts et al (2007) also showed the importance of residue retention on the soil surface in no till systems, where yields declined in the absence of residue retention after the first few years (Govaerts et al 2007). …”

“…The majority of these technologies involved adoption of at least one of the three principals of conservation agriculture -reduced or zero tillage, surface cover, and crop rotation. Notably, few studies involved adoption of all three principals, whereas there is evidence from intensive maize-wheat cropping systems in Mexico that failure to adopt all components (in that case no tillage in the absence of mulching) can result in declining system performance (Govaerts et al 2007). In continuous maize in western Kenya, Kihara et al (2009) also found a consistent trend for lower yields of maize with reduced tillage in the absence of residues (2 t ha -1 ) than in the presence of residues over 6 seasons, but the differences were never significant.…”

“…In maize-wheat systems in Mexico, Govaerts et al (2007) showed the importance of residue retention on the soil surface in no till systems, where yields declined in the absence of residue retention after the first few years. In other studies, higher yield and water use efficiency (WUE) were also always observed in treatments with no till and stubble mulching in dry years or in normal rainfall years (Eckert 1984;Hussain et al1999;Su et al 2007;Patil et al2006).…”

Fluorescein Diacetate Activity as Affected by Residue Retention and P Fertilization in Maize under Maize-Wheat Cropping System

“…Soil microorganisms play important roles in agro ecosystem, and their changes influences soil nutrient cycling. Notillage with residue retention is known to increase the soil microbial community (Govaerts et al, 2007). Application of decomposed residues in form of farm yard manure play a vital role in exploiting high yield potential through its beneficial effect on nutrients supply and chemical and biological properties (Sharma et al, 2015 and2016).…”

No adverse effect of moderate stubble grazing on soil quality and organic carbon pool in dryland wheat agro-ecosystems

“…Among the relevant management practices, the on-site retention of crop residue is one of the most important (Bell et al 2011). The effect of crop residue clearing from the ground surface has been widely reported to decrease pools of soil organic carbon (Wang et al 2005;Du et al 2014), and increase vulnerability to raindrop impact, resulting in the formation of mechanical crusts (Paul et al 2013), and diminished water infiltrability and soil moisture content (Govaerts et al 2007). Tillage action has been reported in many studies to cause deformation of the soil structure, and to exacerbate oxidation of soil organic carbon (Stavi and Lal 2013).…”