conservation tillage- an eco-friendly technique for sustainable agriculture

1. 1

2. NAME-KAJOD MAL GHASAL
ROLL. NO.- 2015-AMJ-35
DEPARTMENT OF AGRONOMY
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3. • INTRODUCTION
• WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
• COMPONENT OF SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
• CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE
• PRINCIPLES OF CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE
• CONSERVATION TILLAGE
• BENEFITS OF CONSERVATION TILLAGE
• CASE STUDIES
• LIMITING FACTORS
• FUTURE PROSPECT
• CONCLUSION
CONTENT
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4. 4

5. WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE
AGRICULTURE
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE IS THE PRODUCTION OF FOOD,
FIBER OR OTHER PLANTS OR ANIMAL PRODUCTS USED IN
FARMING TECHNIQUES THAT PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT.
PUBLIC HEALTH, HUMAN COMMUNITIES & ANIMAL
WELFARE
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6. MAJOR COMPONENTS OF
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL
SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION
EFFICIENT USE OF LIMITED
IRRIGATION WATER
CROP ROTATION
INTEGRATED NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT
(INM)
INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT (IPM)
 WEED MANAGEMENT
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7. CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE IS AN APPROACH TO
MANAGING AGRO-ECOSYSTEMS FOR IMPROVED AND
SUSTAINED PRODUCTIVITY, INCREASED PROFITS AND
FOOD SECURITY WHILE PRESERVING AND ENHANCING
THE RESOURCE BASE AND THE ENVIRONMENT. (FAO)
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8. 55.43(43
%)
43.09(34
%)
16.2(13%)
4.7(4%) 6.4(5%)
1(1%)
1
SOUTH AMERICA
NORTH AMERICA
NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA
ASIA
RUSSIA & UKRAINE
EUROPE
AFRICA
Fig 1: Progress in conservation
agriculture in world
39%(3.1
Mha)
24% (1.9
Mha)
19% (1.5
Mha)
18%
(1.4Mha)
CHINA
TAZAKHSTAN,PAKISTHAN,BANGLADESH,NE
PAL
INDIA
KAZAKHSTAN
Fig 2: Progress in conservation
agriculture in asia
Friedrich et al., 2012 FAO(2010)
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9. PRACTICES USED IN
CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE
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10. PRINCIPLES OF CONSERVATION
AGRICULTURE
Diversification
of crop species
grown in
sequence or in
association
Permanent
organic soil
cover
Minimal
mechanical
disturbance
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11. CONSERVATION TILLAGE
Conservation tillage is a tillage system which retain >30 % of the soil surface
with crop residue after planting, to reduce soil and water erosion CTIC(2004)
North & South America has high area (95.45 mha) ,which is 77% of total
area under conservation tillage
Asia has 4.7 mha which contribute 4% at the total area under conservation
tillage
In India, no tillage practices adoption has occurred mainly in wheat-rice
double cropping system (Friedrich et al., 2012)
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12. Why conservation tillage?
Fig 5
Fig 3
Fig 412

13. A comparison of conventional tillage, conservation tillage and
conservation agriculture for various issues.
Issues Conventional
tillage
Conservation
tillage
Conservation
agriculture
Practice Disturbs the soil
and leaves a bare
surface
Reduces the soil
disturbance in TT
and keeps the soil
covered
Minimal soil
disturbed and soil
surface is covered
Erosion Maximum Medium Less
Soil physical health Lowest Moderate The best
Compaction Destroying
biological pores
LESS compaction Reduce problem
O.M. and
Infiltration rate.
Low Medium High
Diesel uses and
production cost
High Medium Low
Yield Low Same TT Depend on P.P.
FAO (2004)13

14. Fig 6: Comparison between conventional tillage and conservation tillage
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15. Fig 7 Comparison between conventional tillage and conservation tillage
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16. PRACTICES
ZERO/NO-TILLAGE
MINIMUM TILLAGE
STUBBLE MULCH TILLAGE
RIDGE TILLAGE
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17. ZERO TILLAGE
 It is extreme form of
minimum tillage.
Primary tillage is
avoided and secondary
tillage is restricted to
seed bed preparation in
the only row zone.
 Keeps 50-75% residue
on the soil surface.
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18. TILLING PLANTING
 It is a practice of zero
tillage including four
operation:-
 1. Cleaning the crop
row
 2. Opening the soil for
seed insertion
 3. Placing of seed
 4. Covering the seed
by soil
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19. MINIMUM TILLAGE
• Reducing tillage to the
minimum necessary for
ensuring a good seedbed for
rapid germination, satisfactory
crop stand, and favorable
growing condition.
(Arnon,1972)
• It involves soil disturbance,
though to a much lesser extent
• Keeps 30-50% crop residue on
soil surface
• Tillage can be reduced by
omitting the operation or by
combining different operations
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20. STUBBLE MULCH TILLAGE
• The soil is protected
all the times by
growing crop or crop
residue left on the soil
surface between two
crops
• To prevent soil erosion,
reduce co2 emission
and increase rate of
infiltration
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21. Fig 8: Contribution of various crops in
residue generation in india
Cereals
70%
Others
6%
Oilseed
6%
Fibers
13%
Pulses
3%
Sugarcane
2%
MNRE 200921

22. Uttar
Pradesh,
60
Punjab, 56
Maharastra
, 41
Madhya
pradesh,
34
Rajasthan,
30
Gujrat, 29 Assam,
11.43
Fig 8: State wise crop residue
generation (mt/yr) in India
Utter
pradesh,
22
Punjab,
20
Maharast
ra, 7.4
Madya
pradesh
, 2
Rajasthan
, 1.8
Gujrat,
3.8
Assam,
0.73
Fig 9: State wise crop residue
brunt (mt/yr) in India
MNRE 200922

23. Table-1: Co2 emission over a 19 days after
period of tilling wheat stubble with different methods
Tillage method Total co2 losses (t/ha)
M.B. Plough 9.13
Disc Harrow 3.88
Chisel Plough 3.65
Zero Tillage 1.84
Reicosky et al., (2008)
Case study
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24. RIDGE TILLAGE
• The ridge-tillage cultivator
removes weeds, loosens
the soil and builds up the
ridge at a time. it cleans up
crop residue
• Shallow strip on the top of
ridge and seeds are placed
in the center of the ridge
• Band herbicide
applications
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25. BENEFITS OF CONSERVATION
TILLAGE
• Reduce labor cost and save time
• Save fuel
• Reduce maintenance of machinery
• Improve soil titlh condition
• Increase organic matter content in soil
• Trap soil moisture and increase water availability
• Reduce soil erosion
• Improve water quality and air quality
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27. EFFECT OF CONSERVATION
TILLAGE ON SOIL PARAMETER
27

28. Table 2: Comparison of conventional and conservation
tillage systems (after 8years) on soil parameter
parameter unit Conventional
tillage
Conservation
tillage (ZT)
Mulch cover % 1.0 13-77
Humus % 2.0 2.2-2.5
Aggregate stability
(liming soil)
% 20 22-25
Earth worm No./m-2 125 312-358
Macro-pores No./m-2 264 493-775
Schmidt et al., 2012
Case study
28

29. Fig 11: Soil organic carbon as affected by
tillage system and time
Bessam, F and R.Mrabet (2003)
Case study
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30. Fig 10: Better infiltration results with residue
retained as compared to no-till (NT) bare
Triplett et al.,(2005)
Case study
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31. Table 3: Organic carbon and biological activity
under different tillage practices
Treatment OC(%) Earthworm population/ha
Conventional tillage 1.47 60,000
Zero tillage 2.23 160,000
Minimum tillage 2.17 100,000
Gosh et al.(2010)
Case study
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32. Table 4: Effect of tillage on soil chemical
properties after maize harvest
Year 2008 Year 2009
Tillage pH OC(g
kgˉ¹)
TN(g
kgˉ¹)
Avail.
P(mg
kgˉ¹)
CEC
(coml.
kgˉ¹)
pH OC(g
kgˉ¹)
TN(g
kgˉ¹)
Avail.
P(mg
kgˉ¹)
CEC
(coml.
kgˉ¹)
CT 6.0 16.50 1.38 26.64 6.31 6.69 2.79 0.32 65.59 8.05
MT 6.1 19.80 1.52 24.33 6.24 6.79 4.59 0.55 40.47 8.51
ZT 6.2 21.20 1.58 33.28 7.39 6.64 5.00 0.53 61.13 9.39
LSD
P
(≤0.05)
0.05 2.20 ns 7.13 0.49 0.04 0.44 0.08 13.25 0.79
Busari & Salako (2013)
Case study
32

33. EFFECT OF CONSERVATION
TILLAGE ON CROP GROWTH
AND PRODUCTIVITY
33

34. Table 5:Effect of conservation agriculture impact on
crop productivity & conservation efficiency on a land with 2%
slope
Parameters unit Conventional
agriculture
Conservation
agriculture (ZT)
Water loss % 39.8 21.9
Soil loss t/haˉ¹/yrˉ¹ 7.2 3.5
Grain yield of maize kg/haˉ¹ 1570 2000
Grain yield of wheat
after maize
kg/haˉ¹ 950 1700
Moisture conservation
for wheat compare to
fallow
mm 28.1 58.5
Ghosh et al (May 2015)Dehradun
Case study
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35. Fig 12: Effect on tillage on maize root
mass
Busari & Salako (2012)
Case study
35

36. Table 6: Yield of wheat as influenced by
tillage
Treatment Grain yield (q/ha) Straw yield (q/ha) Harvest Index (%)
Conventional
Tillage
31.50 40.90 43.48
Reduced Tillage 29.20 37.60 43.71
Zero Tillage 36.00 46.10 43.85
CD (P=0.05) 1.70 3.10 NS
Case study
Mitra et al.,(2014)36

37. Table 7: Seed yield of mustard (t/ha)after four
preceding crops under different tillage practices
Cropping system Conservation tillage (ZT) Conventional tillage
Maize-mustard 0.56 0.41
Upland rice-mustard 0.50 0.38
Rice bean- mustard 0.45 0.34
Soyabean- mustard 0.40 0.30
Mean 0.48 0.36
Barman (2003)
Case study
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38. EFFECT OF CONSERVATION
TILLAGE ON WEED MANAGEMENT
38

39. Table 8: Interaction effect of different
treatments on grain yield (t/ha) of wheat
Treatment HW 35
&55 DAS
Isoproturon
1.0 kg/ha
Clodinafop
60 g fb
metsulfuro
n-methyl
4 g/ha
Weedy Mean
Zero tillage 4.8 4.5 4.6 3.1 4.3
Reduced
tillage
4.9 4.6 4.6 2.2 4.0
Conventional
tillage
4.9 4.5 4.7 1.4 3.9
Singh et al., (2005)
Case study
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40. Table 10: Effect of planting techniques on weed density,
total weed dry matter at 120 DAS and grain yield of wheat
Treatment P. Minor Broad. leaf
weed
P. minor Broad leaf
weed
Grain yield
(kg/ha)
CT 9.51 7.19 11.94 14.08 4156
ZT 8.49 7.21 11.33 14.32 4238
ZT (standing
stubble)
6.95 5.32 9.25 10.72 4637
ZT (Partial
burning)
7.49 5.62 9.72 10.45 4586
Bed planting 7.20 5.44 9.42 10.94 4383
LSD
(P=0.O5)
1.47 1.47 1.58 2.22 338
Weed density/m2 Dry matter (g/m2)
Brar and Walia,(2009)
Case study
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41. EFFECT OF CONSERVATION
TILLAGE ON ENERGY USES
EFFICIENCY
41

42. Table 11: Economics of maize – wheat system as
influenced by tillage
Treatment Cost of cultivation ( Rs
/ha)
Net returns ( Rs /ha) B:C ratio
2003 2004 2003 2004
CT/CT 37555 38891 42081 40639 1.09
CT/NT 36227 37566 43329 41888 1.16
NT/NT 34902 36241 44855 43536 1.25
Hari Ram et al., (2010)
Case study
42

43. Limitation of conservation tillage
• More dependence on herbicides
• Risk of herbicide resistance by weeds
• More pollution due to herbicides
• Dominance of perennial weeds
• May be reduction in yield and higher NO3
emission at an initial stage
• Initial investment for specialized machinery
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44. FUTURE PROSPECT
• New plant types with the better root system
• Development of new tools
• Assessing effect of conservation tillage on
sequestration of carbon
• Better understanding of dynamic of weeds,
diseases, insects and development INM
strategies
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45. Conservation tillage is an ecofriendly technique that improves soil
properties, control soil erosion, reduce tillage-related production cost,
labor charges, reduce co2 emission, increase crop yield.
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These are sufficient reasons to promote the step-by-step conversion by
adopting resource conserving tillage practices
There is a need for policy to understand the conservation tillage in
integration with other techniques which can promote conservation tillage

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