Agriculture/No-Tilling/zero tillage

No-Tilling/zero tillage

Crops are grown from year to year with zero or minimum soil disturbance through tillage in this system. In Minimum tillage, soil disturbance is kept to minimum level. In Zero tillage or No-Till system, no soil disturbance is done season in season out. No-tillage or no-till, also referred to as zero tillage, is a soil cultivation system in which seeds are deposited directly into untilled soil. It is defined “as a system of planting (seeding) crops into untilled soil by opening a narrow slot trench or band only of sufficient width and depth to obtain proper seed coverage. No other soil tillage is done.” No-till farming is not concerned only with soil tillage – it encompasses four broad, intertwined management practices:

• Minimal soil disturbance (no ploughing and harrowing),
• Maintenance of a permanent vegetative soil cover,
• direct sowing and
• Sound crop rotation

No-till and conservation agriculture:

No-till and conservation agriculture are therefore difficult to distinguish from each other. Further it defines the tillage practice of conservation agriculture as follows: “The practice of conservation agriculture advocates minimal soil disturbance and hence much less or no tilling is carried out.” This means that conservation agriculture can imply either less deep and/or less frequent tillage practices. No-till as a component of conservation agriculture is today actively promoted by a growing number of research and extension programmes. Certain prerequisites must be met for successful implementation of no-till farming. Like other agronomic technologies, it requires know how and a detailed understanding of soil-plant interactions. Special no-till equipment is needed: no-till is bound to fail if techniques for drilling seed into residues at the proper depth are not available.

In principle, the method always involves the following stages:

• Handling loose straw or living mulch by cutting/moving aside or rolling;
• Application of seeds and fertilizers;
• Furrow closing;
• Seed/soil compaction.

Implements and Tools for zero tillage:

There can be find several equipment’s which are used for no-till farming. Farmers use these implements to facilitate no till farming practices.

• No till planter

- Planter is arguably one of the most important pieces of equipment for farmers, especially if you are planning on going into no-till farming. - To ensure that crops planted at the same depth and spacing have to use a fine-toothed comb. - This will ensure that every seed is in the exact same soil moisture and temperature environment, allowing for the crops to come out evenly.

• A roller/crimper

- Organic, no-till farming begins successfully with a cover-crop, which turns into mulch once it is killed or has died. - In order to accelerate this process, it is able to ‘kill’ the cover crop by hand with tools if your plot is small enough but for a larger piece of land, it will need farming implements to help you. - It is a large, heavy cylinder with long blades welded onto it in a chevron pattern. As it is rolled over a cover crop, the blades crimp the stems of the plants, killing them in place to make moisture conserving mulch as part of the ground cover for your crops. - This mulch adds organic matter to the soil as it degrades. Because a cover-crop needs to be thick, a roller/crimper is the ideal piece of farm equipment to use.

• A broad fork

- This tool is used to avoid soil compaction. - Loosening the soil with a broad fork allows to have the benefits of deep tillage without actually performing any tilling. - Broad forks are hand tools with long tines that are perfect for digging deep into the soil when turning it.

• A subsoiler

- Similar to a broad fork that is considered to be low or no-till. - A subsoiler is a tractor attachment that can be dragged through the soil to loosen compacted bed. - Using a broad fork or other hand tools is an effective no-till method that eliminates compacted soil and other issues.

• A no-till seed drill

- Piece of equipment that places seeds at correct depth and space apart. - The front ‘openers’ or blades cut a trench into the soil, then the double disk seed drill places the seed at the correct depth. The packer wheels cover the hole and pack the soil for the correct seed-to-soil contact. - A no-till drill ensures accurate planting of crops, and also means that less seed needs to be used, saving farmer’s money and effort. - The price of seed can become expensive, which means that accurate planting is necessary to save money and make a profit from your crops. - No-till may sound like a practice that does not use machinery, but equipment such as a no-till seed drill makes it a more labour-saving process.

• Zero till seed/grain drill cum fertilizer

- Zero-till drilling of wheat is becoming an attractive alternative to the conventional tillage and sowing of wheat after rice. - With seed cum fertilizer drill the seeds are sown along with basal placement of fertilizer over a well-prepared seed bed.

• Metal cutting blade mould board plough

- Mould Board Plough is the most important plough for primary tillage in canal irrigated or heavy rain areas where too much weeds grow. - The objective for ploughing with a Mould Board is to completely invert and pulverize the soil, up-root all weeds, trash and crop residues and bury them under the soil. - The shape of mould Board is designed to cut down the soil and invert it to right side, completely burying the undesired growth which is subsequently turned into manure after decomposition.

• Rotary weeder

- The Rotary Weeder is a tool used to remove weeds either manually or mechanically. - It is helpful to farmers who uses minimal to zero amount of herbicides or tillage. Manual weeding takes about 25 days solo work to finish one hectare. - Latest mechanical weeder is light, one horsepower (HP), and does three rows at a time and easy to operate, making it possible even for women to work with. - Two weeders can to do a hectare of rice in just five hours. However, the latest model is still subject for further development.

Management of zero tillage:

Zero tillage requires some different skills in order to do it successfully with any production system, if zero tillage is not done correctly, yield can drop. So, a combined technique is required for the management of zero tillage.

• Cover crops

Cover crop mulch based Zero tillage production as an innovative,alternative practice in organic farming to reduce intensive soil tillage. They are occasionally using in agriculture as guard crops, they leave residue to the soil and also kill various weeds. Farmers use them for controlling of weeds so that the succeeding crop may get enough energy resource for their growth, nutrition and development.

• Integrated disease and pest management

Nowadays, it is very popularly adopted in western countries. The approach is very simple. Here the ecosystem is not hurt at all. So, farmers adopt this practice to get optimum yield using zero tillage.

• Crop rotation

With zero tillage, the residue is kept at the soil surface and thus it increases the soil moisture. But this may also bring the disease or pest outbreak to the crop field. So to manage this problem, farmers should use crop rotation, by the rotation of crops, the completion of pathogen life cycle can be stopped and thus they can be easily managed.

• Use of light implements

The proper zero tillage can be done with the help of light implements. So, it is necessary to use light tractors as it escapes the chances of soil compaction.

Advantages and disadvantages of no tillage practices:

No-tillage systems have a number of advantages and disadvantages. It is important to note that ‘no-tillage’ needs to be adapted to site-specific conditions, therefore it is important to ensure a comprehensive management that ensures the selection of the most appropriate system for particular soil and climatic conditions on the farm in question and the selection and operation of appropriate equipment. There can be find environmental, social and economic advantages:

• Economic Advantages

• Energy and Labour costs over the total production process can be reduced • Reduced use of fertilizers and lower production costs • Crop productivity increased

• Social Advantages

• Better profitability and higher crop yields mean that the farming family could have a greater chance of succeeding and remaining on the land

• Environmental Advantages

• Crop yields are equal to or better than under conventional tillage • Maintenance or increase in the SOM content (enhancement of soil quality) • Soil improvement (chemical, physical and biological characteristics). • Studies of no-tillage have shown that it leads to significant changes in the physical and biotic characteristics of the soil environment. Most studies have shown that the soil becomes more dense, primarily because the number of larger pore spaces in the soil is reduced and the number of smaller spaces is increased. This reduces aeration somewhat, but tends to increase the water holding capacity of the soil. • No tilled soils tend to be cooler than others, partly because a surface layer of plant residues is present Carbon is sequestered in the soil enhancing its quality, reducing the threat of global warming. • Planting times are more flexible. Planting can take place immediately after rain and there is no wait for tillage operations. In double cropping situations (cowpeas after maize, for instance), harvesting, slashing, spraying, and planting can take place within a few days. • Water runoff is reduced, which is beneficial in two ways: more water is available for the crop and soil erosion is reduced. • Reduced wind and water erosion. Reduced erosion can lead to off-site benefits such as a reduced rate of siltation of water courses and increased recharge of aquifers. • Increased water infiltration into the soil and increased soil moisture.

• Disadvantages:

On the other hand, the disadvantages of minimum and no-tillage systems are: ➢ Economic Disadvantages: - Short term yield effects have been found to be variable (positive, neutral or negative yield responses which can discourage the adoption of zero tillage practices). - The variability in short-term crop responses to ZT is principally the result of the interacting effects of crop requirements, soil characteristics and climate.

➢ Social Disadvantages: - Not tilling the soil may results in increased weed pressure. The increased amount of labour required for weeding with ZT may outweigh the labour saving gained by not ploughing, - Herbicides are used to control weeds. It enhances environmental pollution. - no tillage has resulted in increased labour requirements when herbicides are not used - In some countries, no-tillage might result in a gender shift of the labour burden to women.

➢ Environmental Disadvantages: - Herbicides must be used often and with accuracy. - Application of herbicides is critical in cases where the farmer does not plough or till to control weeds and grasses. - Before planting, any vegetation present must be killed with a broad–spectrum herbicide, the effects of which are non-persistent. - After planting, more specific and more persistent herbicides are usually required to control specific weeds particular to the crop situation.