ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF NO-TILLAGE FARMING

Abstract

No-tillage seeding applications that conserve natural resources such as soil and water and decrease the cost of inputs for agricultural production have become an increasingly applied method to conventional tillage systems including ploughing. Traditional tillage systems in the subtropics and tropic regions and with intensive tillage applications will lead to soil degradation and a decrease in crop production efficiency. This will also lead to poverty and emigration of farmers from rural areas. If we want to give the farmers a chance to continue farming and if sustainable agricultural production is to be ensured, then land use and management methods should be revised and improved, and new or modern cultivation systems should be applied. No tillage is the practice of never soil tilling before seeding operation. The essence of no-tillage is providing the soil surface covered with stubble residue. No-tillage systems have remarkable impacts on crop production and environment: _ they reduce erosion (wind and water), thereby reducing environmental pollution and, most importantly, protecting water resources; _ they reduce carbon emissions; _ they contribute to increasing biodiversity in the soil; _ they provide agricultural production using less energy than conventional tillage, and essentially the conservation tillage or conservation agriculture practices contribute to sustainable development.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.erem.75.1.20861