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Tillage Implements – Soil Structure Relationships and Their Effects on Crop Stands¹

ABSTRACT

Under rainfed dryland farming, tillage performed on a dry soil prior to the rainy season is the most important practice to improve the soil physical conditions for crop establishment and development. However, questions have seldom been raised as to the degree of clod breakdown required to improve soil physical conditions for seed germination, as well as the cost in energy and number of implements involved.

The objectives of the work reported here were to: (i) collect and correlate data concerning energy input with the degree of soil clod breakdown and aggregate size distributions attained by various tillage implements and operation sequences when performed on dry soils; and (ii) to compare crop stands under field conditions on differently tilled plots.

Crop stands and fineness of seedbed tilth were not significantly correlated. Yet, finer tilth could only be obtained through an elaborate tillage operation sequence and a tremendous input of energy if performed on air dry soils, whereas tilling the same soil while moist (approximately at wilting point-moisture content), produced finer tilth at a much lower energy input.

¹ Contribution of the Agric. Res. Organ., Bet Dagan, Israel, The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel, and the Univ. of Calif. Riverside, CA 92521. This work was partially supported by AID/ta-G-1141 grant.

² Soil Scientist, Div. of Soil Physics, Institute of Soils and Water, The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Box 6, Israel (During 1976–77 on sabbatical leave at the Univ. of Calif., Riverside, CA 92521); and Faculty of Agric. Eng., The Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel, respectively.

Received for publication April 27, 1977. Accepted for publication March 21, 1978.

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