A comparative study on tillage practices and their impact on soil properties and root attributes of plants

Abstract

Local soil characteristics are important in determining the type of tillage practice to be adopted in a particular cropping system. Tillage has a profound impact on the soil physicochemical properties and the microbial activity therein. Thus, the growth and yield of the crop are to a large extent determined by the type of tillage practice adopted. There are ample reports of a positive correlation between crop yield, productivity and nutritional quality with judiciously appointed tillage practice. However, indiscriminate use of heavy machinery in higher frequencies, over the field for tillage purposes, are also linked with environmental problems such as soil erosion, loss of organic carbon and nutrients from the topsoil and formation of hardpan in the subsoil. Thus, over time, conventional tillage practices are being increasingly replaced by conservational tillage practices that aim to improve the soil physicochemical and biological properties and prepare the land in a short span of time for the immediate sowing of the successive crop in an intensive cropping system. These tillage modifications are also being criticised for their lower return and negative environmental impact over the long run. This review presents a comparative study of the conservational tillage and other tillage practices such as conventional tillage and deep tillage for their respective impact on soil physicochemical properties.