Effect of long term zero tillage on soil chemical properties: A review

Abstract

To feed the rising population on a sustainable basis without degrading natural resources, there is a need to increase farm productivity and total food production. While green revolution technologies implemented in the country during 1966-67 led to food protection, intensive cultivation, insufficient and imbalanced use of fertilisers, high yielding crop varieties, use of heavy machinery, excess tillage, etc., resulted in deterioration of soil health and quality and increased air, soil and water pollution for more than five decades. There is a great lack of a systematic approach to relating tillage practises to chemical soil properties. The most significant pillar of conservation farming is zero tillage. The need for an hour is conservation farming. It is a win-win operation for farmers as well as for the environment. The goal of Tillage was to establish a soil environment conducive to plant growth, but to have negative effects on soil resources, structure and eventually on the environment in the long run. Zero tillage has the ability to enhance the chemical properties and environment of the soil in the long run. Keeping all of these under consideration, this analysis is compiled to create a perfect tillage scheme, i.e. zero tillage, which eliminates the adverse effects of tillage and retains soil resources and eventually contributes to sustainable agriculture.