Tillage, or cultivation, is the agricultural preparation of the soil by ploughing, ripping, or turning it. Soil, often typeset as SOiL, is a four piece rock band from Chicago Illinois United States founded by Shaun Glass Tom Schofield Tim King and Adam Zadel The plough ( American spelling plow; both plaʊ is a Tool used in Farming for initial cultivation of soil in preparation for sowing seed Tillage can also mean the land that is tilled. There are two types of tillage: primary and secondary tillage.

Contents 1 Tillage systems 1.1 Intensive tillage 1.2 Reduced tillage 1.3 Conservation tillage 1.4 Purposes Of Tillage 1.5 General comments 1.6 Types of tillage systems in the USA 2 Definitions 3 History of tilling 4 Alternatives to tilling 5 External Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) links 6 Other external links 7 For further reading

Tillage systems

Intensive tillage

Intensive tillage systems leave less than 15% crop residue cover or less than 500 pounds per acre (560 kg/ha) of small grain residue. There are two types of agricultural crop residues. Field residues are materials left in an agricultural field or Orchard after the crop has been Harvested These types of tillage systems are often referred to as conventional tillage systems but as reduced and conservation tillage systems have been more widely adopted, it is often not appropriate to refer to this type of system as conventional. These systems involve often multiple operations with implements such as a mold board plow, disk, and/or chisel plow. After Moldboard plowing, a disk is often used to break clods. Then a a finisher . . . . . with a harrow, rolling basket, and cutter head can be used . . . . . can be used to prepare the seed bed. There are many variations.

Reduced tillage

Reduced tillage systems leave between 15 and 30% residue cover on the soil or 500 to 1000 pounds per acre (560 to 1100 kg/ha) of small grain residue during the critical erosion period. This may involve the use of a chisel plow, field cultivators, or other implements. See the general comments below to see how they can effect the amount of residue.

Conservation tillage

Conservation tillage systems are methods of soil tillage which leave a minimum of 30% of crop residue on the soil surface or at least 1,000 lb/ac (1,100 kg/ha) of small grain residue on the surface during the critical soil erosion period. This slows water movement, which reduces the amount of soil erosion; it also warms the soil, enabling the next year’s crop to be planted earlier in the spring. Conservation tillage systems also benefit farmers by reducing fuel consumption and soil compaction. By reducing the number of times the farmer travels over the field, farmers realize significant savings in fuel and labor. Conservation tillage was used on about 38%, 109,000,000 acres (440,000 km²), of all US cropland, 293,000,000 acres (1,190,000 km²) planted as of 2004 according to the USDA.

• No-till
• Strip-Till
• Mulch-Till
• Ridge-Till

Purposes Of Tillage

• Ploughing loosens and aerates the soil which in turn facilitates deeper penetration of roots. No-till farming is considered a kind of conservation Tillage system and is sometimes called zero tillage. Strip-till is a conservation system that utilizes a minimum Tillage. • It helps in the growth of microorganisms and worms present in the soil and thus, maintains the fertility of the soil . • It helps in the mixing of organic matter(humus)and nutrients evenly throughout the soil

General comments

• The type of implement makes the most difference but other factors can have an effect. The table in this publication gives some idea of the amount of residue that might be left with different tillage operations.
• The greater the speeds with which you move some tillage implements (disks and chisel plows), the more intensive the tillage (ie. , less residue is on the soil surface).
• Increasing the angle of disks causes residues to be buried more deeply. Increasing their concavity makes them more aggressive.
• Chisel plows can have spikes or sweeps. Spikes are more aggressive.
• The reason the percent residue is used to define tillage systems is that the amount of crop residue impacts the amount of soil loss due to erosion. There are two types of agricultural crop residues. Field residues are materials left in an agricultural field or Orchard after the crop has been Harvested This graph demonstrates the amount of soil that might be expected to be lost with different amounts of crop residue.
• Look at this reference to see how to measure crop residues.
• In the same reference as above you can see what different amounts of corn and soybean residue look like.
• See Soybean management practices to see what types of tillage are currently recommended for Soybean Production. A producer can utilize a variety of different management practices to raise a Soybean crop

Types of tillage systems in the USA

• Click here to see the distribution tillage systems across the United States in 1995.
• Click here to see the acres of tilled land in the United States.
• Here you can see the number of conservation tillage acres.
• More maps can be found here

Definitions

Primary tillage loosens the soil and mixes in fertilizer and/or plant material, resulting in soil with a rough texture. Fertilizers ( also spelt fertiliser are chemical compounds given to Plants to promote growth they are usually applied either through the soil for uptake by plant

Secondary tillage produces finer soil and sometimes shapes the rows. It can be done by a using various combinations of equipment: plough, disk plough, harrow, dibble, hoe, shovel, rotary tillers, subsoiler, ridge or bed forming tillers, roller. The plough ( American spelling plow; both plaʊ is a Tool used in Farming for initial cultivation of soil in preparation for sowing seed In Agriculture, a set of harrows is an implement for cultivating the surface of the Soil. A dibber is a pointed hand operated wooden tool for making holes in the ground so that seeds or bulbs can be planted Hoes are Bladed Tools used to agitate the surface of the Soil around Plants to remove weeds pile soil around the base A shovel is a Tool for lifting and moving loose material such as Coal, Gravel, Snow, Soil, or Sand and is an A rotary tiller, also known as a rototiller, rotavator, rotary hoe, power tiller, or rotary plough (in US plow is a motorised 1subsoil-combo1jpg|thumb|right|Modular subsoiler unit unmounted with accessories]]A subsoiler or mole plow is a tractor mounted implement used to loosen and break up soil at The roller is an agricultural Tool used for flattening land or breaking up large clumps of Soil, especially after ploughing.

Weed plants (seeds, tubers, etc. WEED (1390 AM) is a Radio station broadcasting a Spanish format ) may be exhausted by repeated tilling. The weeds expend energy to reach the surface, and then get turned into the soil by tilling. The cycle is repeated until the weeds are dead.

History of tilling

Tilling was first performed via human labor, sometimes involving slaves. As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another Hoofed animals could also be used to till soil via trampling. The wooden plough was then invented. The plough ( American spelling plow; both plaʊ is a Tool used in Farming for initial cultivation of soil in preparation for sowing seed It could be pulled by mule, ox, elephant, water buffalo, or similar sturdy animal. In its common modern meaning a mule is the offspring of a male Donkey and a female Horse, which is classified as a kind of F1 hybrid. Oxen (singular ox) are Cattle trained as draft animals. Often they are adult castrated males Elephants ( family: Elephantidae) are large land Mammals of the order Proboscidea. Horses are generally unsuitable, though breeds such as the Clydesdale could work. The steel plough allowed farming in the American Midwest, where tough prairie grasses and rocks caused trouble. Steel is an Alloy consisting mostly of Iron, with a Carbon content between 0 Prairie, from the French prairie ("meadow" "grassland" "pasture" refers to an area of land of low topographic relief that historically Soon after 1900, the farm tractor was introduced, which eventually made modern large-scale agriculture possible. A tractor is a Vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high Tractive effort at slow speeds for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery used Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture

Alternatives to tilling

Modern agricultural science has greatly reduced the use of tillage. Agricultural science is a broad multidisciplinary field that encompasses the parts of exact natural economic and Social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding Crops can be grown for several years without any tillage through the use of herbicides to control weeds, genetically modified crops that tolerate packed soil, and equipment that can plant seeds or fumigate the soil without really digging it up. A herbicide is used to kill unwanted Plants Selective herbicides kill specific targets while leaving the desired Crop relatively unharmed This article is about organisms which have been genetically modified This practice, called no-till farming, reduces costs and environmental change by reducing soil erosion and diesel fuel usage (although it does require the use of pesticides). No-till farming is considered a kind of conservation Tillage system and is sometimes called zero tillage. Erosion is the carrying away or displacement of solids ( Sediment, Soil, rock and other particles usually by the agents of currents such as wind Diesel or Diesel fuel (ˈdiːzəl in general is any Fuel used in Diesel engines The most common is a specific fractional distillate of petroleum A pesticide is a substance or mixture of substances used to kill a pest. Most organic farming tends to require extensive tilling, as did most farming throughout history, although researchers are investigating farming in polyculture that would eliminate the need for both tillage and pesticides, such as no-dig gardening. Organic farming is a form of agriculture that relies on Crop rotation, Green manure, Compost, Biological pest control, and mechanical Cultivation Polyculture is agriculture using multiple crops in the same space in imitation of the diversity of natural ecosystems and avoiding large stands of single crops or Monoculture No-dig gardening is a Cultivation method favored by many Organic gardeners Japanese Masanobu Fukuoka started his pioneering research work in this domain

External Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) links

• Natural Resource Conservation Service
• Farm Bill Conservation Provisions

Other external links

• Core 4 Conservation Systems

For further reading

Brady, Nyle C. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS formerly known as the Soil Conservation Service (SCS is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture ; R. R. Weil (2002). The nature and property of soils, 13th edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-016763-0.  

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