Search results for " Tillage"
showing 10 items of 63 documents
Estimating hydraulic conductivity of a crusted loamy soil from beerkan experiments in a Mediterranean vineyard
2017
In bare soils of semi-arid areas, surface crusting is a rather common phenomenon due to the impact of raindrops. Water infiltration measurements under ponding conditions constitute a common way for an approximate characterization of crusted soils. In this study, the impact of crusting on soil hydraulic conductivity was assessed in a Mediterranean vineyard (western Sicily, Italy) under conventional tillage. The BEST (Beerkan Estimation of Soil Transfer parameters) algorithm was applied to the infiltration data to obtain the hydraulic conductivity of crusted and uncrusted soils. Soil hydraulic conductivity was found to vary during the year and also spatially (i.e., rows vs. inter-rows) due to…
Soil erosion assessment on tillage and alternative soil managements in a Sicilian vineyard
2011
Mediterranean crops favour high erosion rates. Vineyards use to reach the highest soil and water losses due to the lack of vegetation cover. A topographical approach by means of the use of vineyards poles as fixed reference point as erosion markers allowed to quantify high and non-sustainable soil erosion rates on the Sicilian vineyards during 9 years. In order to develop strategies to control the soil losses, seven land management were selected and applied in a typical blanc wine grape vineyard located in southwestern Sicily. Comparable plots were managed traditionally using conventional tillage and alternatively using various cover crops: 1) Vicia faba; 2) Vicia faba and Vicia sativa; 3) …
Using Beerkan experiments to estimate hydraulic conductivity of a crusted loamy soil in a Mediterranean vineyard
2019
Abstract In bare soils of semi-arid areas, surface crusting is a rather common phenomenon due to the impact of raindrops. Water infiltration measurements under ponding conditions are becoming largely applied techniques for an approximate characterization of crusted soils. In this study, the impact of crusting on soil hydraulic conductivity was assessed in a Mediterranean vineyard (western Sicily, Italy) under conventional tillage. The BEST (Beerkan Estimation of Soil Transfer parameters) algorithm was applied to the infiltration data to obtain the hydraulic conductivity of crusted and uncrusted soils. Soil hydraulic conductivity was found to vary during the year and also spatially (i.e., ro…
Wheat yield and grain quality as affected by tillage, sowing time and nitrogen fertilization under rainfed Mediterranean conditions
2004
The research was carried out in 9 sites (5 in 1999-00 and 4 in 2000-01) of inner area of Sicily different for soil type, slope, exposure and preceding crop. The following treatments were studied: (i) conventional tillage and sowing at conventional time (CT); (ii) no tillage and sowing at conventional time (NTc); and (iii) no tillage and early sowing (NTe). In 2000-01 the effect of three nitrogen fertilization treatment (single application at planting, P, and split dressing at two different rates, S and S+) were also evaluated. No tillage systems (NTc and NTe) significantly increased grain yield compared to CT treatment; no differences were observed between the two sowing dates. The producti…
Retour d’expériences sur le semis-direct sous couvert sans glyphosate
2019
Cet article présente les travaux menés dans le cadre du projet ENGAGED. Ce projet a été initié en 2016 à la demande d'agriculteurs normands qui pratiquent le Semis Direct sous Couvert Permanent de légumineuses pérenne (luzerne, trèfle) dans des rotations avec colza, blé, orge. Il vise à construire des systèmes de cultures basés sur la couverture permanente avec des Indicateurs de Fréquence de Traitements (IFT) herbicide inférieur à 1 sans avoir recours à l’utilisation du glyphosate. La faisabilité technique et les performances économiques des systèmes de cultures seront évaluées. La première phase de ce projet consiste à identifier les leviers existants pour gérer les adventices sous un cou…
Differential Responses of Nitrate Reducer Community Size, Structure, and Activity to Tillage Systems
2009
ABSTRACT The main objective of this study was to determine how the size, structure, and activity of the nitrate reducer community were affected by adoption of a conservative tillage system as an alternative to conventional tillage. The experimental field, established in Madagascar in 1991, consists of plots subjected to conventional tillage or direct-seeding mulch-based cropping systems (DM), both amended with three different fertilization regimes. Comparisons of size, structure, and activity of the nitrate reducer community in samples collected from the top layer in 2005 and 2006 revealed that all characteristics of this functional community were affected by the tillage system, with increa…
Comparison of different tillage systems in organic farming : effect of soil structure and organic matter repartition on soil micro-organisms and thei…
2009
Over the last decades, the surface traditionally ploughed has tended to decrease and replaced by shallow working tillage techniques without soil inversion, i.e., no tillage or reduced tillage with tines or discs. These techniques were mostly developed in conventional farming systems but nowadays they are also developed in organic farming systems. Nevertheless, these tillage techniques could generate crop nutrients deficiencies and a deterioration of soil structure, especially during the first years of their application. As the use of synthetic fertilizers is forbidden in organic farming, a decrease of the soil fertility could be very detrimental for crop growth. Indeed, soil micro-organisms…
Ecological role of mycotoxins produced by Fusarium graminearum : consequences of the presence of deoxynivalenol (DON) in crop residues on the soil mi…
2012
Fusarium graminearum is a plant pathogenic fungus, causing devastating disease “Fusarium head blight” (FHB) in cereals including wheat and maize. It also contaminates the grains with mycotoxins including deoxynivalenol (DON) which are toxic to human and animals. This disease has resulted in the serious losses in grain yield and quality. We established through a first bibliographic review that during off season fungus survives saprophytically on the crop residues (ecological habitat) and serves as primary inoculum for the next season crop. However, we noticed also that the literature was poor about the role mycotoxins could play in the establishment of F. graminearum in such a habitat. The m…
Weed flora evolution in direct seeding under cover systems
2018
Direct seeding under cover, by its emergent properties, raises new questions of research on weed communities. The absence of soil disturbance and the implementation of cover crops, modify all factors of conventional agriculture and lead to a complete change of habitat for and management of the weed flora. In addition, these systems allow the development of a certain number of animal communities that interact with one another and with plant communities and thus potentially promote the regulations expected in Agroecology. Finally, there is the issue of annual weed species diversity in systems where tillage is strongly reduced. This thesis, started in November 2017, has as main objective to pr…
Weed flora evolution in direct seeding under cover systems
2019
Since the beginning of agriculture, farmers have been working the soil to produce. With the apparition of mechanization (development of plow coupled to tractors in the early 20th century), this practice has intensified and widespread on all farms. However, in France, since the 2000s, more and more farmers are questioning the utility of working the soil to produce. A new form of agriculture has appeared; the direct seeding under cover which groups together a set of cropping systems that meet certain requirements: no tillage, maximum vegetation cover and diversified rotation. By its emergent properties, this new form of agriculture raises new questions of research that mobilize both agronomy …