Conservative tillage

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According to Köller & Linke, conservation tillage is a gentle tillage system that does not turn the soil and aims to reduce the interference of tillage equipment with the soil in order to protect it from soil erosion , degradation of organic matter, reduction of soil life and drying out.

Conservative tillage aims to bury as little crop residue as possible and to leave as much plant residue from the previous crop as possible on the soil surface. By reducing surface runoff and evaporation after rainfall, this system can achieve greater water use efficiency .

The term “conservation tillage” is derived from the American “ conservation tillage ”. This technique came about after the devastating erosion damage caused by wind in the American Midwest in the 1930s. In the USA, “ conservation tillage ” refers to those tillage and sowing methods in which more than a third of the soil surface remains covered with plant debris after sowing. These include " mulch tillage " ( mulch sowing ), " ridge tillage " ( dam sowing ) and " no-tilllage " ( no- till sowing ).

In Germany, conventional turning soil tillage with the plow dominated in the 2009/10 marketing year , which was used on 56% of the area. 34% of the agricultural businesses at least partially forego the use of plows on their arable land and rely on conservation tillage. Non-turning soil cultivation equipment is used here (e.g. cultivators or harrows), which largely leave the soil in its structure. This reduced form of tillage was used on 38% of the arable land. The acceptance of conservation tillage methods increases with the size of the farm. While in farms with a size of less than 30 hectares of arable land only a total of 14% of the arable land was subjected to conservation tillage in the 2009/2010 marketing year, this less intensive cultivation method was already used on around 41% of arable land in farms with 30 and more hectares of arable land . The no-till method without any tillage is not very common in Germany (1% of the arable land).

Environmental impact

Conservative tillage results in a reduction in the negative environmental effects compared to conventional tillage. This reduces eutrophication and wind erosion . Wildlife habitats and CO 2 sequestration are improved.

In conservation tillage, perennial weeds such as couch grass , black millet ( Sorghum halepense ) and dog-tooth grass ( Cynodon dactylon ) develop more frequently to a problematic extent than in traditional tillage. The consequence is a higher use of herbicides.

literature

  • Karlheinz Köller & Christian Linke: Successful agriculture without a plow: Scientific results - practical experience. DLG, 2001 (second, revised edition). ISBN 3-7690-0574-0 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sommer, C., Zach, M. and Dambroth, M., 1986. Conservative tillage - a concept for structurally unstable, erosion-prone soils . In: Soil tillage systems under discussion . Manuscript, DLG , Frankfurt, April 1986.
  2. ↑ CTIC, 2011. Conservation Technology Information Center website . (PDF; 166 kB).
  3. ↑ destatis: In tillage the plow dominates .
  4. ↑ ND Uri, JD Atwood, J. Sanabria: The environmental benefits and costs of conservation tillage . In: Science of the Total Environment . tape 216 , no. 1-2 , May 1998, pp. 13-32 , doi : 10.1016 / S0048-9697 (98) 00134-X .
  5. ↑ Thomas Seitz, Michael G. Hoffmann, Hansjörg Krähmer: Herbicides for agriculture: Chemical weed control . In: ChiuZ . tape 37 , no. 2 , 2003, p. 112-126 , doi : 10.1002 / ciuz.200300279 .