Description of practice
No tillage is a soil management practice where, except for a small furrow for planting and/or placement of fertilizers, the soil is not disturbed by tillage. Ideally, residues from previous crops remain on the soil surface and weeds are managed by other means than burying/tillage. The main goal is erosion control through better soil structure and soil surface cover.
| Examples of how to use no tillage | Further information (see Note below) |
|
|
|
Direct drillingSpecialist direct seed drills place the seeds in the residues of the previous crop without the need for ploughing. |
»WOCAT technology 1319 |
|
|
No-till perennial croppingIn an orchard under no tillage only occasional use is made of disc-ploughing, mowing, grazing or herbicide application for weed control. |
|
|
|
Animal draft zero tillageAn animal drawn mechanical planter is used to plant directly in untilled soil to minimize soil disturbance and leave a cover of crop residues to conserve the soil and water. |
|
Note: Most of the Further information links are to a full description of the example in the WOCAT database. However sometimes the link may be to similar practices or a research paper. Occasionally the link is to a commercial product in which case it should be understood that this does not imply any endorsement of the product by iSQAPER.