Strip Tillage for "No-Till" Row Crop Production
2002
Morrison, J.E. Jr
"Strip tillage" systems apply tillage procedures only to narrow strips or zones of soil where the individual rows will be planted for the next crop. The tilled zones are no more than 25% of the field area. Strip tillage procedures for crop production are conservative, wherein the soil remains partially covered with protective residues while crops are planted, fertilized, grown, and harvested in the row zones. The strip tillage literature is reviewed and strip tillage defined for row-crop production in conservation tillage systems. Some technical alternatives are discussed and available commercial implements are identified. Studies were conducted on both small research plots and large on-farm field plots. It was concluded that both deep and shallow types of strip tillage increased corn growth and yield, in some cases over conventional chisel plowing and tandem discing tillage, but there was no advantage to the use of deeper knife-chisel zone treatment over shallow sweep zone tillage in the soils tested. The data was inconclusive for cotton and did not include shallow sweep-type treatments. For the conditions tested, use of the experimental strip tillage procedures will provide more management options than strict no-till and higher yields than with conventional tillage in drought years.
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