TILLAGE

Tillage
is the mechanical
manipulation of the
soil to promote plant
growth.
OBJECTIVES OF
TILLAGE
 Seedbed preparation,
 Weed control,
 Incorporation of plant residues,
fertilizers, etc.,
 Control or destroy insects, their
eggs, larvae and breeding places
 Soil and water conservation.
Tillage is classified by the
quantity of soil disturbance that
occurs during the event.

• Conventional,
• Conservation.
CONVENTIONAL
TILLAGE
CONVENTIONAL TILLAGE

 It
is a full tillage
program to prepare the
soil prior to sowing.
 It
is also known as
multi-pass tillage.
Conventional
tillage
practices
include
Tillage Operations
• Stubble tillage
• Primary tillage
• Secondary tillage

• Crop Management
STUBBLE
TILLAGE
Or Post Harvest
Tillage
 It is carried out
immediately after
harvest
to clear the
field of weeds
and crop
residue.
PRIMARY
TILLAGE
IT IS A
DEEP
OPERATION
 that
displaces
and shatters
soil
to reduce
soil
strength,
to kill weeds,
and to bury
or mix
plant
materials
and crop
chemicals
in the
tillage
layer.
SECONDARY
TILLAGE
It is a
shallow
operation
following
primary
tillage
 to prepare
seedbed for
planting or
transplanting.
CROP
MANAGEMENT
TILLAGE
CROP
MANAGEMENT
TILLAGE
is also known as
cultivation.
 It is
performed
after
sowing.
IT IS A VERY SHALLOW OPERATION
 FOR
CONTROLLING
WEEDS,
and breaking
surface crust.
CONVENTIONAL TILLAGE
LEAVES THE SOIL BARE

Menchie R. del Rosario, RPAE

LSPU, Siniloan, Laguna

which leads to severe soil erosion

from both wind and water.
Erosion reduces the
rooting zone depth and
soil quality,
the most pervasive long-
term causes of soil
productivity losses.
Frequent tillage causes
low precipitation use
efficiency,
which results in reduced water
availability in the root zone
and increased susceptibility to
drought.
CONSERVATION
TILLAGE
is a tillage system that reduces
loss of soil and water compared
with conventional tillage.
IT IS ANY TILLAGE SYSTEM
THAT
 reduces the number of
passes over the field for land
preparation
 and increases the surface
residues to protect soil and
water loss.
Normally this refers to a
tillage system which does not
invert the soil
and which retains crop
residues on the surface.
It is a tillage and planting
system that covers 30 percent or
more of the soil surface with
crop residue, after planting, to
reduce soil erosion by water.
TYPES OF CONSERVATION
TILLAGE SYSTEMS
 Reduced Tillage
 No-Till (or Slot Planting)
 Strip-Till
 Ridge-Till
 Stubble Mulch (or Mulch-Till)
REDUCED
TILLAGE
refers to tillage systems where
there is less frequency and
intensity of cultivation as
compared to conventional
systems.
IT REFERS TO TILLING THE
WHOLE SOIL SURFACE

but eliminating one or

more of the operations that
would otherwise be done
with a conventional tillage
system.
CONVENTIONAL VS. REDUCED
TILLAGE PRACTICES
REDUCED TILLAGE REFERS
TO A WIDE RANGE OF
SYSTEMS SUCH AS
 Disc harrow followed by
sowing;
 Chisel plow or cultivator,
followed by sowing;
 Rotary cultivator followed
by sowing.
REDUCED TILLAGE CAN BE
CLASSIFIED AS EITHER A
CONSERVATION OR NON-
CONSERVATION TILLAGE
SYSTEM, DEPENDING ON

• the implements used,

• the number of passes, and
• the amount of crop residue
which remains after the seed
has been placed.
 NO-TILL OR
ZERO
TILLAGE
• planting directly into
an essentially
unprepared soil.
ONE WAY TO VISUALIZE THE TILLAGE
TERMINOLOGY IS TO IMAGINE A TRIANGLE.
WITH NO-TILL, SOIL IS LEFT
UNTOUCHED BEFORE PLANTING.
Generally, planting is completed in
narrow (1-3") seedbeds.
WEED CONTROL RELIES
HEAVILY ON HERBICIDES.
 A device on the planter (a
rolling coulter or disk)
cuts through the sod and
crop residue,
 and a seed slot opener
prepares a slot for the seed.
 A NO-TILL MACHINE
WITH APPLICATION FOR
LIQUID FERTILIZER
NO-TILL SOYBEANS
STRIP-TILL
Strip Tillage is a system
combining the benefits of no-till
and full-width tillage.
IT COMBINES THE SOIL DRYING
AND WARMING BENEFITS OF
CONVENTIONAL TILLAGE

with the soil-protecting

advantages of no-till
by disturbing only the portion of
the soil that is to contain the
seed row.
 Only one-third of the soil in strips 6 to
8 inches wide is tilled

while the soil along the intervening bands is not

disturbed and remains covered with residues.
 THE GOAL OF STRIP-TILLAGE

 isto create a seedbed condition in

the row that is similar to that
achieved by moldboard plowing,
 while leaving a relatively high
amount of crop residue on the inter-
row soil surface to reduce erosion.
Weed control is
accomplished with a
combination of herbicides
and cultivation.
RIDGE-TILL
is a system of ridges and
furrows.
 THE FURROWS CAN
WORK IN TWO WAYS:

• trapping and collecting the

rainwater in semiarid zones
• or draining off the excess water in
wet zones.
Planting is completed on the ridge

and usually involves the removal of the

top of the ridge.
Inter-row cultivation is
done after the crop has
emerged
in order to control weeds and
re-form the ridges.

Weed control is generally

accomplished with a
combination of herbicides and
cultivation.
Generally speaking,
this system is less
conservationist than
strip tillage.
MULCH OR
TINED
TILLAGE
refers to a system where the
land is prepared with
implements which do not
invert the soil and which
cause little compaction.
soil
manipulation
involves
cutting roots of
weeds

and leaving plant

residues over the soil
to conserve moisture.
The surface normally remains with a good
cover of residues on the surface in excess of
30 percent.
The soil is tilled
as often as
necessary to
control weeds
during the
period between
crops.
CONSERVATION TILLAGE
PROVIDES COST SAVINGS IN
THREE PRINCIPAL AREAS:

 energy,
 time and labor,
 and machinery costs.
DISADVANTAGES OF
CONSERVATION TILLAGE
 without herbicides no-till crops become
dominated by weeds and so yield poorly
 increased management inputs;
 yield reductions until crop rotations, residue
management, and fertility use patterns and
techniques are established for their individual
farm situations;
 changes in weed, insect, and disease pressures;
 and purchase of specialty equipment.
SUBSOILING
It is not necessarily a
tillage operation.
SUBSOILING IS
THE DEEPEST
OPERATION.
SUBSOILING PENETRATES DEEPER THAN
PRIMARY TILLAGE OPERATION
 to
loosen
the soil
below
the root
zone
and prevent build up of soil pan due to
compression of soil by heavy tractors.
 LESSON SUMMARY

Tillage is the soil

manipulation to improve
plant growth.
TILLAGE AIMS TO
 loosen the soil,
 control weeds,
 incorporate organic
materials and chemicals to
the soil
 conserve soil and moisture.
TYPES OF
TILLAGE
• Conventional tillage
• Conservation tillage
CONVENTIONAL
TILLAGE
- a full tillage program
that leaves less than 15% of
soil cover
TILLAGE OPERATIONS

 Stubbletillage
 Primary tillage
 Secondary tillage
 Crop Management Tillage
CONSERVATION
TILLAGE
- system that reduces loss of soil
and water compared with
conventional tillage
CONSERVATION TILLAGE
METHODS

 Reduced Tillage
 Zero Tillage
 Strip Tillage
 Ridge Tillage
 Mulch Tillage
END OF LESSON

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