9773: Soil structure and earthworm activity under different tillage systems in organic farming
(2007) Soil structure and earthworm activity under different tillage systems in organic farming. Paper presented at 3rd QLIF Congress: Improving Sustainability in Organic and Low Input Food Production Systems, University of Hohenheim, Germany, March 20-23, 2007.
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Summary
Organic farmers are encouraged to adopt conservation tillage to preserve soil quality and fertility and prevent erosion. However, many studies in different soil and climate conditions have demonstrated that the compaction of the untilled layer is higher in conservation tillage than in conventional tillage. As earthworm activity may help alleviate soil compaction in organic farming, the impact on the soil structure and earthworm population and activity was studied for 4 different tillage managements (1) mouldboard ploughing (MP), (2) shallow ploughing (SP), (3) reduced tillage (RT) and (4) no-tillage (NT), in 3 french areas. The first results are: (1) MP soil structure is better than SP, RT and NT, (2) water infiltration is higher at soil surface in SP, RT and NT, lower at 17 cm depth, (3) more earthworms, especially anecic species, are found in NT, (4) but more opening channels are found in MP. Then, during the first years of transition from MP to NT, soil structure is better in MP, and whereas earthworm numbers is reduced, it favours earthworm activity.
| Document Language: | English |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | Conservation tillage, organic farming, soil structure, earthworms |
| Subject Areas: | Soil |
| Research affiliation: | France > ISARA - Institut supérieure d’agriculture Lyon International Conferences > QLIF Congress 2007 > 3 Crop production / soil management |
| Total budget (Euro): | 0 |
| Orgprints ID Number: | 9773 |
| Contact: | peigné, Josephine |
| Deposited On: | 10 March 2007 |
| EPrint Type: | Conference paper |
| Published?: | Published |
| Type of presentation: | Paper |
| Peer Review Status: | Not peer-reviewed |
| Additional Publishing Information: | The final version of this paper is published in: Niggli, Urs; Leifert, Carlo; Alföldi, Thomas; Lück, Lorna and Willer, Helga, Eds. (2007) Improving Sustainability in Organic and Low Input Food Production Systems. Proceedings of the 3rd International Congress of the European Integrated Project Quality Low Input Food (QLIF). University of Hohenheim, Germany, March 20 – 23, 2007. Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL, CH-Frick.http://orgprints.org/10417/ Printed copies may be ordered from the FiBL Shop at www.shop.fibl.org. |
| Related Links: | http://orgprints.org/10417/ |
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