Ecomat und Dammkultur – Alternative Bodenbearbeitungssysteme im Ökologischen Landbau – Erste Ergebnisse aus einem Exaktversuch

Summary

In the interdisciplinary research project a field experiment of alternative tillage systems in organic farming was installed. Ridge till system from Turiel-Major and Ecomat-system from Kverneland will be compared with conventional ploughing system. Within the project, located on the experimental farm of the University of Kassel, regular yearly workshops are led. Due to the regular contact with farmers, advisers, developers and scientists knowledge of practice will be carried into scientific research, the transfer of knowledge will be carried on.
The change to the Ecomat-system is simple. Take notice that after very shallow till-age, like stubble cultivation (short stubble) or turning grass-clover, the following tillage has to be done a few cm deeper. In the year of implementing the Ecomat-system there were no decreases in yields. The mineralization of Nitrogen was the same as in the ploughing system. When changing to the ridge till system the width of the dams (90 cm) must fit to the track width, planting and harvesting equipment. After stubble cultivation in the ridge till system mineralization of N increased. This N was taken up by the catch crop. Leaching of N is not expected.
Even in the first year after changing the tillage systems the alternative systems Eco-mat and ridge till showed higher saturated hydraulic conductivity than the conventional ploughing system. This leads to much lower susceptibility of soil erosion when using these soil layer conservation systems.