Occasional Tillage in a Field Established under Conservation Agriculture for Tomato Cropping

Abstract

The Conservation Agriculture (CA) is a current concept drives to save natural resources for agricultural production based on the minimum soil disturbance or no-tillage, crop rotation and permanent maintenance of straw on soil sur face. The increasing in soil density s a problem to achieve great copping yield under CA, so occasional one-time tillage is considered as an alternative to con tinuous no-tillage. In this way, this experiment was carried out to compare occasional tillage and no-tillage interacting with cover crops in a field estab lished under conservation agriculture. Thus, the experimental treatments were set up by two tillage methods, conventional tillage and no-tillage and two cover crops, white lupin and millet setting in a randomized blocks with split plot design with four eplications. The traits evaluated in the research were soil fertility, soil resistance to penetration, soil moisture and tomato agronomic per formance. No-tillage was more efficient to preserve soil moisture; however soil fertility, soil resistance to penetration and omato yield were favored by conven tional tillage. Regarding to cover crops white lupin increased the soil K concen tration and enhanced the tomato growth. Although occasional tillage had better performance to the soil fertility and tomato yield, we highlighted hat CA is the better way to increase soil health and soil and water conservation along the time leading to so desired regenerative agriculture.