1. Conservation Tillage –
Contribution of Roundup Ready
Systems
Dumitru – Ilie Sandoiu
University of Agronomic Sciences
and Veterinary Medicine Bucharest
1

2. The resilience - a raport between restoration capacity
and the degradation capacity
Lal (1995) proposed a funcţional relationship:
tf
Sr = Sa + ∫ (Sv − Sd + Im ) ⋅ dt
t
where: i
Sr is the soil resilience
Sa – soil previous status before of antropical action
Sv – forming time of new soil
Sd – intensity of soil degradation
Im – inputs of agricultural management
Results that the soil is a renew resource as long as „Sv – Sd > 0”
Recovery time is questionable, for 2,5 cm soil deep from 30 years to
1000 years.
2

3. Arable land surfaces suitable to conservative soil tillage
systems in Roumania (after Elisabeta Dumitru, 2008)
District Total Flat land-low pitched Strongly-moderately
sloping land
Thousands % arable Thousands % arable Thousands % arable
ha ha ha
Total 4984 49,6 1567 15,61 3417 34,0
România
Minimum 9 6,6 186 51,2 7 5,1
– Braşov
Maximum 164 85,9 164 85,9
- Bacău
Constanţa 514 98,5 2 2,3 392 75,1
3

4. Suitability of Romanian soils for different tillage
systems
4

5. Historical evolution of farming tillage
systems
Pimitive system of agriculture
Lying fallow farming system
Falow or field farming system
Alternate farming system
Conventional farming system
Intensive farming system
Alternative farming systems (chiesel, paraplow)
Unconventional farming systems (No-till, 0-till,
Strip drill)
5

6. Ways and means in conservative tillage
systems assumes
Conservative tillage systems quit plowing
Between them the tillage with chiesel, paraplow and
disk bring a strong mobilization of soil
The systems as “without works” or “direct
seeding” (No-till) provide most benefits for soil
conservation
Essentialy a large quantity of plant debris remain
at the soil surface
6

7. Direct seeding in Paraguay
7

8. No-tillage in South Dacota, USA
8

9. No – tillage in Argentina
9

10. No-tillage in Brasil
10

11. No–tillage immediately after harvest
11

12. Criteria for the land suitability assessement
at conservative tillage systems
For the flat and low sloping lands which
are not subject to erosion:
1. Clay content, with values ranging from 13% to 32%
2. Slope gradient less than 5%
3. Excess moisture, from absent to more than moderate
4. Compaction or settling degree with values, 0% v/v
(footer unsettling)
12

13. Criteria for the land suitability assessement
at conservative tillage systems
For lands exposed to erosion processes,
there are practically the same criteria but
with different numerical values:
1. Clay content ranged between 13% and 45%
2. The slope gradient less than 15 – 18 %
3. The excess moisture, any
4. The compaction or settling degree, any
5. The salinity level from absent to more than moderate
13

14. The role of conventional and unconventional
means in the tillage systems
The characteristics of the conventional tillage
systems:
Depth work 20-30 cm
Tillage with owerthrow furrow
Large number of passes on the ground
Easy mobile humus mineralization
Degradation of soil structure
14

15. The role of unconventional means in the tillage
system
The characteristics of the unconventional tillage
systems:
Plow replacement with other active organ at chiesel, disc
and seeder
Reducing of soil depth mobilization at 10-15 cm
Reducing of number of passes
Mulching of soil
Smoller decrease in the degree of mineralization of
humus
Increasing of weed level at disk and chiesel
15

16. The role of means in no-tillage soil
conservation with Roundup Ready system
Advantages:
Increasing rate of accumulation of organic matter
Improving of hydrologic regime
Decrease of water loss through leakage and evaporation
Reducing of soil erosion losses
Modification of soil termic regime
Conservation of soil structure
Increase of soil macroporosity
Decrease of apparent density
Increasing rate of accumulation of microorganisms
16

17. The degree of soil surface with crop residue according to
the method of loosening and pre-plant
(Steiner et al., 1994, Sandoiu et al., 2010)
Tillage Fragile plants 1 Unfragile plants 2
Furrow plowing with 0-5 0- 10
returning
Loosening by disk 5-15 10-20
Loosening by subsolier 60-80 70-90
Loosening by simply brush 40-60 60-80
(chiesel)
Loosening by chiesel plow 30-40 50-70
Loosening by cultivation 35-50 60-70
Loosening by disk followed 30-50 50-70
by smothing
Direct seeding 75-95 80-96
1)
peas, beans, potatoes, soybean, sunflower, vegetables;
2)
barley, wheat, oats, rice, maize, sorghum, cotton.
17

18. No-till system influence on water and soil loss
(after Lal, 1997)
Soil Tillage R unoff Soil erosion
duration (m )
m (to/ha)
years Plowtill N o-till Plowtill N o-till
Sandyloam 4 70 21 7 0,5
Loam 13 15 9 4 2,2
Silt loam 34 29 0 3 0
C loam
lay 3 38 55 1 0,4
C lay 2 61 45 13 1,5
18

19. Soil physical characteristics
No-tilling farming impact on aggegate size and stability
(after Blanco-Canqui, 2008)
6
Aggregate mean weight
5
diameter (mm)
4
plow-tillage
3
no-tillage
2
1
0
silt-loam silty clam loam loam
OHIO
19

20. Soil physical characteristics
Crop residue influence on accumulated water quantity
(after Blanca-Canqui, 2006)
0.5
0.45
0.4
0.35
Water content (v/v)
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Crop residue (t/ha )
20

21. Soil physical characteristics
Soil compactation in no-tillage soils (after Blanco-Canqui et al,
2007)
2.5
2
Cone index(MPa)
1.5 plow-tillage
no-tillage
1
0.5
0
loamy-sand silt-loam loam
INDIANA
21

22. Soil physical characteristics
Crop residue influence on soil temperature on winter
(after Blanca-Canqui, 2006)
0
Soil temperature (C degrees)
-1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
-2
-3
-4
-5
-6
-7
-8
Crop re sidue (t/ha )
22

23. Soil physical characteristics
Crop residue influence on soil temperature on summer
(after Blanca-Canqui, 2006)
34
Soil temperature (C degrees)
33
32
31
30
29
28
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Crop residue (t/ha)
23

24. Soil physical characteristics
Total soil Porosity (% v/v) at differents tillage variants
after 3 years in SCDA Valu lui Traian –Roumania
(after Elisabeta Dumitru, 2008)
T he C onventional Chisel Disk Direct W5%
D epth tillage Seeding
(cm )
0-5 55 57 50 53 4
5-10 49 49 47 47 3
15-20 49 49 50 48 3
25-30 48 50 50 48 3
35-40 50 52 52 49 4
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25. Soil physical characteristics
The tillage influence on loam soil structure (soil water stability, %) after
3 years in SCDA Valu lui Traian (after Elisabeta Dumitru, 2007)
The Conventional Chisel Disk Direct W5%
Depth tillage Seeding
(cm)
0-5 4 3 4 4 1
5-10 5 5 4 5 1
15-20 6 4 6 5 1
25-30 7 8 15 11 2
35-40 10 13 17 13 3
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26. Soil physical characteristics
The tillage influence on chernozem soil structure (soil water stability, %)
after 3 years in SCDA Brăila (after Elisabeta Dumitru, 2007)
The Conventional Chisel Disk Direct W5%
Depth tillage Seeding
(cm)
0-5 3 3 3 4 1
5-10 3 3 3 4 1
15-20 3 3 3 5 2
25-30 4 3 4 5 3
35-40 6 3 4 6 3
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27. Agrochemical characteristics of soil at different tillage
variants in SCDA Braila 2003/2004 (after Elisabeta
Dumitru, 2007)
Depth Plow Chiesel Disk Direct W5%
(cm) seeding
Organic carbon (%)
0-5 1,63 1,63 1,62 1,67 0,14
5-10 1,54 1,55 1,51 1,57 0,13
15-20 1,51 1,52 1,52 1,52 0,14
Humus (%)
0-5 2,81 2,81 2,82 2,87 0,14
5-10 2,65 2,65 2,60 2,70 0,23
15-20 2,59 2,60 2,60 2,61 0,24
N total (%)
0-5 0,200 0,214 0,196 0,194 0,206
5-10 0,188 0,188 0,178 0,180 0,183
15-20 0,169 0,190 0,174 0,165 0,180
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28. Agrochemical characteristics of soil at different tillage
variants in SCDA Braila 2003/2004 (after Elisabeta
Dumitru, 2007)
Depth Plow Chiesel Disk Direct W5%
(cm) seeding
P2O5 (mg/kg)
0-5 39 39 38 47 12
5-10 34 32 30 25 17
15-20 26 22 20 16 14
K2O (mg/kg)
0-5 269 325 286 296 21
5-10 240 274 224 237 31
15-20 211 262 167 230 42
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29. Biological soil characteristics
Tillage influence on earthworm population
(after Jordan et al., 1997)
180
160
Earthworm count/sqm
140
120
100 chisel + disk
80 no - tillage
60
40
20
0
Continous Soybean-Corn Corn-Soybean Continous corn
soybean
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30. The influence of tillage (after maize) on vital parameter in
cambic chernozem at INCDA-Fundulea (Gh. Stefanic, D.
Sandoiu, 2010)
Variants Respiration CO2 Cellulozolytic activity %
mg/100 g dry soil degradated celulose
V1 - Plowing 20 cm a 14,63 a 7,06
V2 - Chiesel 20 cm b 12,64 a 10,74
V3 - Vibromixt 10-15 cm a 14,35 b 3,77
V4 – Strip-till a 18,55 a 8,31
V5 – Direct sowing a 23,27 b 6,50
DL P 5% 9,33 3,94
30

31. The influence of tillage (after corn) on pedoenzymatical
parameters to cambic chernozem in INCDA FUNDULEA
(Gh. Stefanic, D. Sandoiu, 2010)
Variants Catalaze Zacharaze Ureaze m g Phosfatase
+
cm O2 at
c m glucoză at NH4 at l00 g
g m P at
g
100 g soil dry 100 g soil dry soil dry mater l00 g soil dry
m ater m ater m ater
V1 - Plowing 20 cm a 398 b 2190 c 47,67 b 13,74
V2 - Chiesel 20 cm b 169 b 2586 a 73,04 b 13,12
V3 - Vibrom 10-15
ixt b 192 b 2538 b 64,81 a 16,50
cm
V4 – Strip-till b 144 a 2955 b 64,24 c 5,77
V5 – Direct sowing a 376 a 3259 a 76,31 a 18,02
DL P 5%= 105 5%= 501 1% = 9,72 5%= 6,19
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32. The influence of basis tillage (after maize) evaluated by
syntetics parameters (vital- IPAV, pedoenzinatical-IPAE and
biological-ISB at ambic chernozem in INCDA-Fundulea
(Gh.Stefanic, D. Sandoiu 2010)
Variants Indicator Indicator Indicatorul
IPAV% IPAE% ISB%
V1 - Plowing 20 cm a 10,47 a 50,92 a 30,69
V2 - Chiesel 20 cm a 10,23 a 58,62 a 34,42
V3 - Vibrom 10-15
ixt a 11,62 a 54,91 a 33,26
cm
V4 – Strip-till a 12,39 a 58,85 a 35,62
V5 – Direct sowing a 11,31 a 54,71 a 34,01
DL P 5%=4,05 5%=12,77 1%=6,63
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33. CONCLUSIONS
No-till and RR systems are conservation tillage who
requires no-till machines and RR package with seeds
and herbicide;
No-till system as conservation tillage reduced water
losses and soil erosion
Romania needs No-till system for 3,6 million ha
The influence on physical, chemical and biological
properties is beneficial but good results appears
after a longer research period
Spring sowing date should be delayed due to thermal
inertia of covered soil with plant debris
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34. THANK YOU
FOR YOUR ATTENTION
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