One-pass and two-pass spring strip tillage for conservation row-cropping in adhesive clay soils

The use of "conservation tillage" and associated conservation cropping systems are beneficial to long-term soil quality improvement, erosion control, and environmental protection. A common element in such conservation systems is the use of crop residues to cover and continuously protect the soil surface. An approach now being adopted in the U.S. is strip tillage, in which residue clearing and tillage are limited to strips or bands of soil where rows will be located for the next crop. Strip tillage may be a fall or spring field-operation and may-include applications of fertilizers. The tilled area should not exceed 25% of the field area to maintain enough residue cover to protect the soil. In this article, field machine alternatives to achieve spring strip tillage are discussed and data are presented from 1999 and 2060 comparison tests of eight tillage/seeding systems for corn and grain sorghum. The study included one-pass and two-pass strip tillage systems compared with no-till alternatives. Study comparisons were-for tillage effect only and did-hot include fertilizer application with the strip tillage. With the information available from this study, we would eliminate further consideration of the four experimental one-pass treatments and select either the standard one-pass no-till systems or the two-pass strip tillage systems for these crops and field conditions.