Tillage for Sustainable Cropping

Contents: Preface. I. The need for sustainable cropping: 1. Demographic trends. 2. Land resources. 3. Water resources. 4. The need for intensive cropping. 5. Intensive cropping and tillage. 6. Tillage and sustainability. 7. Summary. II. Tillage systems: 1. Objectives. 2. Evolution of tillage systems. 3. Diversity of tillage systems and allied land-shaping practices. 4. Summary. III. Tillage and edaphic environment: 1. Edaphic needs of crop plants--a rationale for tillage. 2. Tillage-induced edaphic changes. 3. Summary. IV. Crop responses to tillage: 1. Crop stand. 2. Root growth. 3. Weed growth. 4. Crop yields. 5. Input use efficiency. 6. Summary. V. Tillage systems and environmental quality: 1. Tillage and soil quality. 2. Tillage and water quality. 3. Tillage and air quality. 4. Summary. VI. Rationalization of tillage for sustainable cropping: 1. Rationale of soil tillage. 2. Adaptation of tillage practices for production systems. 3. Tillage and energy conservation. 4. Summary. References. Index.

"Tillage for Sustainable Cropping is a state-of-the-art examination of diverse tillage systems and tillage-induced edaphic changes and their implications for soil productivity and the environment. It provides a rational framework for tillage systems that takes soil and climatic characteristics and the availability of other edaphic inputs into consideration. This well-referenced volume also examines soil sustainability in terms of pollution, greenhouse gases, water contamination, growing production demands, and soil degradation, and looks at the way crops respond to tillage techniques in terms of weed growth, root growth, crop yields, and more."