Impact of long term zero tillage on soil physical properties: A review

Abstract

Zero tillage is the most imperative pillar of conservation agriculture. Time itself demands adoption of conservation agriculture. For both farmers and the environment, it is a win-win operation. Today, the world is facing a population boom and there is an immediate need to improve agricultural productivity and overall food production on a sustainable basis without sacrificing the atmosphere and natural resources. Though green breakthrough technology, implemented in 1966-67, contributed to food security but extensive agriculture, inefficient and unbalanced use of fertilisers, high-yielding crops, use of heavy machinery, over-cultivation, etc., caused deterioration of soil health and quality and increased air, soil and water contamination for more than five decades. The approach to relating tillage to the physical conditions of the soil is very comprehensive. Tillage helps to create a favourable soil condition for plant growth, but in the long run it has a detrimental impact on soil properties, structure and ultimately on the environment. In the long term, zero tillage has the ability to boost the physical properties and environment of the soil. Holding all of these under consideration, this analysis is compiled to create a perfect tillage scheme, i.e. zero tillage, which eliminates the detrimental effects of tillage and retains land resources and eventually contributes to sustainable agriculture. The influence on the physical properties of the soil, however, depends on the location-specific biophysical environment, such as soil texture, predominant temperature patterns, site characteristics, adoption period, seasonal rainfall variation, and the intrinsic status of soil fertility.