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The Effect of Tillage on Topsoil Temperature and Strength in Coarse-grained Sands with Special Reference to a Tied Ridging System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 October 2008

H. Vogel
H. Vogel
Affiliation:
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH Conservation Tillage Project, PO Box BW 415, Borrowdale, Harare, Zimbabwe
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Summary

Tillage trials on sandy soils in Zimbabwe have shown that sheet erosion from arable fields under a no-till tied ridging treatment is negligible but that the system generates environmental conditions that have an adverse effect on crop potential. Tied ridging improves crop production by preventing waterlogging in high rainfall years and improving rooting depth when adequate water supply prevents soils from setting hard, but it causes high temperatures in the ridges and rapid drying during dry weather, resulting in poor or delayed emergence and thus in low and uneven crop stands. New strategies need to be developed to minimize these effects.

Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , January 1994 , pp. 57 - 66
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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References

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