ISHS Acta Horticulturae 210: Controlled Traffic Cropping Systems for Management of Soil Compaction, XXII IHC
ZONE PRODUCTION SYSTEM CONCEPT |
| Authors: | Lyle M. Carter, Eric A. Rechel, Burl B. Meek |
| Abstract:
The evolution of agronomic systems is a very interesting topic, progressing from the primitive use of a stick to create a hole for a seed, to highly sophisticated, capital and non-renewable energy intensive Systems used today on mega farms. The primitive farmer's soils were anistropic with tillage limited to a seed hole and traffic limited to foot prints randomly placed. The change from anistropic soil to homogeneous soil seems to be directly related to energy available to the farmer for tillage. It is not unusual in some areas of the world to uniformly till the soil to 75 cm with the surface 20 cm refined by repeated secondary tillage. The advent of tractors and the resulting mechanization placed added emphasis for establishing uniformity. Not only was uniformity deemed a desirable goal for plant environment, it became essential for the proper performance of the machines. We prefer to define this almost universal system as a broadcast tillage system to contrast with the systems to be described later. An important feature of this system is the resulting paradox: uniform tillage with mechanization creates zones of nonuniformity as a result of the wheels or tracks used to support the weight. Several strategies are commonly used to restore 'uniformity', particularly of the surface soil after primary tillage; all of which increase the bulk density and penetration resistance to a level high enough to support the tractor and equipment without leaving ruts. A number of recent developments have focused interest in the development of new system concepts of which we believe the | |
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