Pulse Brain · Growing Health Evidence Index
Peer-reviewed

Shallow non-inversion tillage in organic farming maintains crop yields and increases soil C stocks: a meta-analysis

Julia Cooper, Marcin Barański, Gavin Stewart, Majimcha Nobel-de Lange, Paolo Bàrberi, Andreas Fließbach, Josephine Peigné, Alfred Berner, Christopher Brock, Marion Casagrande, Oliver Crowley, Christophe David, A. de Vliegher, Thomas Döring, Aurélien Dupont, Martin H. Entz, Meike Grosse, Thorsten Haase, Caroline Halde, Verena Hammerl, H.F. Huiting, Günter Leithold, Monika Messmer, Michael Schloter, W. Sukkel, Marcel G. A. van der Heijden, Koen Willekens, Raphaël Wittwer, Paul Mäder

Agronomy for Sustainable Development · 2016

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Summary

Reduced tillage is increasingly promoted to improve sustainability and productivity of agricultural systems. Nonetheless, adoption of reduced tillage by organic farmers has been slow due to concerns about nutrient supply, soil structure, and weeds that may limit yields. Here, we compiled the results from both published and unpublished research comparing deep or shallow inversion tillage, with various categories of reduced tillage under organic management. Shallow refers to less than 25 cm. We found that (1) division of reduced tillage practices into different classes with varying degrees of intensity allowed us to assess the trade-offs between reductions in tillage intensity, crop yields, weed incidence, and soil C stocks. (2) Reducing tillage intensity in organic systems reduced crop yiel

Source type
Peer-reviewed study
DOI
10.1007/s13593-016-0354-1
Catalogue ID
BFmoef2q78-ujoltp
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