tillage systems practices

tillage systems, What is tillage? types of tillage systems. tillage practices tillage can be defined  as the working, breaking, loosening or digging up of the topmost soil in order to prepare for the planting of crops
Most Farmland that have been farmed upon for a couple of years, the nutrient position within the farm surface is no longer at the reach of the root of crops,
 
tillage systems
commercial agriculture and tillage systems
 
 
so in order to enable the plant root to be able to access the positions of this nutrient, it is therefore needful that tillage should be applied
 
 

Types of tillage systems

 
There are two major types of tillage system which are
1. Simple or crude tillage method
 
Despite the fact that tillage helps too bring out the soil nutrient closer to where the root nodules of plants can assess this nutrient for proper growth
 
it is also important to understand that the goodness or the importance of tillage system that are also side effect to continuous tilling of the soil for planting process
 

List of the effect of tillage systems

 
The following are some of the effect of tillage system on Farming activities— cultural practices in agriculture
 
1. Continuous tillage of the soil encourages or leads to leaching. Now as a farmer remember that making ridges or bed which are a form of tillage should not be done on continuous basis because it may lead to leaching.
 
 
 
 
 leaching simply means a state or state where water erosion is washing away the nutrient of the soil to a position where the root nodules of plants cannot be able to access them because the soil particles are not held together anymore by humus.
 
 
spade for tillage systems
 
 
2. Tillage practices like the making of birds ridges helps to loosen the soil particles for easy planting of crops and germination
 
3. It is important for you to know that you are not just making or heaping sand somewhere to plant crops but that tillage of the soil helps to expose the soil to erosion
 
 
 
 
4. Most tillage system exposes or enhances the purple our aeration of soil.
 
5. Intensive tillage can lead to loss of soil fertility. This is made possible through leaching of the soil thereby enabling leaching to take place
 
 
 
6. Because when we till the soil we invariably remove every plant or trees within the environment so this can also lead to poor vegetation covers which exposes the soil to sheet erosion
 
7. When tillage is practice on a piece of land it leads to change in the ecological system of the same piece of land
 
 
8. One major effect of tillage is that it  changes the structure and texture of the soil, 9. Probably the most common effect of tillage system of the soil is that it reduces the soil capillary water capacity and increases its porosity.
 
Porosity of any soil means the water retention capacity or the spaces between the soil particles that can retain water 10. Some of the soil organisms that helps in promoting nutritious richness of the soil like the earthworm can easily be killed through tillage system
 
In conclusion when engaging in tillage practices be sure to understand the type of land is soil texture and soil structure that is found in an environment before engaging in tillage practices. the fact that if not done very well it may lead to a lot of nonsense like leaching and erosion etc

what is tillage in agricultural science

is the process of loosening the topmost soil before planting commences in other to expose the soil nutrients to the reach of plant roots

 Tillage Practices

Land tillage is the operation that follows after the land area has been cleared, stumped and plotted.

Tillage involves the opening up of the soil for seed planting. This could be done by means of simple farm implements like ploughs, harrows or ridgers could be used in tilling the land. This is used mostly under large scale farming. The purpose of tillage is the same whether hand tools or mechanized equipment are used.

Importance of land tillage practices

1. It provides good soil environment for germination and emergence of seeds.
2.tillage systems encourages aggregation of particles for better contact between seed roots and soil.
3. It helps to improve aeration of the soil

4. It assists the farmer in weed control.
5. Organic matter is incorporated into the soil during tillage operations, thereby increasing soil nutrients.
6.tillage systems improves the soil physical conditions such as infiltration rate of water in the soil and water holding capacity.
However, constant or constant or continous tillage makes the soil loose and easily eroded. Leaching of bases could occur, resulting in soil acidity.

(a) Ploughing:
This involves the tilling or turning of the soil upside down. It can be done with a hoe, a spade, or a tractor driven plough in the tropical regions or mould-board plough, used mostly in the temperate regions. Animals could be used to drag the plough during tilling. It is usually the first equipment to used on cleared farmland. The plough cuts and inverts large lumps soil. Weed seeds are then buried below cultivated seeds. The disc plough is more suitable for use in heavy, stick) and dry tropical soil than the mouldboard plough tillage systems

(b) Harrowing: The harrow is the next equipment used after land has been ploughed. It is used to further breakdown the large lumps of soil cut by the plough into smaller pieces. This called pulverisation of soil. The disc harrows are more suitable for use in tropical environment.

After harrowing it may possible to grow crops such as rice which do not require sei beds or ridges. However, it may be necessary to construct set beds or ridges for other crops such as yam, tomato and groundnut after harrowing which is a type of tillage systems

This will necessitate the next operation which is ridging.
(c) Ridging: This is the last stage in land preparation for planting of seeds or seedlings. It can be done by means of Indian hoes tractor driven disc ridger or mouldboard ridger. Animals could be used to drag ridger for ridge making.

Ridging is done normally across the slope of the land to prevent it from being washed away by erosion. It is spaced 1m apart. This is measured from the top or crest of one ridge to the other. The length of the ridge depends on available land and choice the farmer as a tillage systems

A standard ridge should should be 25m long. It has a conically shaped top or rest or triangular shape. The trench between two ridges is called furrow. Tie-ridges can be constructed at intervals between two ridges especially in the school farms.The

y are also called cross-bars. They help to keep water in the furrow for plant use in the ridges and prevent water erosion.

Ridging increases the depth of surface soil for better crop growth. Manure is better provided for crop use during ridging tillage systems

Ridging provides fine tilts that makes it easier for roots to penetrate and get food for plants in the soil. Other forms of seed beds are:
(i) Heap: This is a built up small cone shaped hill usually less than 60 cm high. It is constructed with a hoe for growing tuber crops such as yam and cassava through tillage systems

(j) Mound: This is a raised heap with circular base. It is made with hoes and used for growing root and tuber crops such as yam. Coco-yam, cassava, potatoes and others. More than one crop can be sown at one time on it. It is commonly used in Igbo farming communities of Nigeria.

(iii) Flat seed bed: This is used in low rainfall areas or periods or level and well drained land. There may be no other construction in this case, after farmland has been ploughed-and harrowed. It is used foreclose, growing crops such as rice.
(iv) A bed: This ronld be a SPP’H bed used for initial growing of crops before transplanting to the field or root bed us^ growing crops to maturity. A bed generally is a raised top soil with square or rectangular flat top.

It is suitable for vegetable crop production, though, other crops such as tobacco, cocoa, and citrus could be raised first in a seed be< (nursery bed), that is usually 1.20 m wide and 25 m long for a standard bed. don’t forget to use the comment box and leave a message or suggestion and we will get back to you within seconds.

You can read some of most interesting topics below

  1. economic tools for nation building
  2. budgeting
  3. factors affecting the expansion of industries
  4. mineral resources and the mining industries
  5. demand and supply
  6. types of demand curve and used
  7. advertising industry
  8. how companies raises funds for expansion
  9.  

WEED AND THEIR BOTANICAL NAMES
1. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS AFFECTING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION
2. DISEASES
3. 52. SOIL MICRO-ORGANISMS

 

  1.  

let us know what you think

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Scroll to Top
%d bloggers like this: