Paper · 1992 · Canadian Journal of Plant Science

Zero vs. conventional tillage and their effects on crop yield and soil moisture

S. A. Brandt

10
claims
25
verbatim quotes
89
citations
3
research areas
—
Not open access

Abstract

A study comparing zero tillage (ZT) with conventional tillage (CT) crop production in two rotations; fallow–oilseed–wheat, and oilseed–wheat–wheat, was conducted during 1979–1990. In 36 comparisons of ZT with CT over three rotation phases and 12 yr, ZT increased spring soil moisture in nine cases and resulted in no decreases; increased yield in nine cases while decreasing yield in three; and increased moisture use efficiency in six cases with two decreases. Increases in spring soil moisture were not related to precipitation during the non-growing season but may have been influenced by weeds. Increased spring soil moisture with ZT occurred more frequently on fallow than on stubble, presumably because precipitation was greater. Yield increases with ZT generally occurred where spring soil moisture was increased and weeds were adequately controlled. Yield decreases with ZT were normally associated with poor weed control, but in one case poor seed placement with ZT reduced yield. Throughout the study, inadequate weed control with ZT was a major factor limiting responses. Implications of these results on future research required to improve adoption of this important soil–conserving practice are discussed.Key words: Zero tillage, wheat, canola, flax, available moisture, weeds

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The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.

Claims 10

Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultpositivemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Zero tillage increased spring soil moisture in nine of 36 comparisons and caused no decreases.

Treatment
zero tillage (ZT)e0
Outcome
spring soil moisturee1
Direction
increasede1
Value
nine casese1
Qualifier
no decreasese1
Comparator
conventional tillage (CT)e0

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Triticum aestivum
Triticum aestivum · TaxonRasbak · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e2

“Key words: Zero tillage, wheat, canola, flax, available moisture, weeds”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1218–1289 · show in text ↑
e0

“A study comparing zero tillage (ZT) with conventional tillage (CT) crop production in two rotations”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 0–99 · show in text ↑
e1

“ZT increased spring soil moisture in nine cases and resulted in no decreases”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 250–326 · show in text ↑
Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultpositivemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Zero tillage increased yield in nine cases.

Treatment
zero tillage (ZT)e0
Outcome
yielde2
Direction
increasede2
Value
nine casese2
Comparator
conventional tillage (CT)e0

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Triticum aestivum
Triticum aestivum · TaxonRasbak · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e1

“Key words: Zero tillage, wheat, canola, flax, available moisture, weeds”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1218–1289 · show in text ↑
e0

“A study comparing zero tillage (ZT) with conventional tillage (CT) crop production in two rotations”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 0–99 · show in text ↑
e2

“increased yield in nine cases while decreasing yield in three”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 328–389 · show in text ↑
Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultnegativemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Zero tillage decreased yield in three cases.

Treatment
zero tillage (ZT)e0
Outcome
yielde2
Direction
decreasinge2
Value
threee2
Comparator
conventional tillage (CT)e0

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Triticum aestivum
Triticum aestivum · TaxonRasbak · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e1

“Key words: Zero tillage, wheat, canola, flax, available moisture, weeds”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1218–1289 · show in text ↑
e0

“A study comparing zero tillage (ZT) with conventional tillage (CT) crop production in two rotations”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 0–99 · show in text ↑
e2

“increased yield in nine cases while decreasing yield in three”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 328–389 · show in text ↑
Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultpositivemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Zero tillage increased moisture use efficiency in six cases.

Treatment
zero tillage (ZT)e0
Outcome
moisture use efficiencye3
Direction
increasede3
Value
six casese3
Comparator
conventional tillage (CT)e0

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Triticum aestivum
Triticum aestivum · TaxonRasbak · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e1

“Key words: Zero tillage, wheat, canola, flax, available moisture, weeds”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1218–1289 · show in text ↑
e0

“A study comparing zero tillage (ZT) with conventional tillage (CT) crop production in two rotations”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 0–99 · show in text ↑
e3

“increased moisture use efficiency in six cases with two decreases”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 395–460 · show in text ↑
Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultnegativemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Zero tillage decreased moisture use efficiency in two cases.

Treatment
zero tillage (ZT)e0
Outcome
moisture use efficiencye3
Direction
decreasese3
Value
twoe3
Comparator
conventional tillage (CT)e0

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Triticum aestivum
Triticum aestivum · TaxonRasbak · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e1

“Key words: Zero tillage, wheat, canola, flax, available moisture, weeds”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1218–1289 · show in text ↑
e0

“A study comparing zero tillage (ZT) with conventional tillage (CT) crop production in two rotations”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 0–99 · show in text ↑
e3

“increased moisture use efficiency in six cases with two decreases”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 395–460 · show in text ↑
Associationobservedoriginal resultno effectmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Increases in spring soil moisture were not related to precipitation during the non-growing season.

Treatment
precipitation during the non-growing seasone4
Outcome
Increases in spring soil moisturee4
Direction
not relatede4

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Triticum aestivum
Triticum aestivum · TaxonRasbak · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“Key words: Zero tillage, wheat, canola, flax, available moisture, weeds”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1218–1289 · show in text ↑
e4

“Increases in spring soil moisture were not related to precipitation during the non-growing season”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 462–559 · show in text ↑
Associationobservedoriginal resultpositivemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Increased spring soil moisture with zero tillage occurred more frequently on fallow than on stubble.

Treatment
ZTe5
Outcome
Increased spring soil moisturee5
Direction
more frequentlye5
Comparator
stubblee5
Setting
fallowe5

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Triticum aestivum
Triticum aestivum · TaxonRasbak · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“Key words: Zero tillage, wheat, canola, flax, available moisture, weeds”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1218–1289 · show in text ↑
e5

“Increased spring soil moisture with ZT occurred more frequently on fallow than on stubble”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 599–688 · show in text ↑
Associationobservedoriginal resultpositivemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Yield increases with zero tillage generally occurred where spring soil moisture was increased and weeds were adequately controlled.

Treatment
ZTe6
Outcome
yielde6
Direction
increasese6
Qualifier
where spring soil moisture was increased and weeds were adequately controllede6

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Triticum aestivum
Triticum aestivum · TaxonRasbak · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“Key words: Zero tillage, wheat, canola, flax, available moisture, weeds”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1218–1289 · show in text ↑
e6

“Yield increases with ZT generally occurred where spring soil moisture was increased and weeds were adequately controlled”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 736–856 · show in text ↑
Associationobservedoriginal resultnegativemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Yield decreases with zero tillage were normally associated with poor weed control.

Treatment
ZTe7
Outcome
yielde7
Direction
decreasese7
Qualifier
poor weed controle7

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Triticum aestivum
Triticum aestivum · TaxonRasbak · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“Key words: Zero tillage, wheat, canola, flax, available moisture, weeds”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1218–1289 · show in text ↑
e7

“Yield decreases with ZT were normally associated with poor weed control”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 858–929 · show in text ↑
Mechanismauthor interpretationoriginal resultnegativebasis n/a

Claim · model-written summary

Inadequate weed control with zero tillage was a major factor limiting crop responses.

Outcome
responsese1
Qualifier
inadequate weed control with ZTe1

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Triticum aestivum
Triticum aestivum · TaxonRasbak · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“Key words: Zero tillage, wheat, canola, flax, available moisture, weeds”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1218–1289 · show in text ↑
e1

“Throughout the study, inadequate weed control with ZT was a major factor limiting responses”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 990–1081 · show in text ↑

tillage · soil: physics · Triticum aestivum (wheat)Positive and negative results

142 papers: 118 positive, 24 negative or no effect

117 papers in the same direction as this paper · 22 in the opposite direction · 2 reporting no difference from an alternative

  1. positive
  2. negative
  3. negative

138 papers more in this group

See all 142 papers →

tillage · yield · Triticum aestivum (wheat)Positive and negative results

1,414 papers: 1,116 positive, 298 negative or no effect

1,115 papers in the same direction as this paper · 257 in the opposite direction · 41 reporting no difference from an alternative

  1. negative
  2. positive
  3. positive

1,410 papers more in this group

See all 1,414 papers →

Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.