Desire for Greener Land
Desire for Greener Land
Desire for Greener Land
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No N tillaage<br />
preeceded<br />
by subbsoilin<br />
ng<br />
Chile C - Cero labranza<br />
con subssolado<br />
(Spanis sh)<br />
No N tillage preceeded<br />
by subsoiling<br />
consist ts in the use oof<br />
a subsoiler at a 50 cm<br />
depth<br />
every 5 yyears<br />
be<strong>for</strong>e pper<strong>for</strong>ming<br />
no o tillage agricuulture.<br />
In n the “secano interior” of thhe<br />
Mediterrane ean climate area<br />
of central Chile, water<br />
er rosion and inapppropriate<br />
agricultural<br />
system ms along hillsloopes<br />
are the ma ajor causes of<br />
so oil degradationn.<br />
Subsoil<br />
tillage is per<strong>for</strong>med wwith<br />
a three-p pointed 50-cm chisel plough (see photo),<br />
without w turning the soil. Subsooiling<br />
is neede ed every five yyears<br />
to break the hard pan<br />
af fter soil compaction.<br />
Then ccrops<br />
are dire ectly seeded wwithout<br />
any tillage<br />
and with<br />
st tubble left on thhe<br />
field.<br />
The<br />
area has a subhumid Mediterranean<br />
climate<br />
with an aaverage<br />
annua al precipitation<br />
of f 695 mm (80% % concentratedd<br />
in winter), with<br />
five months oof<br />
drought. Soils<br />
are Alfisols<br />
of f the Cauquenees<br />
type, classiffied<br />
as Ultic Pa alexeralfs. The soil is made up u of materials<br />
of f granite originn<br />
with moderaate<br />
acidic cond ditions and loww<br />
organic carb bon. Soil clay<br />
co ontent is 15% between 0 annd<br />
18 cm depth h, below this ddepth<br />
it is high her than 44%.<br />
Topography<br />
is a hillside with 110<br />
to 20 % slop pe and the maain<br />
traditional crop<br />
rotation is<br />
oa at-wheat or whheat-natural<br />
pasture.<br />
SLM Technology: No tillage with subsoiling, Chile DESIRE – WOCAT 2012<br />
Above left: NNo<br />
tillage agricu ulture (Photo: CCarlos<br />
Ruiz)<br />
Above right: Wheat sown with w no tillage<br />
(Photo: Carloos<br />
Ovalle)<br />
Subsoiling<br />
befoore<br />
zero tillagee<br />
agriculture mitigates m wateer<br />
erosion com mpared to the<br />
traditional<br />
tillagee.<br />
In heavy rainfall<br />
events, zero<br />
tillage reduuced<br />
soil loss by more than<br />
72 2% compared to conventionnal<br />
tillage. In addition, a the rrunoff<br />
coefficie ent during the<br />
ra ainy period waas<br />
70% lower wwith<br />
zero tillag ge. These resuults<br />
show the importance i<br />
of<br />
co onservation tillage<br />
and crop stubble manag gement <strong>for</strong> deccreasing<br />
erosio on, especially Location: Bío<br />
in n years when extreme rainfaall<br />
events lead d to a high ppotential<br />
<strong>for</strong> so oil erosion. In Region: Cauq<br />
re elation to soil ccompaction,<br />
coomparing<br />
the re esistance to peenetration<br />
in th he soil profile, Technology<br />
th he traditional tillage<br />
system sshowed<br />
a stron ngly compactedd<br />
layer at a de epth of 10 cm Conservation<br />
(> >1300 kPa), whhich<br />
increased to over 2000 kPa k at depths of 15-20 cm. In<br />
contrast, no Stage of inte<br />
til llage precededd<br />
by subsoiling<br />
showed less<br />
compaction, , beyond 20 cm c below the Origin: extern<br />
th hreshold of 20000<br />
kPa, definedd<br />
by several au uthors as the ccritical<br />
threshold d <strong>for</strong> radicular <strong>Land</strong> use: cro<br />
gr rowth. Moreovver,<br />
cereal prooduction<br />
showed<br />
higher biommass<br />
and gra ain yield. It is Climate: sub<br />
co oncluded that subsoiling bef<strong>for</strong>e<br />
no tillage agriculture wwith<br />
stubble ret tained on the WOCAT data<br />
su urface was thee<br />
best option to mitigate soil erosion. e<br />
cdewocat.uni<br />
DESIRE site<br />
The<br />
main disadvvantage<br />
of thee<br />
system is that t the farmer reequires<br />
more ca apital to lease his.eu/en/sec<br />
machinery, m whicch<br />
in the traditional<br />
system is done with animal<br />
traction, and<br />
the horses Related appr<br />
or r oxen are frrom<br />
their ownn<br />
property. However,<br />
the iimproved<br />
yield d covers the experimental<br />
machinery m leasse<br />
costs. Addditionally,<br />
the system pushees<br />
small farm mers into co- Compiled by<br />
op peratives, becaause<br />
it is not ppossible<br />
<strong>for</strong> ev veryone to ownn<br />
the equipmen nt. To resolve Investigacione<br />
th his problem thee<br />
project prommoted<br />
the creat tion of small eenterprises<br />
(of 10 people) to Date: 9<br />
jo ointly purchase no-tillage macchinery.<br />
th obio and Maule<br />
quenes<br />
area: 10 km<br />
Mar<br />
2<br />
e Region<br />
n measure: ag gronomic<br />
ervention: mitigation<br />
/ reduct<br />
nally - recent (
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