Effectiveness of the GAEC cross-compliance standard Ploughing in good soil moisture conditions in soil structure protection

Submitted: 25 March 2011
Accepted: 28 May 2011
Published: 12 August 2011
Abstract Views: 1194
PDF: 724
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Authors

  • Maria Teresa Dell'Abate CRA-RPS Centro di ricerca per lo studio delle relazioni tra pianta e suolo, Italy.
  • Paolo Bazzoffi paolo.bazzoffi@entecra.it Agricultural Research Council CRA-ABP Agrobiology and Pedology Research Centre, Italy.
  • Arianna Ciancaglini CRA-ABP Centro di ricerca per l'agrobiologia e la pedologia, Italy.
  • Rosa Francaviglia CRA-RPS Centro di ricerca per lo studio delle relazioni tra pianta e suolo, Italy.
  • Carlo Galeffi CRA-RPS Centro di ricerca per lo studio delle relazioni tra pianta e suolo, Italy.
  • Rosario Napoli CRA-RPS Centro di ricerca per lo studio delle relazioni tra pianta e suolo, Italy.
  • Ulderico Neri CRA-RPS Centro di ricerca per lo studio delle relazioni tra pianta e suolo, Italy.
  • Bruno Pennelli CRA-RPS Centro di ricerca per lo studio delle relazioni tra pianta e suolo, Italy.
Researches have been carried out within the framework on the EFFICOND Project, focused at evaluating the effectiveness of the standards of Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAECs) established for Cross Compliance implementation under EC Regulation 1782/2003. In particular the standard 3.1b deals with soil structure protection through appropriate machinery use, with particular reference to ploughing in good soil moisture conditions. The study deals with the evaluation of soil structure after tillage in tilth and no-tilth conditions at soil moisture contents other than the optimum water content for tillage. The Mean Weight Diameter (MWD) of water stable aggregates was used as an indicator of tillage effectiveness. The study was carried out in the period 2008-2009 at six experimental farms belonging to Research Centres and Units of the Italian Agricultural Research Council (CRA) with different pedo-climatic and cropping conditions. Farm management and data collection in the different sites were carried out by the local CRA researchers and technicians. The comparison of MWD values in tilth and no tilth theses showed statistically significant differences in most cases, depending on topsoil texture. On clay, clay loam, silty clay, and silty clay loam topsoils a general and significant increase of MWD values under no tilth conditions were observed. No significant differences were observed in silt loam and sandy loam textures, probably due to the weak soil structure of the topsoils. Moreover, ploughing in good soil moisture condition determined higher crop production and less weed development than ploughing in high soil moisture conditions.

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Citations

Paolo Bazzoffi, Agricultural Research Council CRA-ABP Agrobiology and Pedology Research Centre
CRA-ABP Centro di Ricerca per l'Agrobiologia e la Pedologia

How to Cite

Dell’Abate, M. T., Bazzoffi, P., Ciancaglini, A., Francaviglia, R., Galeffi, C., Napoli, R., Neri, U., & Pennelli, B. (2011). Effectiveness of the GAEC cross-compliance standard Ploughing in good soil moisture conditions in soil structure protection. Italian Journal of Agronomy, 6(s1), e10. https://doi.org/10.4081/ija.2011.6.s1.e10

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