Abstract

The degradation of soils is due to a combination of factors. One of them is the annual deep plowing. In this way the soil is left exposed to the vagaries of nature for a few months. Precipitation presented by the rain drops and their energy, destroys the soil structure and activates anthropogenic erosion processes. With intensive tillage, involving reversing of the plow layer, a number of processes are initiated, leading to oxidizing and burning of organic matter and, hence, to its continuous decrease. The extensive use of large quantities of mineral fertilizers and the additional commercialization of crop rotation also have a negative effect in the form of soil degradation. With the purpose of reducing the number of passages of tractor units on the field surface, a new type of tillage is proposed, without reversal of the plow layer, but with retaining a large part of the plant residue on the surface instead.