Sustainability of soils intended for agricultural production

The fertility of the soil is linked to the biology that is found in it, among the tasks that are applied to the soil is the tillage of which there are some methods or types to prepare the soil for planting. Among the tillage there is the conventional one that can provide some benefits to the soil, that is, it breaks the aggregates into desired sizes, thus providing greater porous spaces for aeration and water retention. But at the same time it damages the biota of the same, because the conventional tillage consists of primary and secondary operations, in the primary ones it is aimed at breaking the structure of the horizon A, with a high frequency of passes of heavy implements, and then the secondary operations that consist of spraying the soil, with series of passes of implements or implements specialized in those functions.

All this transforms the soil into large clods; it exposes all the anaerobic organisms to the surface and the aerobic biota to the lower part of the horizon A of the soil, consequently, part of the soil biota dies because it is exposed to conditions adverse to its living environment. In addition, it progressively exposes soil particles to water and wind erosion, thereby causing large sediment losses and degrading soil quality in the long term.

This allows us to understand that if we implement an intensive use of indiscriminate mechanized tillage systems we could deteriorate the soil structure and therefore, it would be responsible for soil erosion and degradation; for example, the machinery and working animals that compact the soil. With mechanical tillage, although the aggregates are broken down into desired sizes, it also adversely affects the structure to the extent that it exposes the aggregates to the action of raindrops. As alternative solutions, various conservation tillage systems have been proposed (zero tillage, minimum tillage, among others) to preserve the soil structure in a productive state, reduce erosion and degradation and conserve moisture.

The zero tillage or direct seeding, consists of sowing manually or mechanically on the soil that has already been harvested, without making any previous preparation of the soil for planting, this helps to preserve the structure of it. It can be considered as conservation tillage, since it is a system that reduces soil and water losses in relation to conventional tillage, and often corresponds to a form of non-investment tillage, which maintains an adequate amount of residues on the surface and these residues are retained in order to control erosion and maintain the necessary moisture.

Looking at the aspects that conservation tillage provides, it consists of carrying out the planting in an integrated way, on the first level it starts with leaving the remains of the previous harvest (stubble) scattered on the surface of the soil, for different purposes, first that it serves as a vegetable cover to reduce the proliferation of weeds and their growth, on a second plane, that the remains of the stubble decomposes with the interaction of the soil biota, the moisture generated by the climate between these and the soil, allowing the remains to decompose, and contribute organic matter, in turn this covering of harvest remains serves as a protective layer of the soil, raindrops and strong winds.

Dear readers, conservation tillage has many benefits, but proper surface management must be carried out once the crop is sown, a part of the residues can be removed to avoid an excessive accumulation of these that can become a host for some pathogen. As it could be evidenced, the idea is to manage the agricultural ecosystems in the most ecological way possible.