ABSTRACT
Conservation tillage has been defined by the Soil Science Society of America as "any tillage sequence which reduces loss of soil or water relative to conventional tillage." Equally important is realization that there will be a strong interaction between soil properties, tillage operations and soil and nutrient run-off losses. The two fields studied were nearly identical with regard to slope, soil type and drainage patterns. With exception of primary tillage, the same agronomic practices were performed on each field. Slopes were approximately one percent. Mueller has studied the relationship between different conservation tillage methods and phosphorus runoff. The tillage treatments they were using were conventional, chisel plowed, till-plant and no-till. During their first runoff period, runoff losses were reduced by 60 to 85 percent at conservation tillage sites relative to conventional tillage sites. Generally, more water penetrates the soil and may then emerge as tile flow in level tiled land or move to groundwater in porous non-tiled land.
