ABSTRACT
Adopt ion o f c o n s e r v a t i o n t i l l a g e p r a c t i c e s u s u a l l y i n f e r s inc reased r e l i a n c e upon, a l though n o t n e c e s s a r i l y inc reased usage o f , p e s t i c i d e s , p a r t i c u l a r l y t h e a p p l i c a t i o n o f h e r b i c i d e s f o r weed c o n t r o l . The envi ronmenta l f a t e o f these chemicals i s r e l a t i v e l y uns tud ied under t h e p a r t i c u l a r p h y s i c a l , chemical and b i o l o g i c a l processes o p e r a t i v e i n conserva t ion t i l l a g e (CT) systems, making i t necessary t o use i n f o r m a t i o n developed under conven t iona l a g r i c u l t u r a l p r a c t i c e s t o i n f e r a p p r o p r i a t e management and r e g u l a t o r y dec is ions. A l though some o f t h i s i n f o r m a t i o n i s q u i t e a p p l i c a b l e t o CT systems, severa l r a t h e r major i s s u e s remain unresolved, and m e r i t i nc reased research a t t e n t i o n i f t h e envi ronmenta l impact o f p e s t i c i d e usage i n CT systems i s t o be minimized.
