ABSTRACT
Environmental and health implications as well as the agronomic virtues of conservation tillage must be identified and evaluated. A conceptual framework—mass balance approach—is developed identifying those system variables influenced by conservation tillage. Understanding the relationship between agricultural management practices and environmental quality requires an analysis of the complete agro-ecosystem. The agro-ecosystem is a combination of hydrologic, agronomic, ecological, social and economic subsystems. The watershed level response can be multimedia in dimension. This chapter examines the effect of conservation tillage on the four major transport pathways–runoff, erosion, leaching and volatilization–on the intermedia transfer of pesticides to surface water, to groundwater and to the atmosphere. One approach to fully sustain the extensive implementation and use of conservation tillage and obviate the potential adverse environmental implications would be the periodic use of primary or conventional tillage practices and adequate crop rotation.
