ABSTRACT

The explorers considered the region undesirable and wholly uninhabitable for people from the humid and forested eastern regions of the United States. Conservation tillage is any tillage or planting system that maintains at least 30% of the soil surface covered by residues after crop planting to reduce soil erosion by water. Cotton residues have little value for controlling erosion and they are shredded before the land is ploughed in preparation for the next crop, usually cotton. A major limitation to enhanced water conservation with no-tillage and conservation tillage in general in the SGP is low-residue production by dryland crops, especially in the drier western portion of the region. The use of economically feasible practices is essential for long-term economically sound crop production, regardless of the tillage system employed. Fertilizer applications for crops under conservation and conventional tillage conditions usually are similar in the southern Great Plains.