Soil tilth and tillage

Soil tilth The soil is being

tilled/ploughed
Douglas L. Karlen
(DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3585-1_158)
Soil tilth

Soil tilth
Dictionary

Words with similar use:

 Tillage; till; plow; plough → mengolah tanah
 Tilling; plowing; ploughing → mengolah tanah
 Tilth; seedbed condition; seedbed quality
→ hasil/kondisi/kualitas olahan tanah
What is soil tilth?
(Lars J. Munkholm, https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199389414.013.241)

 Soil tilth is a dynamic and multifaceted concept that refers to

the suitability of a soil for planting and growing crops.
 A soil with good tilth is “usually loose, friable and well
granulated”; a condition that can also be described as the soil’s
having a good “self-mulching” ability.
 On the other hand soils with poor tilth are usually dense
(compacted), with hard, blocky, or massive structural
characteristics. Poor soil tilth is generally associated with
compaction, induced by wheel traffic, animal trampling, and/or
to natural soil consolidation (i.e., so-called hard-setting
behavior).
Other definitions of soil tilth

 Tilth is defined as the physical condition of soil as

related to its ease of tillage, fitness as a seedbed,
and its promotion of seedling emergence and
root penetration.
 Soil tilth is a physical condition of soil, especially in
relation to its suitability for planting or growing a crop.
Soil Tilth according to Encyclopaedia Britannica
 Tilth, Physical condition of soil, especially in relation to its
suitability for planting or growing a crop.
 Factors that determine tilth include the formation and
stability of aggregated soil particles, moisture content,
aeration, infiltration, and drainage.
 The tilth of a soil can change rapidly, depending on
environmental factors such as changes in moisture.
 The objective of tillage (mechanical manipulation of the soil)
is to improve tilth, thereby increasing crop production; in the
long term, however, conventional tillage, especially plowing,
often has the opposite effect, causing the soil to break down
and become compacted.
Tilth vs Tillage Soil tilth is the product of
ploughing

Good soil tilth produced by The soil is being ploughed to

proper tillage/plough produce soil tilth
Why is soil tilth important?

 Good soil tilth provides a stable base for

agricultural production.
 It is associated with the ability of a plant to explore
the soil profile to extract water, nutrients, and air
reduces a potential limitation to plant growth.
 A limited soil profile reduces the amount and vigor of
plant growth.
How can we improve soil tilth?

 Soil should be covered year-round by crops,

mulches, or cover crops to prevent compaction and
erosion by heavy rains and winds.
 Another strategy for improving both tilth and fertility is
to increase soil organic matter (SOM) by adding
compost or manure and by growing cover crops
and tilling them under.
 Integrated agriculture is a god practice to promote
SOM
What is ploughing?

 Definition.
The process of loosening and
turning the soil is called ploughing (tilling).
 Before sowing the seeds, it is necessary to
loosen and turn the soil in the fields as to
break it to the size of the grains which is done
with the help of three main implements or tools
to plough are hoe and cultivator.
How is ploughing done?

 Ploughingof fields is done by using an implement

called plough.
 Plough are made up of wood or iron and they have
an iron tip for easy penetration into the soil.
 The ploughs are pulled by tractor or a pair of
bullocks.
How does ploughing help?
 Ploughing includes loosening and digging of soil.
 Ploughing is beneficial in the following ways:
 During ploughing, the soil becomes loose and the nutrients in deep
soil come to the top.
 Aeration of soil will increase, thus air is available for breathing and
roots are easily penetrated between soil.
 Otherpurposes of ploughing are the integration of manure,
uprooting of weeds, removal of infectious pathogens, insects etc.
 Ploughs of wood or iron are used for this purpose. Bullocks or
tractors are used to pull this plough.
 Hoe is another tool used to uproot weeds and to loose soil.
Does tillage improve or deteriorate soil structure?
While tillage has been used for crop production, it does destroy soil structure,
breaks up the soil pores, and reduces the amount of residue on the soil surface.
If the soil structure was bad, e.g., compacted, this may be desirable, as tillage
can break up the compacted soil and create some new pores.
The extent of any damage to soils from mechanical operations depends
on the time of year, depth of cultivation & frequency of such actions, how
wet the soil is, & the soil type.
Do I need to plough my soil?
 The primary purpose of ploughing is to turn over the upper layer of the soil,
bringing fresh nutrients to the surface, while burying weeds and the remains of
previous crops and allowing them to break down.
 The advantages of ploughing are: Loosening of soil can improve air circulation,
water infiltration and root growth.
 Is plouging necessary for my soil? Answer the following questions:
 What is the texture of the soil? Clayey? Loamy? Sandy? → Visual/simple assessment
 Soil structural condition. Is it compacted or massive? → Visual/simple assessment
 What is the soil bulk density? For clayey/loamy soils, is it within ~1 – 1.3 Mg m-3?
 What crop(s) to grow? Root characteristics
 Is weed a problem?
 If needed, what type of ploughing? (equipment, time, frequency, soil water content, cost, etc)
When to plough?

 Ploughing can be done after the harvest or after

the first rains.
 After the harvest, at the beginning of the dry season,
the soil is not too hard, you can begin to plough your
fields. Then the first rains will fall on soil already
opened up, on loosened soil.
Soil tilth vs soil fertility
 Soil quality can be described by three factors: tilth,
fertility, and biology
 Tilth refers to the physical condition of the soil, and
how well it allows for essential plant processes
including seed germination, root growth, water
infiltration and drainage, and root aeration.
 Fertility refers to the nutrients that are held in the soil
and their availability to plants.
 There are good relationships between soil tilth, soil
fertility and soil biology.
Tilling the soil: traditional vs modern

Traditional – small area Modern – large area

Heavy machineries in modern agriculture
Heavy machineries in modern agriculture
Longterm inappropriate tillage leads
to soil compaction
A farmer over tills his garden
A farmer uses a wheel hoe in his garden
Compacted surface soil Well-structured soil: good tilth
Compacted soil resulted from tilling soil for sugar cane
production in Takalar
(S. Wyna, S. Gusli, A. Ala, M. Iqbal, 2021)

Surface soil, moderately compacted

(poor soil structure)

Sub-srface soil, severely compacted

(very poor/massive soil structure)
Effect of load on soil compaction
 Soil Compaction
SARE OutreachCharles L. Mohler, Sue Ellen Johnson | 2009 |
Effect of soil water content on
Effect of compaction on soil hardening
compaction
Crop rotation for SOM management
SARE OutreachCharles L. Mohler, Sue Ellen Johnson | 2009 |

Sod, also known as turf, is a patch of grown

grass that you roll out and plant.
Sod is a quick fix for a healthy and green lawn.
It's much faster than using grass seed.
 Pengaruh pengolahan tanah (reduced- vs
conventional tillage) terhadap macroporosity

Tillage has a negative effect

on macroporosity both in
terms of abundance and
continuity.

Yvan Capowiez et al.

Soil & Tillage Research 105 (2009) 209–216
Effect of tillage on soil macroporosity

Yvan Capowiez et al.

Soil & Tillage Research 105 (2009) 209–216
Effect of compaction
on soil porosity
Tillage changes soil bulk density
Sifat biologi adalah sentral bagi
manajemen struktur & kualitas tanah
Sifat biologi adalah sentral bagi manajemen
struktur & kualitas tanah

Soil biology will help make

agriculture more sustainable
and productive
(Lehman, RM et al.,2015. Sustainability
2015, 7, 988-1027;
doi:10.3390/su7010988)

So, how do you enhance soil

biology?
Praktik yang dapat meningkatkan sifat biologi dan
struktur tanah

Dr. Karl Wyant, PCA, CCA, WRCCA -

May 18, 2021
https://progressivecrop.com/2021/05/managing-soil-structure-and-quality/
Reduce Tillage and Improve Soil Biology
▪ Field activities like tillage can be hard on your soil biology, particularly
the soil fungi. For example, when a disk moves through the field, it not
only slices through the soil (what you want to happen) but it also slices
and dices through all the fungi threads you are trying to grow (what
you do not want to happen.)
▪ This unintentional result can have a severe impact on the biological
contribution to soil structure.
▪ Moreover, excessive tillage can crush and compact your soil structure,
which can set you back from a physical management perspective.
▪ Reducing tillage, therefore, can improve your soil structure on two
fronts. Talk about a 2-for-1 deal!
Integrated agriculture

Organic farmers use

nitrogen-fixing legumes,
cover-crops, livestock
grazing and rotations in
place of fertilisers and
pesticides
Composting for higher soil organic
matter and good soil structure
Strip tillage, not the whole area is tilled
Puddling (deliberately done for rice production)
destroys soil structure, not intended for good soil tilth
Soil management and greenhouse
gas emissions
 Fertile, healthy soils are vital for our food security. Globally,
they store an estimated 9.8 billion tonnes of carbon.
 If managed well, they can reduce greenhouse gas
emissions; but if badly managed, soils turn from a store to
a source of emissions.
 Soils can also help prevent floods and reduce the impact
of droughts; but badly managed soils lose the ability to
absorb and filter water, damaging water supplies and
increasing flood risk.
Minimum or no-till and organic farming.
Key points:
https://www.soilassociation.org/media/17472/to-plough-or-not-to-plough-policy-briefing.pdf

1. Min or no-till has become popular in recent years. Min and no-till
systems minimise soil disturbance and are claimed to sequester
additional carbon over time, as organic matter increases and with it
soil carbon levels.
2. Min till also offers the potential for lower costs of machinery use
(lower energy use), less damage to soil structure, less risk of soil
erosion, less environmental damage from nitrogen leaching and
pesticide run-off from bare (ploughed) land, and environmental
benefits such as increased soil fauna and habitats for birds.
3. Min or no-till is not a guaranteed method of cutting
farming’s greenhouse gas emissions. The role of no-till in
mitigating climate change “is widely overstated”
4. Min or no-till systems generally rely on herbicides to kill crop
residues and weeds. This may have a damaging impact on
soil biodiversity and the surrounding environment—in
particular, evidence is emerging of damage to earthworm
populations.
5. Non-organic arable farmers who use min or no-till
systems have frequently suffered severe outbreaks of
grass weeds such as blackgrass, leading to a resumption
of ploughing.
6. Min or no-till is not the only way to increase soil carbon.
Farming practices, such as organic farming systems
contribute to raising the levels of soil organic matter and
soil carbon.
7. Better performance of organic farming in sequestering
soil carbon may be because organic systems have
between 32% and 84% greater microbial biomass; and
organic farming systems appear to have positive effects
on soil microbial community size and activity.
Organically managed soils store more carbon for longer
periods and have on average 44% higher levels of
humic acid—the component of soil that sequesters
carbon over the long term—than soils not managed
organically.
8. Min and no-till bring other benefits to soils, including
greater concentration of organic matter near the soil
surface, better soil structure, enhanced seedling
emergence and water infiltration and water retention,
making them more resilient in the face of droughts or
floods. However, other practices will bring similar
benefits, including farming practices inherent in
organic farming but available to all farmers, such as
tree planting (including integrating trees with farmland
– agroforestry), conversion of arable land to grassland,
and inclusion of temporary grassland in arable
cropping systems.
Soal (bahan diskusi)
 Apa itu soil tilth?
 Apa perbedaan antara “soil tilth” dan “soil tillage”?
 Apa Bahasa Indonesia soil tilth?
 Apa perbedaan antara struktur tanah (soil structure)
dengan soil tilth?
 Jelaskan faktor-faktor yang memengaruhi soil tilth
yang dihasilkan dari suatu pengolahan tanah?
Discussion & Q-A