RT Journal Article
T1 Tillage erosion: a review of controllingfactors and implications for soil quality
A1 Oost, K. van
A1 Govers, G.
A1 Alba Alonso, Saturnino De
A1 Quine, T.A.
AB Tillage erosion has been identified as an important global soil degradation process that hasto be accounted for when assessing the erosional impacts on soil productivity, environmental qualityor landscape evolution. In this paper, we present a summary of available data describing tillageerosion. This provides insights in the controlling factors determining soil redistribution rates andpatterns by tillage for various implements used in both mechanized and non-mechanized agriculture.Variations in tillage depth and tillage direction cause the largest variations in soil redistribution rates,although other factors, such as tillage speed and implement characteristics, also play an importantrole. In general, decreasing tillage depth and ploughing along the contour lines substantially reducetillage erosion rates and can be considered as effective soil conservation strategies. Implementerosivities reported in literature, characterized by the tillage transport coefficient, are very consistentand range in the order of 400–800 kgm-¹1yr-¹1 and 70–260 kg m-¹1yr-¹1 for mechanized and nonmechanizedagriculture, respectively. Comparison of tillage erosion rates with water erosion ratesusing a global data set indicates that tillage erosion rates are at least in the same order of magnitudeor higher than water erosion rates, in almost all cases. Finally, we discuss how tillage erosion increasesthe spatial variability of soil properties and affects soil nutrient cycling. Considering the widespreaduse of tillage practices, the high redistribution rates associated with the process and its direct effecton soil properties, it is clear that tillage erosion should be considered in soil landscape studies.
PB SAGE Publications
SN 0309-1333
YR 2006
FD 2006
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/51087
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/51087
LA eng
DS Docta Complutense
RD 22 dic 2025