STUBBLE AND CROP RESIDUE AS A MULCH

OUTLINE What are stubbles and crop

residues? History Crop residues as a mulch Stubbles as a mulch Mechanized stubble-mulch farming Conclusion

STUBBLE

The short growth of hair that eventually protrudes from the skin after shaving.

The short, stiff stalks of grain or hay on a field after harvesting.

Crop Residue

FIELD RESIDUE Crop residues are materials left in

an agricultural field or orchard after the crop has been harvested. These residues include stalks and stubble (stems),leaves, and seed pods.

Crop ResidueProcess Residues Those materials left after the

processing of the crop into a usable resource. These residues include husks, seeds, bagasse and roots. They can be used as animal fodder and soil amendments, fertilizers and in manufacturing.

Mulch

Any material used at the surface of a soil primarily to prevent loss of water by evaporation, to keep down weeds, to dampen temperature fluctuations or to promote soil productivity.

MATERIALS OF MULCH Internal External

• Manure• Straw• Leaves• Peat• Litter• Manufacture material (paper, glass wool, metal foil,

cellophane)

HISTORY Practice well known to gardener As old as Agriculture itself Word “Mulch” has been used since 17th

century German vernacular “molsch” meaning soft or

beginning to decay Since 1802 the practice of spreading a mulch

on the soil surface has referred as mulching.

Crop Residue as Mulch

It is defined as the technology whereby at the time of crop emergence at least 30% of the soil surface is covered by organic residues of the previous crop.

30% threshold originated in the USA It is also known as conservation tillage

SELECTION OF CROP RESIDUE Depends upon the climatic condition TropicsoSugar-cane trashoBanana leavesoElephant grass

SELECTION OF CROP RESIDUE…

Temperate oCereal cropsoFodder crops

PRODUCTIVITY EFFECTS OF CRM

Soil conservation Soil ecology Crop yield

SOIL CONSERVATION

Effectively halt soil erosion Increasing resistance against

overland flow Enhancing soil surface aggregate

stability and permeability

SOIL ECOLOGY Alters the entire soil ecology More infilteration of rain water Less run-off More water in soil profile Reduces soil temperature oscillation Reduce evaporation losses Effects soil fertility Favors the activity of soil biota

CROP YIELD Growth of plants is primarily function

of Defining conditions (CO2, radiation,

temperature, crop attribute)Limiting conditions (water and

nutrients)Reducing conditions (weeds, pests,

diseases, pollutants)

STUBBLE MULCHING

Refers to leaving the stubble (agriculture) essentially in place on the land as a surface cover during a fallow period. Stubble-mulching can prevent erosion from wind or water and conserve soil moisture.

STUBBLE MULCH TILLAGE It also called mulch tillage is any

tillage system that retains a high percentage of crop residue on the surface of the soil.

This type of tillage system was developed to control the wind erosion that was prevalent on the Great Plains during the 1930s.

MECHANIZED STUBBLE MULCHING The multiple rice cropping system has

existed in southern China for a long time. Such system includes rape-rape-rice rotation, wheat-rice rotation, two-harvest rice and green manure-rice etc. A practical problem is the high stubble-mulch can be hardly overturned by human and animal labor or conventional tillage machines.

MECHANIZED STUBBLE MULCHING… It shows the basic structure, work

mechanism and test results of the stubble-mulch roto-cultivator for boat tractor. The complete working unit can realize moderate tillage of paddy fields, return to stubbles fields and solve the puzzle existed in the tillage of paddy fields with moder technique. It is a new technique of mechanized protective cultivation.

CONCLUSION

Norton(1944) said that seedbed preparation and sowing could be done in half of the time and with three quarters of the expenditure of energy used in the conventional plowing system.

CONCLUSION…

Schaller and Evans (1954) Reason:

Corn stands lower Higher weed population