What are the main technical problems of conservation tillage?

(1) Low temperature problem Under conservation tillage, the ground temperature rises slowly in early spring, which leads to the delay of sowing date of spring-sown crops, the difficulty of protecting seedlings when they emerge and the slow growth of seedlings.

(2) Weeds and pest control problems Conservation tillage does not turn over the soil, weeds cannot be buried, perennial weeds tend to increase, the number of weeds increases, and the types of weeds also change. At the same time, the incidence of diseases (mainly soil-borne diseases) and pests (especially underground pests) has increased, which has seriously affected the emergence rate and growth and development of crops.

(3) Application and irrigation of farmyard manure. Conservation tillage does not turn over the soil, and farm manure is difficult to bury. At present, there is no suitable agricultural machinery to mix farmyard manure into soil, so how to apply farmyard manure has become a big problem. Another problem of conservation tillage is irrigation. When the surface is covered, conventional irrigation methods often cause a lot of waste of water resources, while the rainfall in arid areas in northern China is limited. In order to adopt conservation tillage to increase crop yield, irrigation methods must be improved.

(4) A large number of studies show that conservation tillage leads to soil acidification (especially in 30 cm topsoil), which affects the utilization of calcium, phosphorus and other elements, and is unfavorable to crop growth.

In addition, conservation tillage may aggravate soil salinization in some saline-alkali areas; Due to the extensive use of herbicides and pesticides, conservation tillage will affect the quality of grain and the biodiversity of birds to some extent.