Impact | Conservation tillage | No-till |
Aggregate stability | Organic matter concentrated near surface, encourages microbial growth, increasing aggregate stability. | Crop residue at surface prevents surface crusting, increasing aggregate stability. |
Compaction | Improves surface structure due to concentration of residues, decreasing compactibility; Can cause additional compaction in the untilled layer. | Dependent on soil type. |
Soil mineralization | Shallower depth with no soil inversion so releases less N for crop uptake than conventional tillage, which leads to less mineralization. | |
Emergence and root growth | Decreases soil temperature and increases residue, thus impeding crop emergence; Root growth depends on biological macropore ability to compensate for absence of mechanical macropores. | |
Soil water storage and infiltration | Increases C content in soil, which increases water storage capacity and water retention; Infiltration depends on soil type and biological porosity. | |
Weeds | Compared to conventional, more weeds in general. | |
Disease and pest control | Conventional tillage more effective for control of soil-bourne pathogens, but increased biological activity of conservation and no-till can form disease-suppressive soils. |