Effect of soil tillage system and straw retention on soil aggregation and water capacity

Arable land supplies food and it is therefore important to develop the production and land-use in a sustainable way. To grow crops for food should be both economical and environmentally sustainable and the soil structure and quality should be taken in consideration when cultivating our land. We need to find new approaches to maintain good soil structure, and minimized tillage systems have many advantages, including costs for the growing of crops, while leaving straw in the fields can reduce erosion and increase the biological activity and humus content of the soil. The texture has two important physical properties when it comes to indicate the soil quality those are aggregate stability and size distribution. The particle size distribution is the most essential physical property which defines the soil texture, and influences the soil properties the most. These two physical properties mentioned above reflects the resistance of soil erosion, especially in no-tillage system, which is why they are the most important factors when it comes to soil quality. The soil structure defines which different types of particles that are stored in the soil and it exert control over the physical, biological and chemical processes. It also explains how and where the particles are located, which is important for how suitable the soil is for growing crops. If the soil has a poor structure, it can affect the nutrient availability and the nutrient uptake negatively and increase the power requirement for tillage, increase the nutrient loss and the denitrification, which is negative from an environmental point of view. Organic matter, tillage system, biological activity etc. matters for the aggregate structure in a soil. There are natural structure building processes, such as root development and drying, but there is also structure depleting processes, which basically all the human activities are. A non-cultivated soil generally has a better structure due to the generally higher content of or