A New Reservoir Tillage System for Crop Production in Semiarid Areas

Abstract

Many arid or semiarid countries experience significant problems with water for rainfed cropproduction. Semiarid regions may receive sufficient rainwater to support crops, but it is distributed sounevenly in time and/or space that rainfed agriculture is not always successful. Developingtechnologies to increase agricultural water use efficiency through water harvesting and conservationis a need. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate a new integrated Reservoir Tillage System (RTS) for crop production in semiarid areas. The system included the design of a horizontalcutsubsoiler, a modified row planter and a roller formed with plastic wheels to improve soil tilth andcreate minireservoirs on the soil surface for In situ rainwater harvesting. The roller was tested inlaboratory conditions for soil and water conservation using simulated rainfall. The new RTS wasimplemented in field during the 2002 rainy season at three locations in semiarid Central Mexico. Fivedifferent varieties of common beans were planted. A control plot was planted according to thefarmers conventional procedures. The roller was able to reduce soil erosion and runoff and increaseinfiltration significantly as compared to the control in the laboratory experiments. In the field, a moreuniform seedling emergence and greater standing population was observed in the three sites wherethe system was implemented. Soil water content was greater in the new RTS than the conventionalsystem, which resulted in greater crop growth and increments of yields in the average of 100% forthe different beans varieties.