Conservation tillage provides the best opportunity for halting degradation and for restoring and improving soil productivity. Conservation tillage systems have increased in response to the need to limit erosion and promote water conservation. However, the use of tillage can stimulate loss of soil organic carbon (C) to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO2). Losses of CO2 may depend upon the degree of soil disturbance. The loss of soil carbon can reduce soil productivity, increase the need for fertilizer inputs, and reduce farm profits. Every pass over the field for any type of tillage or by other farm tools can break up soil aggregates and reduce the ability of the soil to hold moisture. Heavily tilled fields may have a good seedbed for planting, but any rainfall after planting may cause the surface to seal, resulting in surface compaction. Since tillage systems alter soil physical properties throughout time, and that can increase soil compaction. This may end restricting root growth and plant access to subsoil water during the growing season. This effect might limit plant growth and consequently change its spectral response. Soil tillage can affect the stability and formation of soil aggregates by disrupting soil structure. Frequent tillage deteriorates soil structure and weakens soil aggregates, causing them to be susceptible to decay.
It is necessary to consider the texture type of the soil being studied. Because the effect of the conservation tillage pattern is highly dependent on which practice pattern is used whether without tillage or minimum tillage. However, what really plays a role in reducing soil compaction is the practice of no tillage. With this pattern of processing without tillage it will also reduce the openness of organic matter to accelerated decomposition so that it can relatively maintain soil organic matter content. By maintaining the condition of soil organic matter in the soil with certain conservation soil processing patterns, because the function of organic matter is to improve soil structure and other soil properties, soil conditions can also be avoided from soil compaction.
Tillage can cause the loss of significant amounts of carbon immediately after tillage. The exposure of soil organic carbon to aeration during soil erosion increases CO2 emissions. In addition, soil erosion can cause carbon to accumulate with soil sediments and be removed from the soil carbon pool. Tillage had a significant effect on soil porosity in the no-traffic samples in the 0–100 mm layer. Deep tillage with no traffic had higher soil porosity (22.72%) than shallow tillage treatments with no traffic (10.58%).Every pass over the field for any type of tillage or by other farm tools can break up soil aggregates and reduce the ability of the soil to hold moisture. Heavily tilled fields may have a good seedbed for planting, but any rainfall after planting may cause the surface to seal, resulting in surface compaction. It has been well documented that increased tillage intensities can reduce soil organic matter in the topsoil due to increased microbial activity and carbon (C) oxidation. Wet soils are particularly susceptible to compaction. Heavy equipment and tillage implements amplify damage to the soil's structure, decreasing pore space and limiting soil and water volume even further. Improving soil structure is the best defense against soil compaction. Soil porosity is affected by soil particle texture, soil structure, soil compaction, and quantity of organic material. Soil with fine texture is able to hold more water than soil with coarse texture. Compaction decreases the porosity. Compaction is a process by which the soil particles are artificially rearranged into a closer state. This arrangement reduces the voids ratio and hence there is decrease in the porosity. Conservation tillage cultivates land that uses leftovers from last year's crops to reduce soil erosion and runoff. These can be stalks of corn or any other crop. Farmers use them to cover fields before and after planting a new crop.
Conservation tillage conserves the soil since the organic residues (at least > 32% of the crop residues) remain on the field after harvesting. Any organic materials on the field can minimize the runoff velocity and decrease soil erosion. Repeated tillage can increase the porosity of the surface soil. In more porous soil, there is more Oxygen circulation, then, more oxidation of organic carbon and there is a decrease in the soil OC content. Another important point with repeated tillage is that the soil below the immediate plow layer is compacted.
The soil total porosity of 0–10 soil layer was mostly affected; conventional tillage can increase the capillary porosity of soil, but the non-capillary porosity of soil was the highest. Returning of straw can increase the porosity of soil. Conservation tillage provides the best opportunity for halting degradation and for restoring and improving soil productivity. The conservation tillage systems have increased in response to the need to limit erosion and promote water conservation. Soil compaction is a direct result of tillage, which destroys the active organic matter, and a lack of living roots and microbes in the soil. Heavy equipment loads push soil micro aggregates together so that they chemically bind together, resulting in soil compaction. Wet soils are particularly susceptible to compaction. Heavy equipment and tillage implements amplify damage to the soil's structure, decreasing pore space and limiting soil and water volume even further. Improving soil structure is the best defense against soil compaction. Conservation tillage cultivates land that uses leftovers from last year's crops to reduce soil erosion and runoff. These can be stalks of corn or any other crop. Farmers use them to cover fields before and after planting a new crop. Along with reducing erosion, conservation tillage systems improve infiltration. Compaction reduces infiltration and, inevitably, restricts water flow to the root zone. The compaction caused by rainfall can be minimized by plant residue on the soil surface. Conservation tillage technology can reduce the soil bulk density and promote the redistribution of soil pore space in different soil layers, forming a better soil structure, thereby improving soil physical properties and soil aeration, improving rainfall infiltration and soil water storage capacity