On-season and Off-season tillage

On-season tillage

✓ Tillage operations that are done for raising crops in the same season or at the onset of the crop season are known as on-season tillage.

✓ They may be preparatory cultivation and after cultivation.

Off-season tillage:

Tillage operations done for conditioning the soil suitably for the forth coming main season crop are called off-season tillage. Off season tillage may be, post-harvest tillage, summer tillage, winter tillage and fallow tillage.

Special purpose tillage: Tillage operations intended to serve special purposes are said to be special purpose tillage.

They are:

a. Sub-soiling: To break the hard pan beneath the plough layer, special tillage operation (chiseling) is performed to reduce compaction. Sub-soiling is essential and once in four to five years where heavy machineries are used for field operations, seeding, harvesting and transporting.

b. Clean tillage: It refers to working of the soil of the entire field in such a way no living plant is left undisturbed. It is practiced to control weeds, soil borne pathogen and pests.

c. Blind tillage: It refers to tillage done after seeding or planting the crop (in a sterile soil) either at the pre-emergence stage of the crop plants or while they are in the early stages of growth so that crop plants (sugarcane, potato etc.) do not get damaged, but, extra plants and broadleaved weeds are uprooted.

d. Dry tillage: Dry tillage is practiced for crops that are sown or planted in dry land condition having sufficient moisture for germination of seeds. This is suitable for crops like broadcasted rice, jute, wheat, oilseed crops, pulses, potato and vegetable crops. Dry tillage is done in a soil having sufficient moisture (21-23%).

e. Wet tillage or puddling: The tillage operation that is done in a land with standing water is called wet tillage or puddling. Puddling operation consists of ploughing repeatedly in standing water until the soil becomes soft and muddy. Puddling creates an impervious layer below the surface to reduce deep percolation losses of water and to provide soft seed bed for planting rice.

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