The examination of new soil use methods started in 1997, at the University of Debrecen CAAES RISF Karcag Research Institute. Our goal was to prevent and reduce the soil degradation processes in Karcag. A lot of areas in this microregion are occupied by the “minute soils“, which can be characterized by a very short period for optimal cultivation due to their unfavourable hydrological features and heavy texture. Any tillage operations applied out of this optimal period involve the risk of soil degrading effects. The cumulative effect of the past improper operations has resulted in formation of a physically degraded and dusty cultivated layer. The consequences of the structural degradation of the soil: unfavourable hydrological features, decreased nutrition supply capacity, moderated microbiological activity effects of soil protective cultivation technologies – involving direct seeding and residue management – on the soil, crop and economy of production are examined in a multiple long-term field experiment on a heavy textured soil. In lysimeters the correlation of water supply, soil moisture content and water use efficiency of crops was revealed too. We also measured the tractive power demand, the moisture content, the penetration resistance, and the CO 2 emission of the soil in the two cultivation systems. It was established that the CO 2 -emission from the soil cultivated with the soil conservation technology was significantly higher in the most cases compared to conventional tillage system based on ploughing. Measuring CO 2 -emission, the most important (from agricultural point of view) characteristic of the soil can be directly quantified. According to the research achievements of the first sixteen years of the experiment the applied treatments have not always significantly influenced the yield of the indicator crop (winter wheat), but considerably decreased the energy consumption and costs of cultivation.

Soil Protective Cultivation System, reduced tillage, winter wheat, CO 2 emission, penetration resistance, , lysimeters, GIS interpretation.

Presentation: oral