Experiences with conservation tillage and no till in Austria.

Soil erosion is a major threat to the r esource soil. The objective of this 8 yrstudy was to compar e different tillage systems with r espect to runoff, soil loss, nutrient, and pesticide transport. Three different tillage systems were compared: 1) conventional tillage (CT), 2) conser ­ vation tillage with cover crop (CS), and 3) no-till with cover crop (NT). No significant differ ences in total runoff during growing season wer e measured between the thr ee tillage practices. Overall average annual soil loss ranged from 0.82 to 3.13 tons acr e -1 , with the highest amount for conventionally tilled plots and the lowest for no-till plots. Nutrient losses fr om April to October were 8.4 lbs acr e -1 yr -1 for CT, 5.4 lbs acr e -1 yr -1 for CS, and 2.7 lbs acr e -1 yr -1 for NT. Corresponding values for phosphorus wer e 4.1, 1.9, and 1.0 lbs acr e -1 yr -1 . Conservation tillage and no-till management were able to r educe pesticide losses between 23 and 99 %.