ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Identifying Soils for Reduced Tillage
and No-Till Farming Using GIS
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1
National Agricultural and Food Centre, Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute, Prešov, Slovak Republic
2
Department of Geography and Regional Development, Faculty of Humanities and Natural Sciences,
University of Prešov, Prešov, Slovak Republic
3
Department of Environmentalistics and Natural Resources, Faculty of Regional Development and International Studies,
Mendel University in Brno, Brno, Czech Republic
4
Department of Agricultural and Environmental Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture and Economics,
University of Agriculture in Krakow, Krakow, Poland
Submission date: 2018-03-08
Final revision date: 2018-04-30
Acceptance date: 2018-05-06
Online publication date: 2019-01-18
Publication date: 2019-03-01
Corresponding author
Jacek Antonkiewicz
University of Agriculture in Krakow, Av. Mickiewicz 21, Kraków, 31-120 Krakow, Poland
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2019;28(4):2407-2413
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ABSTRACT
Reduced tillage and no-till farming technology is possible to employ only under particular soil
conditions. The total land area of sites in Slovakia that are available for the application of reduced tillage
is approximately 25.3% of agricultural land (20.4% very suitable and 4.9% less suitable), while 74.7% of
soils are not suitable for this technological approach. Only 19.8% of soils (17.8% very suitable and 2.0%
less suitable) are suitable for no-till farming technologies of soil preparation before sowing, while 80.2%
of soils are not suitable for this method. The best conditions for these approaches are found in soil types
such as Chernozems, Cutanic Luvisols, Mollic Luvisols, and Fluvisols, but also Albic Luvisols and
Regosols located on plains, in lowland areas, and in lower altitude basins. In the higher altitude regions,
we do not recommend employing these technologies. The identification of areas suitable for this method
is possible using the information in the databases of the Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute
in Bratislava, which have been managed in this study using a geographic information system. The input
parameters were the altitude of a given locality, as well as the slope steepness, depth, stoniness, and
texture of the soil. It turns out that GIS is also an appropriate means for identifying and categorizing
landscapes and agricultural lands in order to implement differentiated (reduction) cultivation systems.