TY - JOUR T1 - Reducing soil erosion in tobacco fields with no-tillage transplanting JF - Journal of Soil and Water Conservation SP - 193 LP - 196 VL - 41 IS - 3 AU - Sandra D. Wood AU - Arch D. Worsham Y1 - 1986/05/01 UR - http://www.jswconline.org/content/41/3/193.abstract N2 - While important crops in the Southeast, flue-cured and hurley tobacco are erosion-prone. Soil losses from tobacco fields far exceed the state and national averages as well as soil loss tolerances. A 2-year study was conducted in North Carolina's Coastal Plain to compare soil loss, yield, and quality between conventionally tilled tobacco and no-till tobacco transplanted directly into a killed rye mulch. In the first year soil loss on a Johns sandy loam (Aquic Hapludult) with 1.3% slope was 20 times greater in the conventionally tilled tobacco than in the no-till tobacco (2,457 vs. 121 kg/ha). Soil loss the second year on a Goldsboro loamy sand (Aquic Paleudults) with a 3.1% slope was 90 times greater in the conventional tillage system (9,004 vs. 101 kg/ha). Quality, value per hectare, and price of tobacco were essentially the same for both systems. But yields on no-till transplanted treatments averaged 13% less than conventionally grown tobacco. ER -