.:: Lao Knowledge Base on Conservation Agriculture ::.
These techniques involve sowing crops directly in permanent plant cover (residue from the previous crop that has been left on the ground, in addition to mulched dead or live cover). This cover protects the soil from rainfall stress and nourishes microorganisms that vitalize the soil and enhance its fertility. The use of strong-rooting efficient plants (restructuring fibrous root systems of grasses, powerful taproots of atmospheric nitrogen fixing legumes) in cropping sequences promotes impressive ‘biological tillage’ of the soil in conjunction with the work of earthworms, which are in turn preserved because of the absence of tillage.
