Tillage erosion within potato production in Atlantic Canada: II: Erosivity of primary and secondary tillage operations

To date, tillage erosion experiments in Canada have only been conducted on conventionally tilled corn-based production systems in Ontario and conventionally tilled cereal-based production in Manitoba. Estimates and assumptions have been made for all other production systems. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the erosivity of primary and secondary tillage operations within conventional and conservation potato production systems used in Atlantic Canada. Regression analysis determined that a direct relationship exists between slope gradient and both the mean displacement distance of the tilled layer (T_L) and the mass of translocated soil (T_M) for the chisel plough (CP), mouldboard plough (MP) and offset disc (OD), but not for the vibrashank (VS). Overall, the potential for tillage erosion of the MP, CP, and OD was similar (1.8–1.9 kg m⁻¹ %⁻¹ pass⁻¹) and larger than that of the VS (0.3 kg m⁻¹ %⁻¹ pass⁻¹). The regression coefficients for each implement were improved after including slope curvature, and we recommend that curvature be included in any future tillage erosion modelling. Our results show that both residue management to control wind and water erosion and soil movement to control tillage erosion must be considered when choosing implements and developing best management practices with regards to reducing the negative impacts of total soil erosion on potato production systems in Atlantic Canada.