Production of No-Tillage Burley Tobacco

In the early 1970\u27s, researchers at the University of Kentucky produced burley tobacco by using no-tillage methods. These studies were abandoned a few years later due to poor growth, poor plant survival, and the lack of adequate weed control as the contributing factors. In 1984, the experimental production of no-tillage burley tobacco was reinitiated with the hopes that the newer herbicides would perform more effectively for no-tillage tobacco production. Burley producers could realize several potential advantages to no-tillage tobacco production if the yields produced by no-tillage were equal to or near those of conventional tillage. These potential advantages would include: the elimination of the need for plowing and disking a field in preparation for transplanting, reduced soil erosion, reduced soil water evaporation, cleaner cured tobacco, more flexibility in timing during transplanting and at harvest, and possibly lower production costs