Action

Pollination: Use no tillage in arable fields

How is the evidence assessed?
  • Effectiveness
    70%
  • Certainty
    10%
  • Harms
    0%

Study locations

Key messages

Pollination (0 studies)

Crop visitation (0 studies)

Pollinator numbers (1 study): One replicated, randomized, controlled study from the USA found more pollinators in plots with no tillage, compared to deep tillage.

Implementation options (0 studies)

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Supporting evidence from individual studies

  1. A replicated, randomized, controlled study in 2012–2013 in an irrigated squash field in the Central Valley, California, USA, found more soil-nesting bees in plots with no tillage, compared to deep tillage. Pollinator numbers: More Peponapis pruinosa squash bees emerged from nests in plots with no tillage, compared to deep tillage (11 vs 8 bees/cage). Methods: In August 2012, bee nests were established in 20 plots (3 x 3 x 1.8 m field cages), each of which contained drip-irrigated squash plants. Deep tillage (disking, ripping, and subsoiling: 41 cm maximum depth) was used on 10 of these plots, in autumn 2012. Emerging bees were collected in blue vane traps (26 May–26 September 2013).

    Study and other actions tested
Please cite as:

Shackelford, G. E., Kelsey, R., Robertson, R. J., Williams, D. R. & Dicks, L. V. (2017) Sustainable Agriculture in California and Mediterranean Climates: Evidence for the effects of selected interventions. Synopses of Conservation Evidence Series. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

Where has this evidence come from?

List of journals searched by synopsis

All the journals searched for all synopses

Mediterranean Farmland

This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Mediterranean Farmland
Mediterranean Farmland

Mediterranean Farmland - Published 2017

Mediterranean Farmland synopsis

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