What practice alongside maintaining crop residues helps reduce surface compaction?

Maintaining crop residues plays a crucial role in reducing surface compaction, and light tillage complements this practice effectively. Light tillage helps to aerate the soil without excessively disturbing its structure. This method minimizes the risk of compaction by breaking up surface layers just enough to improve water infiltration and root penetration, while still maintaining the benefits provided by the crop residues.

In contrast, deep tillage could disrupt soil structure more than necessary, potentially leading to more compaction. Heavy equipment use typically contributes to soil compaction, particularly when used on moist soils. Increased irrigation, while beneficial for crop health, does not directly address the issue of compaction and can sometimes exacerbate it by increasing soil moisture and leading to heavier equipment impact. Therefore, light tillage is the best practice to reduce surface compaction alongside maintaining crop residues.