1 Soil and Water Research, 15, 2020 (1): 00–00 Original Paper https://doi.org/10.17221/25/2019-SWR Te impact of the conservation tillage “maize into grass cover” on reducing the soil loss due to erosion Eva Procházková 1,2 , David Kincl 1,2 *, David Kabelka 1,2 , Jan Vopravil 1,2 , Pavel Nerušil 4 , Ladislav Menšík 4 , Vojtěch Barták 3 1 Department of Pedology and Soil Conservation, Research Institute for Soil and Water Conservation, Prague-Zbraslav, Czech Republic 2 Department of Land Use and Improvement, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic 3 Department of Applied Geoinformatics and Spatial Planning, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic 4 Division of Crop Management Systems, Crop Research Institute, Prague-Ruzyně, Czech Republic *Corresponding author: kincl.david@vumop.cz Citation: Procházková E., Kincl D., Kabelka D., Vopravil J., Nerušil P., Menšík L., Barták V. (2020): Te impact of the conserva- tion tillage “maize into grass cover” on reducing the soil loss due to erosion. Soil & Water Res. Abstract: Maize (Zea mays L.) belongs among the most important agriculture crops all over the world. Te conventio- nal way of cultivating maize with wide row spacing does not have a soil conservation efect and signifcantly contributes to water erosion and surface run-of. In our research, we tested the soil conservation technology (strip-till into grass cover) which took place in 2016 and 2017 in the location of Central Bohemia. Te impact of a strip-till system of maize into grass cover on reducing the soil loss due to erosion was verifed on the area of 21 m 2 using a rainfall simulator. Du- ring the research, 70 measurements were realised. Te strip-till was compared to fallow land, conventional cultivation and no-till methods. Profound diferences were found in the soil loss between the treatments. Tere was a decrease in the soil loss of about 98% in the strip-till compared to the conventional cultivation. Moreover, the surface run-of was reduced by 79%. Te ANCOVA (analysis of covariance) models of the log-transformed soil loss on the surface run-of and treatment were highly signifcant (P < 10 –15 ). Te measurement results clearly demonstrate the positive efect of the strip-till into the grass on the surface run-of and soil loss. Tis positive soil conservation efect was observed even in springtime, as well as the rest of the season. Using a grass cover for establishing the maize signifcantly contributes to the soil conservation on the land threatened by erosion and ofers farmers a suitable way of farming when growing maize. Strip-tilling is a technology that has great potential in sustainable farming. Keywords: erosion control measures; rainfall simulator; soil conservation; strip-till; surface run-of Supported by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic, Projects No. QK1910334, No. QK1710242 and No. MZE-RO0218. Water erosion is a global problem (Novara et al. 2011) and causes destruction or damage to enormous areas of agricultural land every year (Morgan 2005). Agricultural land in the Czech Republic is largely exposed to the risk of water erosion due to the large land blocks, but also due to the agrotechnology used. More than half of the agricultural land is threatened by water erosion in the Czech Republic (Janeček 2005; Šarapatka & Bednář 2015). Soil degradation caused by water erosion is a complex process which