For the needs of tobacco industry, Virginia tobacco was introduced into Croatia in the 1950s, when its cultivation started on sandy soils, favoured by tobacco, in the River Drava valley. When domestic, Peronospora resistant cultivars were introduced into production, areas growing this type of tobacco increased considerably. Economic effects and small farms were the main reasons for the tobacco being frequently grown in monoculture or in a very narrow crop rotation. Frequent shallow tillage, very often to the same depth, led to increased compaction of the subsoil layer, particularly at plough depth.The soil structure is often silty and its vertical permeability reduced. Marked compaction of the plough and subsoil layers hinders the development of the root system and its penetration into deeper layers. In some cases, increased soil compaction limits tobacco yields to a greater extent than nutrient deficiency. The paper deals with the effect of subsoiling and the ploughing depth upon soil compaction, root development and tobacco yields. Subsoiling was carried out at a depth of 50-60 cm and ploughed at 20, 30 and 40 cm, respectively. The three years long field trails were set up according to the randomized block method in four replications. A significantly lower soil compaction and better root development were recorded in trial variants involving deeper tillage, which resulted in a significantly higher yield of tobacco leaf. The investigations point to the conclusion that the soil containing a higher proportion of silt particles should be occasionally subsoiled and tilled at a greater depth (30-40 cm), and that tobacco should be grown in a wider crop rotation, with a stubble cereal as preceding crop.