Abstract

The evaluation of the effects of conservation agriculture during the transition from conventional tillage to no-tillage requires numerous indicators to be considered. For this purpose, we monitored changes in a multi-parameter dataset during a three-year experiment that combined three tillage intensities (conventional tillage—CT; minimum tillage—MT; and no tillage—NT) with three soil covering managements (tillage radish cover crop, winter wheat cover crop and bare soil). Using a multivariate analysis, we developed a Relative Sustainability Index (RSI) based on 11 physical (e.g., bulk density and penetration resistance), chemical (e.g., soil organic carbon and pH) and biological soil properties (e.g., earthworm density) to evaluate cropping systems sustainability. The RSI was most affected by tillage intensity showing higher RSI values (i.e., better performances) in reduced tillage systems. Specifically, the RSI under NT was 42% greater than that of CT and 13% greater than that of MT. Soil covering had little impact on the RSI. Among the tested parameters, the RSI was increased most by saturated hydraulic conductivity (+193%) and earthworm density (+339%) across CT and NT treatments. Our results suggest that conservation agriculture and, particularly, reduced tillage systems, have the potential to increase farm environmental and agronomic sustainability.

Highlights

  • Conservation agriculture (CA) is defined as the combination of three principles: minimum soil disturbance, permanent soil organic cover and species diversification [1]

  • We suggest that a holistic approach capable of considering multiple parameters may provide a better means by which to evaluate the effects of CA

  • A multivariate analysis of selected sustainability indicators revealed a positive effect of reduced tillage systems management and in particular no tillage (NT), despite the limited variation in the observed parameters

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Summary

Introduction

Conservation agriculture (CA) is defined as the combination of three principles: minimum soil disturbance, permanent soil organic cover and species diversification [1]. In addition to reduced management costs, CA is considered to enhance several ecosystem services (soil physical and chemical properties, soil organic carbon (SOC) and biodiversity) [2,3] and prevent some soil threats, such as soil erosion [4,5,6] Some of these benefits remain less clear, the worldwide adoption of CA grew to 12.5% of 2016 global cropland. Most studies have considered transition time only as a function of a single parameter, such as soil physical properties [11,12], yield [13,14,15,16], net SOC stock [17,18], soil aggregate stability, biodiversity, SOC content [19,20], earthworm density, or CO2 emission reduction [21] Each of these exerts an effect on CA.

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