Abstract
A field experiment was performed in Southwest Germany to examine the effects of long-term reduced tillage (2000–2012). Tillage treatments were deep moldboard plow: DP, 25 cm; double-layer plow; DLP, 15 + 10 cm, shallow moldboard plow: SP, 15 cm and chisel plow: CP, 15 cm, each of them with or without preceding stubble tillage. The mean yields of a typical eight-year crop rotation were 22% lower with CP compared to DP, and 3% lower with SP and DLP. Stubble tillage increased yields by 11% across all treatments. Soil nutrients were high with all tillage strategies and amounted for 34–57 mg kg−1 P and 48–113 mg kg−1 K (0–60 cm soil depth). Humus budgets showed a high carbon input via crops but this was not reflected in the actual Corg content of the soil. Corg decreased as soil depth increased from 13.7 g kg−1 (0–20 cm) to 4.3 g kg−1 (40–60 cm) across all treatments. After 12 years of experiment, SP and CP resulted in significantly higher Corg content in 0–20 cm soil depth, compared to DP and DLP. Stubble tillage had no significant effect on Corg. Stubble tillage combined with reduced primary tillage can sustain yield levels without compromising beneficial effects from reduced tillage on Corg and available nutrient content.
Highlights
Soil degradation is one of the main challenges to maintaining soil quality and ensuring food production in the years to come
The soil parameters showed a clear differentiation between the various sample depths (Table 3)
A clear gradient with depth existed for all parameters, in particular for Kavail, Pavail and Corg
Summary
Soil degradation is one of the main challenges to maintaining soil quality and ensuring food production in the years to come. Reduced tillage or no-till systems (conservation tillage/non-inversion tillage) are suitable tools in conventional farming to prevent soil degradation, to increase ecosystem services, such as water retention capacity [1,2,3], and decrease production costs [3,4]. No-till and reduced tillage systems lead to changes in the soil carbon dynamics compared to conventional tillage. Whether or not reduced tillage and no-till systems have the potential to increase total soil carbon stocks is debated and evidence from field trials is contradictory. When higher carbon stocks under reduced tillage are found, this is attributed to a decreased decomposition rate of organic matter due to less soil disturbance and less destruction of soil aggregates.
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