Abstract
Various physical, chemical and biological soil properties in surface (0-5 cm) and subsurface (5-15 cm) soil were determined in a 4-year field experiment conducted at Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana, India with sixteen treatments consisted of different combinations of fertilizer N (0, 20 and 25 kg N ha-1), P (0, 60 and 75 kg P2O5 ha-1), FYM (0 and 10 t·ha-1) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) residue (WR) (0 and 6 t·ha-1) applied to summer-grown soybean (Glycine max L.) and fertilizer N (0, 120 and 150 kg N ha-1), P (0, 60 and 75 kg P2O5 ha-1), and soybean residue (SR) (0 and 3 t·ha-1) applied to winter-grown wheat crop continuously in both conventional tillage (CT) and conservation agriculture (CA), arranged in a split-split plot design with tillage system in main blocks, under irrigated subtropical conditions. Application of fertilizer N, P, FYM and crop residue (CR) significantly increased water stable aggregates and had profound effects in increasing the mean weight diameter as well as the formation of macro-aggregates, which were the highest in both surface (85%) and subsurface (81%) soil layers with application of 20 kg N + 60 kg P2O5 + 10 t FYM + 6 t WR ha-1 applied to soybean and 120 kg N + 60 kg P2O5 + 3 t SR ha-1 applied to wheat crop in CA, respectively, and were 83% and 77% in CT treatments after 2 years. Hence, better aggregation was found with 100% NP + FYM + CR, where macro-aggregates were greater than 50% of total soil mass. The same treatment also enhanced total organic C (TOC) from 3.8 g·kg-1 in no-NP-FYM-CR control to 5.8 g·kg-1 in surface layer and from 2.7 to 3.6 g·kg-1 in subsurface layer after 2 years leading to the 41% and 39% higher TOC stocks over CT-Control in 0-15 cm soil layers of CT and CA, respectively. The changes in TOC stocks after 4 years were 52% and 59%.
Highlights
Sustainable soil management is desirable to promote profitable agricultural practices that respect the environment, such as conservation agriculture (CA)
Higher contents and proportions of these labile C and N pools obtained with CA than conventional tillage (CT) were more pronounced in 0 - 5 cm soil layer. These results indicated that POC, LFOC Microbial biomass C (MBC), PON, potentially mineralizable N (PMN), MBN and LFOC can be used as sensitive indicators of management effects
Results of this 4-year field study with soybean-wheat cropping rotation indicate that the content of total organic C (TOC), particulate organic matter (POM)-C, POM-N, light-fraction organic matter (LFOM)-C, LFOM-N and PMN decreased with soil depth, and thin surface layer (0 - 5 cm) contained much higher concentration of these labile pools than 5 - 15 cm subsurface layer
Summary
Sustainable soil management is desirable to promote profitable agricultural practices that respect the environment, such as conservation agriculture (CA). Impact of Integrated Nutrient, Crop Residue and Tillage Management on Soil Aggregates and Organic Matter Fractions in Semiarid Subtropical Soil under Soybean-Wheat Rotation to the emission of toxic and greenhouse gases like CO, CO2 and CH4 that pose a serious threat to human and environmental health. Comparative effects of inorganic fertilizer N and P, organic manures and crop residue incorporation to crops in CT and CA in semiarid subtropical soils have seldom been investigated. Such information is needed to identify crop nutrient management practices for sustaining or improving soil heath leading to the environmental safety, conservation of resources and the success of sustaining farming systems. A 4-year field experiment was conducted to study the changes in soil quality/health parameters like WSA and various organic matter fractions under CA and CT systems
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