Abstract
Tillage practices are critical for sustaining soil quality necessary for successful crop growth and productivity, but there are only few studies for strip tillage (ST) in the Mollisols region of Northeast China at present. A long-term (≥10-year) study was carried out to investigate the influence of within the tilled row (IR) and between rows (BR) in ST (10-year), conventional tillage (CT, 14-year) and no tillage (NT, 14-year) treatments on soil physicochemical properties. Soil samples were taken in May of 2019 at 0–5, 5–10, 10–20 and 20–30 cm depths and used to analyze bulk density (BD), soil aggregate distribution and stability, and soil organic carbon (SOC). Meanwhile, our study also explored the differences in seed emergence, soil moisture, and temperature during the seed emergence period, and yield of maize (Zea mays L.) among the different treatments. Similar soil properties were observed between ST-BR and NT, which showed they had a significantly greater BD, >0.25 mm water stable aggregate content (WR0.25) (especially in the amount of >2 mm and 1–2 mm size proportion), aggregate stability, and SOC than ST-IR and CT-IR at a depth of 0–20 cm. By improving soil conditions of seedbed, ST-IR and CT-IR increased soil temperature above NT by 1.64 °C and 1.80 °C, respectively, and ST-IR had a slight greater soil moisture than CT-IR in the top 10 cm layer during the seed emergence period. Late maize seed emergence was observed NT in than ST-IR and CT-IR and the average annual yields in ST were slightly greater than NT and CT, but the differences were not significant. Our results also showed that CT-BR had a poor soil structure and lower SOC than other treatments at 0–30 cm depth. We conclude from these long-term experimental results that ST could improve soil water-heat conditions to promote seed germination, maintain soil structure, and increase the maize yield and it should be applied in the Mollisols region of Northeast China.
Highlights
Soil tillage focuses on improving crop yields and at the same time preserving ecological soil functions
conventional tillage (CT)-between rows (BR) had a greater bulk density (BD) compared with other treatments at a depth of 0–30 cm (Figure 1) and no significant differences in BD were observed in between strip tillage (ST)-IR and CT-IR, between ST-BR and no tillage (NT), respectively
In the top soil of 0–10 cm, the BD values in ST-IR and CT-IR had a significantly lower value than ST-BR and NT, and the differences in BD among these treatments decreased with the increase in soil depth
Summary
Soil tillage focuses on improving crop yields and at the same time preserving ecological soil functions. In recent decades, conventional tillage (CT) has been recognized as a major driver of soil erosion and nutrient loss from cultivated land [1]. In response to these problems, conservation tillage systems such as no tillage (NT) and strip tillage (ST) are used as the generic technology to preserve regulatory functions for soil water and nutrients [2,3]. CT is the dominant tillage practice in this region; these intensive cultivation and residue removal practices have caused the severe soil degradation of soil structure, and the on-going soil degradation has threatened sustainable crop production and even national food security [6]. It is hard for local farmers to accept NT as a priority or major pattern of cultivation in farmland
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