Long-term tillage effect on with-in season variations in soil conditions and respiration from dryland winter wheat and soybean cropping systems

Diana Zapata,Nithya Rajan,Jake Mowrer,Frank Hons,Ronnie Schnell,Kenneth Casey

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-80979-1

Diana Zapata, Nithya Rajan + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-80979-1

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Abstract

Soil respiration from agricultural soils is a major anthropogenic source of CO2 to the atmosphere. With-in season emission of soil CO2 from croplands are affected by changes in weather, tillage, plant row spacing, and plant growth stage. Tillage involves physical turning of soils which accelerate residue decomposition and CO2 emission. No-tillage lacks soil disturbance and residues undergo slower decomposition at the surface. In this study, we compared with-in season soil conditions (temperature and moisture) and soil respiration from two major crops (soybean and winter wheat) by making high temporal frequency measurements using automated chambers at half-hourly intervals. The experiment lasted for 179 days. Total number of measurements made from conventional and no-tillage soybean and winter wheat plots were 6480 and 4456, respectively. Average flux after the winter-dormancy period of wheat was 37% higher in tilled soil compared to no-till soil. However, average flux during the soybean growing season was 8% lower in conventional till compared to no-till soil. This differential response of soil respiration in wheat and soybean was primarily due to tillage-induced changes in surface characteristics (residue cover) and soil environmental conditions (soil temperature and soil moisture). Results from this study can help elucidate relationships for modeling and assessment of field-scale soil CO2 emissions from dryland wheat and soybean crops grown in sub-tropics.

Highlights

Soil respiration from agricultural soils is a major anthropogenic source of CO2 to the atmosphere
Scatter plots were constructed by plotting halfhourly records of soil temperature from tilled plots against soil temperature from no-tillage plots at three depths for both cropping systems (Fig. 1)
Soil temperature in soybean plots were significantly different between tillage treatments at all depths (P < 0.0001)

Summary

Introduction

Soil respiration from agricultural soils is a major anthropogenic source of CO2 to the atmosphere. Average flux during the soybean growing season was 8% lower in conventional till compared to no-till soil This differential response of soil respiration in wheat and soybean was primarily due to tillageinduced changes in surface characteristics (residue cover) and soil environmental conditions (soil temperature and soil moisture). Agricultural soils account for nearly 25% of C O2 released to the atmosphere from anthropogenic sources[10,11] This efflux of CO2 from soils to the atmosphere includes two major respiratory fluxes: autotrophic respiration from live plant roots and heterotrophic respiration due to microbial decomposition of organic matter[12,13]. Conventional tillage involves physical turning of soils and residues, which produces dramatic changes in soil physical, chemical, and biological characteristics and accelerate organic matter d ecomposition[17,18]. It has been found that up to 50% of organic carbon in the top 20 cm of the soil is usually lost within three to five decades of cultivation of agricultural soils[20]

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