Simulating the effects of conventional versus conservation tillage on soil water, nitrogen dynamics, and yield of winter wheat with RZWQM2

Abstract

The movement and distribution of the soil water and nitrogen are significantly influenced by tillage management. However, the dynamics of soil water and nitrogen due to changes in tillage and surface residue cover can be difficult to characterize due to limitations in field experimentation. The objective of this study was to quantify the differences in the soil water and nitrogen balance in the 0–100 cm soil profile, winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) yield, water productivity (WP) and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) that occur when conventional tillage (CT) was changed to four types of conservation tillage treatments (no-tillage [NT], subsoiling tillage [ST], no-tillage with straw [NS] and subsoiling tillage with straw [SS]). Experimental data from 2011 to 2016 collected in Henan province, China on a sandy loam soil was used to calibrate and validate the Root Zone Water Quality Model (RZWQM2). Then the model was used to simulate four tillage systems (NT, NS, ST, SS) that were then compared with CT. The agreement index (d) between simulated and measured soil water content, soil nitrate concentration, and grain yield ranged between 0.71 and 0.93. The root means square error (RMSE) of the soil water content and nitrate concentration was in the range 0.02–0.03 cm cm−1and 5.5–10.3 mg kg−1, respectively. When CT was converted to NT from 2011 to 2016, the model simulated a 9.1 % reduction in annual water loss and a 55.6 % decrease in nitrogen leaching loss and simulated significant increase in average grain yield, WP and NUE. Replacing CT with NT appears to be the best of the four alternative conservation tillage conversion strategies in Henan Province of China.