Abstract
Soil management practices are used to enhance soil organic carbon, fertility, and crop productivity around the world. However, accurate information about the appropriate amount of straw incorporation is not available, because it is generally believed that at least 30% of the soil surface should be covered by straw, which is not implemented in all field environments. Therefore, a two-year (2016–2017) field experiment was conducted to investigate the impact of different percentages of straw incorporation and tillage methods, i.e., reduced tillage (RT) and conventional tillage (CT), on crop yield, soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), and soil carbon storage (SCS) in rice–wheat cropping systems, under eight treatments. The experimental results showed that the greatest reduction in soil dry bulk density ( ρ b ) was found under CT with 100% straw coverage (9.79%), whereas the least reduction occurred under CT with no straw (1.31%). The mean TN concentration, soil organic matter (SOM), and soil carbon storage (SCS) were significantly higher by 0.98 g/kg, 17.07%, and 14.20%, respectively, under reduced tillage with 60% straw incorporation (RTsi60) compared with all other treatments. Our findings demonstrate that the incorporated wheat residues resulted in the highest rice production (7.95–8.63 t/ha) under RTsi60. We recommend the adoption of reduced tillage with 60% straw incorporation to increase rice yield, improve soil structure, and enhance TN, SOM, and SCS in paddy soil under rice-wheat rotation fields for agricultural sustainability.
Highlights
The rice–wheat rotation (RWR) system is one of the oldest and most pervasive agricultural practices in Asia, occupying about 13 million hectares each year in China [1] and 0.5, 0.8, 2.2, and 10.0 million hectares in Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India, respectively
The maximum reduction in ρb of 9.79% was found under CTsi100 followed by RTsi100 (6.27%), whereas the smallest reduction (1.31%) occurred under the conventional tillage and no straw (CTns) treatment
The results of this study indicated that straw incorporation has positive effects on soil physicochemical characteristics, soil organic matter concentration, and yields in RWR systems compared to systems that do not incorporate straw with reduced tillage (RT) and conventional tillage (CT) practices
Summary
The rice–wheat rotation (RWR) system is one of the oldest and most pervasive agricultural practices in Asia, occupying about 13 million hectares each year in China [1] and 0.5, 0.8, 2.2, and 10.0 million hectares in Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India, respectively. Yield has declined due to the deteriorating natural resource base; soil degradation; the rising cost of cultivation; soil erosion; reduced aggregation; environmental pollution [6]; increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) loss; pesticide management; and long-term conventional practices such as crop-intensive tillage, plowing, residue removal or burning, decreased profit, the prolonged time involved in seedbed preparation [7], and reduced support for public agricultural research [8]. This system requires the high use of agricultural machinery, such as moldboard plow and rotary cultivators, and aggravates the degradation of existing SOC. Sustainability is related to soil quality, which is defined as the ability of a particular kind of soil to work, within natural or managed boundaries, to sustain animal and plant productivity, maintain or increase air and water quality, and support human health and habitation [9]
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