Abstract
The soil tillage system and the distribution of stubble catch crops increase the content of organic carbon, thus increasing the biochemical activity of soil. The aim of the study was to assess the impact of leguminous cover crops and different tillage soil systems before spring wheat sowing on the count of soil microorganisms, biochemical activity, microbiological diversity and the physiological state of the plants in correlation with yield. The study compared and analysed the following systems: (1) conventional tillage (CT) to a depth of 22 cm, followed by spring wheat sowing using four simplified cultivation technologies called conservation tillage. The following simplified tillage systems were evaluated: (2) skimming before sowing the cover crop and spring wheat sowing after ploughing tillage (CT), (3) skimming before sowing of the cover crop (sowing wheat with no-till technology (NT)), (4) direct sowing of ground cover plants (NT) and spring wheat sowing after ploughing cultivation (CT) and (5) direct sowing of cover crop (NT) and sowing wheat directly into cover crop (NT). The results showed that applying the cover crop and soil tillage method before sowing wheat improved all tested parameters. The highest values of the analysed parameters were observed in the treatment with soil skimming before sowing of the cover plant, and then with sowing the wheat directly into the mulch. The activity of dehydrogenase was 90% higher, while the activity of phosphatase was 32% higher, in comparison to the control group. Both the activity of catalase and the biological index of fertility were 200% higher, in comparison to the control group. Metagenomic analysis showed that soil bacterial communities collected during treatment ‘zero’ and after different cultivations differed in the structure and percentage of individual taxa at the phylum level.
Highlights
Reduced tillage, cover crops and fertilisers are some of the practices recommended for conservation agriculture (CA) in order to diminish soil erosion and greenhouse gas emissions
Our results showed that the use of cover crops, as well as the method of its cultivation, had an impact on the count of individual groups of soil microorganisms, which included total bacteria, oligotrophs, copiotrophs, fungi and actinobacteria
The analysis revealed that when different spring wheat cultivation systems and different methods of forecrop sowing were applied, over 99% of the microorganisms in each soil sample collected from individual experimental treatments belonged to the Bacteria kingdom, whereas 0.01–0.02% belonged to the Archaea kingdom
Summary
Cover crops and fertilisers are some of the practices recommended for conservation agriculture (CA) in order to diminish soil erosion and greenhouse gas emissions. These practices are beneficial for the improvement of soil and water quality, as well as crop productivity [1,2]. Conservation agriculture has become a global trend in agronomy. It consists of the Agronomy 2020, 10, 200; doi:10.3390/agronomy10020200 www.mdpi.com/journal/agronomy. The various methods of cultivation and all agrotechnical treatments that increase the amount of organic matter in soil and stimulate its biological functions are the basis of sustainable agriculture [4,5]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
