Three-Year Investigation of Tillage Management on the Soil Physical Environment, Earthworm Populations and Crop Yields in Croatia

Igor Dekemati,Barbara Simon,Igor Bogunovic,Szergej Vinogradov,Maimela Maxwell Modiba,Csaba Gyuricza,Márta Birkás

doi:10.3390/agronomy11050825

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the environmental suitability of conservation tillage systems. A 3-year experiment was conducted in Croatia, to study the effects of different tillage treatments on soil properties, with the following: deep (DC), shallow tine cultivation (SC) and ploughing (P). Soil penetration resistance (SPR) was significantly greater in P compared to DC in all three years. In 2016, it was found at 30–40 and 40–50 cm; in 2017 at 10–20 cm; in 2018 at 0–10 and 10–20 cm. However, SC was significantly greater at 20–30, 30–40 and 40–50 cm compared to P and DC in 2017. The greater surface coverage in DC and SC (>30%) as compared to P (<1%) provided significantly higher soil moisture content (SMC) in maize (2016) and soybean (2018). In 2017, SMC in SC was significantly lower than in P and DC. Regarding all the 3 years, the agronomic structure in DC and SC had significantly greater crumb ratio compared to P, whereas P had significantly higher dust ratio than DC and SC. Throughout the 15 measurements, DC provided the most favorable soil habitat (11 occasions out of 15). In 2017, the earthworm abundance was significantly higher in DC compared to SC. In all the three years, DC resulted the highest yield, however the difference was not significant. Higher surface coverage and SMC positively impacted the ratio of agronomic structure (decreased dust and increased crumb ratio) and earthworm abundance. It can be concluded that DC and SC provided greater soil coverage which positively affected SPR, SMC, agronomic structure and earthworm abundance as compared to P.

Highlights

IntroductionWorld population is gradually growing and reached 7.674 billion people in 2019 [1]
This study showed that tillage did not have significant impact on earthworm abundance, except for one case on 21 June 2017 when deep tine cultivation (DC) had significantly higher abundance compared to shallow tine cultivation (SC)
Mulch covered treatments provide higher topsoil protection and favorable soil physical circumstances indicated by generally lower compaction, and higher water conservation as compared to uncovered ploughed soil according to this study

Summary

Introduction

World population is gradually growing and reached 7.674 billion people in 2019 [1]. Such growth increases the demand for food, fiber and fuel. In this context, soil has been and will be one of the most valuable resources of mankind [2] since it is the support for. To satisfy future population growth, it is necessary to preserve all productive soil, 33 million hectares of arable land is already severely degraded only in Europe [4]. The negative effects of climate change on plant–soil relationship reduce food production [5,6]

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