Tillage Depth Regulation and the Effect of Straw Return on Soil Respiration in Farmland

Abstract

Straw return and tillage depth treatments are one of the most important agricultural management measures that affect farmland soil respiration, but the mechanism of their interaction affecting farmland soil respiration remains unclear. Therefore, 116 published research articles were used through Meta-analysis technology for dryland farmland ecosystems in China to explore the effects of straw return and tillage depth treatments and their interaction on farmland soil respiration and its regulatory factors, which will provide important data support and a theoretical basis for achieving "carbon neutrality" in farmland ecosystems. The results showed that no tillage reduced soil respiration by 8.3%, and the effects of shallow and deep tillage treatments on soil respiration were not significant, but the increase in soil respiration still showed a trend of deep tillage>shallow tillage>no tillage. However, both shallow and deep tillage had relatively small effects on soil respiration and soil organic carbon (SOC), whereas no tillage reduced soil respiration by 8.3% and increased SOC by 7.05%. Therefore, implementing no tillage measures is of great significance for soil carbon sequestration and emission reduction in farmland ecosystems. In addition, tillage depth significantly regulated the impact of straw return on soil respiration, and the increase in soil respiration showed a trend of deep tillage straw return>shallow tillage straw return>no tillage straw return, with an overall average increase of 14.51%. The increase in soil respiration under different tillage depth treatments after straw return was closely related to the change in soil bulk density, crop yield, SOC, soil temperature, and moisture, and the contribution to the increase in soil respiration showed a trend of soil bulk density>crop yield>soil organic carbon>soil moisture>soil temperature. However, SOC increased by 29.32%, 10.12%, and 23.94%, respectively, in the deep tillage straw return, shallow tillage straw return, and no tillage straw return treatments, whereas soil respiration increased by 29.32% and 18.92%, respectively, in the deep tillage straw return and shallow tillage straw return treatments, and it only increased by 1.2% in the no tillage straw return treatment. Therefore, no tillage straw return was also beneficial to soil carbon sequestration and emission reduction in farmland ecosystems. Thus, in the dryland farmland ecosystem of China, tillage depth treatments regulated the impact of straw return on soil respiration, which was mainly related to soil physical and chemical properties, especially being closely related to soil bulk density. Moreover, no tillage and no tillage straw return are important agricultural management measures that are conducive to soil carbon sequestration and emission reduction.