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Conservation tillage regulates the assembly, network structure and ecological function of the soil bacterial community in black soils
Aims
Traditional tillage represents a serious threat to the stability of soil ecosystems. Understanding the response mechanisms of soil microbial community assembly to different tillage practices is a major topic of soil ecological research.
Methods
Here, we investigated the bacterial community structures and assembly in bulk and rhizosphere soils of soybeans grown under traditional tillage (moldboard plow, MP) and two conservation tillage practices, namely, no-tillage (NT) and ridge tillage (RT), using high-throughput sequencing methods.
Results
Compared with MP, NT and RT increased the relative abundances of nitrifying bacteria of
Nitrosospira
sp
.
and the nitrogen-fixing bacteria of
Mesorhizobium
sp
.
,
Bradyrhizobium
sp
.
and
Burkholderia
sp
.
, but decreased the abundance of carbon-degrading bacteria, especially
Blastococcus
sp
.
,
Streptomyces
sp
.
and
Sphingomonas
sp. The altered functional bacteria were mostly affiliated with biomarkers and keystone taxa in the NT and RT networks. For the results of network properties and assembly processes, we found that NT and RT habited a more stable bacterial network structure and a lower homogenizing dispersal value. Soil pH was the primary factor regulating both the bacterial community structures and assembly processes under the three tillage practices.
Conclusions
The soil bacterial community structures and assembly processes were profoundly altered by tillage practices. The changes in functional bacteria indicated that conservation tillage might contribute to soil carbon sequestration, while stimulating nitrogen fixation and nitrification.
Journal Article
The organic no-till farming revolution : high-production methods for small-scale farmers
\"The Organic No-Till Farming Revolution is the no-till chemical-free growing roadmap, showing how no-till lowers barriers to starting a small farm, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, increases efficiency and profitability, and promotes soil health. This hands-on manual is specifically written for natural and small-scale farmers.\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Effect of Tillage and Crop Establishment Methods on Physical Properties of a Medium-Textured Soil under a Seven-Year Rice−Wheat Rotation
Rice−wheat (Oryza sativa L.−Triticum aestivum L.) rotation is the major production system in Asia, covering about 18 million ha. Conventional practice of growing rice (puddled transplanting) and wheat (conventional till, CT) deteriorate soil physical properties, and are input- and energy-intensive. Zero-tillage (ZT) along with drill-seeding have been promoted to overcome these problems. A 7-yr permanent plot study evaluated various tillage and crop establishment (CE) methods on soil physical properties with an aim to improve soil health and resource-use efficiency. Treatments included transplanting and direct-seeding of rice on flat and raised beds with or without tillage followed by wheat in CT and ZT soil. Bulk density (Db) of the 10- to 20-cm soil layer was highest under puddled treatments (1.74-1.77 Mg m-3) and lowest under ZT treatments (1.66-1.71 Mg m-3). Likewise, soil penetration resistance (SPR) was highest at the 20-cm depth in puddled treatments (3.46-3.72 MPa) and lowest in ZT treatments (2.51-2.82 MPa). Compared with conventional practice, on average, water-stable aggregates (WSAs) > 0.25 mm were 28% higher in ZT direct-seeding with positive time trend of 4.02% yr-1. Infiltration was higher (0.29-0.40 cm h-1) in ZT treatments than puddled treatments (0.18 cm h-1). The least-limiting water range was about double in ZT direct-seeding than that of conventional practice. Gradual improvement in soil physical parameters in ZT system resulted in improvement in wheat yield and is expected to be superior in long-run on system (rice+wheat) basis. Further research is needed to understand mechanisms and requirements of two cereals with contrasting edaphic requirements in their new environment of ZT direct-seeding.
Journal Article
Effects of transitioning from conventional to organic farming on soil organic carbon and microbial community: a comparison of long-term non-inversion minimum tillage and conventional tillage
The combination of conservation tillage (non-inversion and no-till) with organic farming is rare due to weed problems. However, both practices have the potential to improve soil quality and increase soil organic C (SOC). This study investigated the changes in SOC, microbial biomass, and microbial composition during the transition from conventional to organic farming (from 2014 to 2020) in a long-term tillage trial established in 1999. Non-inversion minimum tillage to a depth of 10 cm (MT) resulted in SOC stratification, whilst conventional soil tillage with 25-cm-deep mouldboard ploughing (CT) maintained an even SOC distribution in the plough layer. After 12 years of contrasting tillage in 2011, the uppermost soil layer under MT had a 10% higher SOC content (1.6% w/w) than CT (1.45% w/w). This difference became even more pronounced after introducing organic farming in 2014. By the fall of 2020, the SOC content under MT increased to 1.94%, whilst it decreased slightly to 1.36% under CT, resulting in a 43% difference between the two systems. Conversion to organic farming increased microbial biomass under both tillage systems, whilst SOC remained unchanged in CT. Abundances of total bacterial and Crenarchaeal 16S rRNA and fungal ITS genes indicated shifts in the microbial community in response to tillage and depth. Fungal communities under MT were more responsive to organic farming than bacterial communities. The improved soil quality observed under MT supports its adoption in both organic and conventional systems, but potentially large yield losses due to increased weed cover discourage farmers from combining MT and organic farming.
Journal Article
Distribution of soil carbon and microbial biomass in arable soils under different tillage regimes
We have measured total soil organic carbon (SOC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and microbial lipid contents (as indices of microbial biomass and community structure), and their distributions to 60 cm depth in soils from replicated medium-term (2003-2008) experimental arable plots subject to different tillage regimes in Scotland. The treatments were zero tillage (ZT), minimum tillage (MT; cultivation to 7 cm), the conventional tillage (CT) practice of ploughing to 20 cm, and deep ploughing (DP) to 40 cm depth. In the 0-30 cm depth range, SOC content (corrected for bulk density differences between tillage treatments) was greatest under ZT and MT, but over 0-60 cm depth the SOC contents of these treatments were similar to the CT and DP treatments. DOC concentrations declined with increasing depth in ZT and MT above 20 cm, but there were no significant differences with depth in the CT and DP treatments. Beneath 20 cm, there was little change in DOC concentration with depth for all treatments, although for the MT treatment, there was less DOC beneath the depth of cultivation. The total microbial biomass decreased with increasing depth over the 0-60 cm range in the ZT and MT treatments, whereas it decreased with depth only below 30-40 cm in the CT and DP treatments. The microbial biomass was significantly different only between 0-5 cm in the ZT, CT and DP treatments, but not for other depths between all treatments. The bacterial biomass was greater in the ZT treatment than in MT, CT and DP near the soil surface, but not significantly different over the whole profile (0-60 cm). The fungal biomass decreased with depth in the ZT and MT treatments over the whole 0-60 cm depth range, whereas it decreased with depth only below 20 cm in the CT and DP treatments.
Journal Article
Carbon Sequestration to Avoid Soil Degradation: A Review on the Role of Conservation Tillage
Human efforts to produce more food for increasing populations leave marks on the environment. The use of conventional agricultural practices, including intensive tillage based on the removal of crop residue, has magnified soil erosion and soil degradation. In recent years, the progressive increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) has created global interest in identifying different sustainable strategies in order to reduce their concentration in the atmosphere. Carbon stored in soil is 2–4 times higher than that stored in the atmosphere and four times more when compared to carbon stored in the vegetation. The process of carbon sequestration (CS) involves transferring CO2 from the atmosphere into the soil or storage of other forms of carbon to either defer or mitigate global warming and avoid dangerous climate change. The present review discusses the potential of soils in sequestering carbon and mitigating the accelerated greenhouse effects by adopting different agricultural management practices. A significant amount of soil organic carbon (SOC) could be sequestered by conversion of conventional tillage to conservation tillage. The most important aspect of conservation agriculture is thought to improve plant growth and soil health without damaging the environment. In the processes of climate change mitigation and adaptation, zero tillage has been found to be the most eco-friendly method among different tillage techniques. No-till practice is considered to enable sustainable cropping intensification to meet future agricultural demands. Although no-tillage suggests merely the absence of tillage, in reality, several components need to be applied to a conservation agriculture system to guarantee higher or equal yields and better environmental performance than conventional tillage systems.
Journal Article
Tillage and Residue Removal Effects on Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Storage in the North China Plain
Little information is available about their influences of conservation tillage on the distribution and storage of soil organic C (SOC) and total N in soil profiles in the North China Plain. We investigated the changes in SOC and total N as related to the shift from conventional to conservation tillage using a long-term field experiment with a winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)–corn (Zea mays L.) double cropping system. The experiment included four tillage treatments for winter wheat: moldboard plow without corn residue return (MP–R), moldboard plow with corn residue return (MP+R), rotary tillage (RT), and no-till (NT). Compared with the MP–R treatment, returning crop residue to the soil (MP+R, RT, and NT) increased SOC and total N in the 0- to 30-cm soil layer, but no distinct changes in SOC and total N concentration were observed among the four treatments at soil depths >30 cm. Compared with the MP+R treatment, the RT and NT treatments increased SOC and total N concentration significantly in the 0- to 10-cm layer but decreased SOC and total N concentration in the 10- to 20-cm layers. As a consequence, soil profile SOC and total N storage did not vary among the MP+R, RT, and NT treatments. Thus under the experimental conditions, conservation tillage (RT and NT) increased SOC and total N contents in the upper soil layers, but did not increase SOC and total N storage over conventional tillage (MP+R) in the soil profile.
Journal Article
Effects of tillage regime on soil aggregate-associated carbon, enzyme activity, and microbial community structure in a semiarid agroecosystem
Background and aims
Conservation tillage enhances soil aggregate function, —a key factor for promoting soil nutrient cycling and plant growth. However, there is a limited understanding of how tillage practices impact soil nutrients, enzymes and microbes distribution among different-sized aggregates, and their potential subsequent effects on other soil functions and processes.
Methods
We conducted a long-term experiment involving maize (
Zea mays
L.) cultivation in a semiarid farming region in Northwest China. Four tillages were implemented: no-tillage, minimal tillage, fold-tillage, and sub-tillage. Soil aggregates were categorized based on size: <0.25 mm (‘micro’), 0.25–2 mm (‘small’), and > 2 mm (‘macro’). We measured the nutrient contents, enzyme activity, enzymatic stoichiometry, and soil microbial community structure with each fraction, and assessed crop productivity.
Results
The no-tillage treatment increased soil C content, microbial biomass, and P and N availability within micro-aggregates and bulk soil. It also enhanced enzymatic activity related to C and P acquisition and the C: N enzymatic ratio but decreased the N: P enzymatic ratio in micro-aggregates. Notably, no-tillage promoted straw and root biomass and crop yield compared to conventional tillage. Microbial community structure differed under the different tillage regimes and among aggregate size fractions, particularly under conventional tillage, but the tillage system did not affect alpha diversity.
Conclusions
Our results highlight that long-term conservation tillage positively influenced soil aggregates by increasing carbon content and enzyme activity, thereby, reshaping the soil microbial community composition within aggregate size fractions in semiarid agroecosystems.
Journal Article
Short-term effect of tillage and crop rotation on microbial community structure and enzyme activities of a clay loam soil
A field study was carried out to analyze the short-term (2 years) effect of tillage and crop rotation on microbial community structure and enzyme activities of a clay loam soil. The experimental design was a split-plot arrangement of treatments, consisting of two tillage treatments—ridge tillage (RT) and no-tillage (NT)—in combination with two crop rotation treatments—corn (Zea mays L.) monoculture and a 2-year corn-soybean (Glycine max L.) rotation. Phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) profiles were used to assess soil microbial community structure. No-tillage resulted in significantly higher total PLFAs compared to the RT treatment, which was accompanied by higher activities of protease, β-glucosaminidase, and β-glucosidase. This suggests a close link between soil microbial communities and enzyme activities in response to tillage. The increase of total microbial lipid biomass in the NT soils was due to the increase in both fungal and bacterial PLFAs. Crop rotation had little effect on soil bacterial communities and enzyme activities, but it significantly influenced soil fungal communities, particularly arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Soils under monoculture corn had higher fungal biomass than soils under corn-soybean rotation regardless of tillage treatment.
Journal Article