Effects of five years conservation tillage for hedging against drought, stabilizing maize yield, and improving soil environment in the drylands of northern China

Zizheng Deng; Mingjing Huang; Wuping Zhang; Guofang Wang; Xuefang Huang; Gaimei Liang; Nana Li

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0282359

Effects of five years conservation tillage for hedging against drought, stabilizing maize yield, and improving soil environment in the drylands of northern China

PLoS One. 2023 Mar 6;18(3):e0282359. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282359. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Zizheng Deng¹, Mingjing Huang^{2

3}, Wuping Zhang⁴, Guofang Wang¹, Xuefang Huang^{2

3}, Gaimei Liang^{2

3}, Nana Li^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ College of Resources and Environment, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu, Jingzhong, Shanxi, China.
² Shanxi Institute of Organic Dryland Farming, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Integrative Sustainable Dryland Agriculture (in preparation), Shanxi Agricultural University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China.
⁴ College of Software, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu, Jingzhong, Shanxi, China.

Abstract

Continuous tillage cultivation positioning trials can provide the basis for maintaining soil health, improving resource utilization efficiency and crop productivity, and achieving sustainable agricultural development. In this study, changes in soil stability and water-holding capacity characteristics were measured under different tillage cultivations from a multi-year microscopic perspective and analyzed to evaluate selected key indicators. Continuous monitoring of rainfall utilization efficiency and yield was carried out for five years. Here, we discuss the role of conservation tillage in buffering and stabilizing rainfall precipitation pattern on the fluctuation and uncertainty of soil water retention and water supply capacity and soil quality. The study was carried out on dryland areas of the Loess Plateau in northern China with eight tillage systems established in 2016: no-tillage (NT); no-tillage and straw (NTS); subsoiling (SU); subsoiling and straw (SUS); rotary tillage (RT); rotary tillage and straw (RTS); conventional tillage (CT); and conventional tillage and straw (CTS). All treatments were applied in conjunction with continuous cropping for five years. The evaluated soil parameters were mean weight diameter (MWD), geometric mean diameter (GMD), >0.25 mm aggregate content (R0.25) of water-stable aggregates (WSAs), soil moisture characteristic curve (SMCC), specific soil water capacity (Cθ), soil organic matter (SOM), rainfall utilization efficiency (RUE), and maize yields for five consecutive years. The MWD, GMD, and R0.25 of SUS were 27.38%, 17.57%, and 7.68% more than CTS (control), respectively. Overall, SOM, average annual RUE, and average annual yields increased by 14.64%, 11.89%, and 9.59%, respectively, compared with 2016. Our results strongly suggest that conservation tillage can considerably improve these characterization indicators. SUS was more effective than CTS in the 0-40 cm soil layer at hedging against drought in the area, stabilizing crop production, and achieving sustainable agricultural development.

Copyright: © 2023 Deng et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

China
Droughts
Soil*
Water
Zea mays*

Substances

Soil
Water

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2021YFD1901101–2), the Major Special Project of Science and Technology of Shanxi Province (No. 202101140601026-02), the State Key Laboratory of Integrative Sustainable Dryland Agriculture (in preparation), Shanxi Agricultural University (No.202105D121008–1–6). No additional external funding was received for this study. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.