The potential mechanism of long-term conservation tillage effects on maize yield in the black soil of Northeast China

Abstract. Long-term (10 years) application of conservation tillage following conversion from conventional tillage (CT) can achieve a new equilibrium in the soil environment, which is vital to reverse soil biodiversity declines and fulfil the goal of maintaining agroecosystem sustainability. However, in such a situation, how the soil community regulates nutrient cycling impacting crop yield is not well documented. Therefore, the relations between mineralized nitrogen (N) delivered by soil food web and soybean (Glycine max Merr.) yield were investigated after 14 years application of CT, reduced tillage (RT) and no tillage (NT) in a black soil (Typic Hapludoll) of Northeast China. We hypothesized that soil mineralizable N would increase with the complexity of the soil food web, and that the trophic groups involved in associating N mineralization with crop yield will vary with soil depth in the conservation tillage practice. During the soybean growing season, soil organisms, including bacteria, fungi, nematodes, mites and collembolans, were extracted and identified monthly from 0–5 and 5–15 cm soil depths to estimate the complexity of the food web indicated by the species richness and connectance indices, and to simulate the mineralized N using energetic food web modelling. The species richness and connectance of the food web at both soil depths were significantly affected by tillage practices, and their values decreased of the order of NT > RT > CT. A similar trend was also revealed for the simulated N mineralization, that is, the mineralized N released either from the functional feeding guilds or from the energy pathways of the food web were greater in RT and NT than in CT at both soil depths. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that soil organisms involved in coupling the mineralized N with soybean yield were different at different soil depths, in which fungal and root pathways at 0–5 cm and bacterial pathway at 5–15 cm were the driving factors for the supply of mineralized N to soybean in NT and RT soils. These results support our hypothesis and highlight the essential role of soil food web complexity in coupling N mineralization and crop yield after long-term application of conservation tillage. Additionally, the current modelling work provides basic hypotheses for future studies to test the impact of soil biodiversity or specific functional guilds on the fate of N in agro-ecosystems.

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Influence of Tillage on the Mollisols Physicochemical Properties, Seed Emergence and Yield of Maize in Northeast China

Agriculture ◽

10.3390/agriculture11100939 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (10) ◽

pp. 939

Author(s):

Qiang Chen ◽

Xingyi Zhang ◽

Li Sun ◽

Jianhua Ren ◽

Yaru Yuan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soil Moisture ◽

Physicochemical Properties ◽

Northeast China ◽

Soil Structure ◽

Aggregate Stability ◽

Maize Yield ◽

Conventional Tillage ◽

Soil Conditions ◽

Emergence Period

Tillage practices are critical for sustaining soil quality necessary for successful crop growth and productivity, but there are only few studies for strip tillage (ST) in the Mollisols region of Northeast China at present. A long-term (≥10-year) study was carried out to investigate the influence of within the tilled row (IR) and between rows (BR) in ST (10-year), conventional tillage (CT, 14-year) and no tillage (NT, 14-year) treatments on soil physicochemical properties. Soil samples were taken in May of 2019 at 0–5, 5–10, 10–20 and 20–30 cm depths and used to analyze bulk density (BD), soil aggregate distribution and stability, and soil organic carbon (SOC). Meanwhile, our study also explored the differences in seed emergence, soil moisture, and temperature during the seed emergence period, and yield of maize (Zea mays L.) among the different treatments. Similar soil properties were observed between ST-BR and NT, which showed they had a significantly greater BD, >0.25 mm water stable aggregate content (WR0.25) (especially in the amount of >2 mm and 1–2 mm size proportion), aggregate stability, and SOC than ST-IR and CT-IR at a depth of 0–20 cm. By improving soil conditions of seedbed, ST-IR and CT-IR increased soil temperature above NT by 1.64 °C and 1.80 °C, respectively, and ST-IR had a slight greater soil moisture than CT-IR in the top 10 cm layer during the seed emergence period. Late maize seed emergence was observed NT in than ST-IR and CT-IR and the average annual yields in ST were slightly greater than NT and CT, but the differences were not significant. Our results also showed that CT-BR had a poor soil structure and lower SOC than other treatments at 0–30 cm depth. We conclude from these long-term experimental results that ST could improve soil water-heat conditions to promote seed germination, maintain soil structure, and increase the maize yield and it should be applied in the Mollisols region of Northeast China.

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Earthworms promote the accumulation of maize root-derived carbon in a black soil of Northeast China, especially in soil from long-term no-till

Geoderma ◽

10.1016/j.geoderma.2019.01.003 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 340 ◽

pp. 124-132 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Xinyu Zhu ◽

Yunchuan Hu ◽

Wei Wang ◽

Donghui Wu

Keyword(s):

Northeast China ◽

Black Soil ◽

Maize Root ◽

No Till

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Integrated Soil–Crop System Management with Organic Fertilizer Achieves Sustainable High Maize Yield and Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Northeast China Based on an 11-Year Field Study

Agronomy ◽

10.3390/agronomy10081078 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (8) ◽

pp. 1078

Author(s):

Yin Wang ◽

Yaqi Cao ◽

Guozhong Feng ◽

Xiaoyu Li ◽

Lin Zhu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Northeast China ◽

Organic Fertilizer ◽

Maize Yield ◽

Organic Fertilizers ◽

Agricultural System ◽

System Management ◽

Environmental Costs ◽

Use Efficiency ◽

Crop System

To increase crop productivity while reducing environmental costs, an integrated soil–crop system management (ISSM) strategy was developed and successfully adopted in China. However, little information is available on the long-term ISSM effects on maize agronomic and environmental performance. Therefore, we evaluated the effects of ISSM with combining inorganic and organic fertilizers on maize productivity, N use efficiency (NUE) and N balance and losses as compared with farmers’ practice (FP) and high-yielding practice (HY), based on an 11-year field experiment in Northeast China. Maize yield in ISSM (11.7–14.3 Mg ha−1) achieved 97.7% of that in HY and was increased by 27% relative to FP. The excellent yield performance in ISSM was mainly attributed to optimum plant population structure and yield components. Annual N surplus in ISSM was only 7 kg ha−1, which was considerably lower than that in FP (52 kg ha−1) and HY (109 kg ha−1). Consequently, ISSM obtained significantly lower N losses and greenhouse gases emissions and higher NUE. In contrast to FP, crop performance in ISSM showing better sustainability and inter-annual stability. In conclusion, ISSM is an effective strategy to achieve long-term sustainable high crop yields and NUE with less environmental costs in the intensive agricultural system.

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Effect of long-term tillage on soil aggregates and aggregate-associated carbon in black soil of Northeast China

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0199523 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 13 (6) ◽

pp. e0199523 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Hongbing Zheng ◽

Wuren Liu ◽

Jinyu Zheng ◽

Yang Luo ◽

Ruiping Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Northeast China ◽

Soil Aggregates ◽

Black Soil

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Effects of long-term no tillage treatment on gross soil N transformations in black soil in Northeast China

Geoderma ◽

10.1016/j.geoderma.2017.04.008 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 301 ◽

pp. 42-46 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Siyi Liu ◽

Xiaoping Zhang ◽

Jun Zhao ◽

Jinbo Zhang ◽

Christoph Müller ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Northeast China ◽

Black Soil ◽

No Tillage ◽

Soil N ◽

N Transformations ◽

Tillage Treatment

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Distribution characteristics of insect diversity in long-term fixed monitoring plots in Northeast China

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0250689 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (8) ◽

pp. e0250689

Author(s):

Jinwen Liu ◽

Xiujuan Yan ◽

Xinyuan Song ◽

Jiamei Zhang ◽

Donghui Wu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Northeast China ◽

Black Soil ◽

Insect Community ◽

Insect Communities ◽

Ecological Processes ◽

Structure Changes ◽

Biodiversity Maintenance ◽

Observation Method ◽

Direct Observation Method

The spatial patterns of field arthropod communities are an essential part of ecology and can provide fundamental data regarding field ecological processes and reveal the mechanism of ecosystem biodiversity maintenance. This study investigated the spatial distribution pattern of field insect communities to detect the spatial relationships between insect communities in farmland. The study site was located at the Dehui Agro-ecological Experimental Station of Black Soil, Jilin, China. Insect communities and environmental factors were sampled at 121 uniformly distributed points in a 400 × 400 m plot in August, September, and October 2015. The analysis revealed that insect communities from June to October demonstrated significant spatial correlation, and 6085 samples of 47 species and 47 families in 11 orders were collected from the insect community in the farmland. The farmland insect community structure changes and dynamic changes of nutritional function groups occur with time. According to the 400 x 400 m plot, the diversity of farmland insect communities and functional groups is maintained at a relatively high and stable level. In this study, a total of 6085 samples of corn farmland insects were obtained using the fluke method and direct observation method, including 11 orders, 26 families and 47 species, 4 absolute dominant populations, 6 main dominant populations, and 37 other populations. These studies can provide help for pest control in the spring corn area of Northeast China.

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Increase in maize yield and soil aggregate-associated carbon in North China due to long-term conservation tillage

Experimental Agriculture ◽

10.1017/s001447972100020x ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-12

Author(s):

Ying Shen ◽

Tingting Zhang ◽

Jichao Cui ◽

Siyu Chen ◽

Huifang Han ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Economic Benefit ◽

North China ◽

Microbial Biomass Carbon ◽

Conservation Tillage ◽

Maize Yield ◽

Conventional Tillage ◽

Soil Aggregate ◽

The North ◽

The Impact

Summary The North China Plain (NCP) is an important agricultural area, where conventional tillage (CT) is used year-round. However, long-term CT has damaged the soil structure, threatening agricultural sustainability. Since 2002, we have conducted a long-term tillage experiment in the NCP to explore the effects of different types of tillage on soil and crop yield. As part of long-term conservation tillage, we conducted a 2-year study in 2016/2017 to determine the impact of no tillage (NT), subsoiling (SS), rotary tillage (RT) and CT on soil aggregate distribution, aggregate-associated organic carbon (AOC), aggregate-associated microbial biomass carbon (AMBC), and maize yield. Compared to CT, NT increased the content of macro-aggregates (+4.8%), aggregate-AOC (+8.3%), and aggregate-AMBC (+18.3%), but decreased maize yield (−11.5%). SS increased the contents of macro-aggregates (+5%), aggregate-AOC (+14.7%), and aggregate-AMBC (+16%); although the yield increase was not significant (+0.22%), it had the highest economic benefit among the four tillage measures. RT had no significant advantage when considering the above soil variables; moreover, it reduced maize yield by 16.1% compared with CT. Overall, SS is a suitable tillage measure to improve soil macro-aggregate content, carbon content, yield, and economic benefit in the NCP area.

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