Patterns of change in soil organic matter, physical properties and crop productivity under tillage practices and cropping systems in Bangladesh

2016 ◽  
Vol 155 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
MD. KHAIRUL ALAM ◽  
N. SALAHIN ◽  
S. ISLAM ◽  
R. A. BEGUM ◽  
M. HASANUZZAMAN ◽  
...  

SUMMARYConservation agriculture (CA) is inadequately developed for rice-based cropping systems widely practiced in Bangladesh. The current drawback is the implementation of CA for all crops including rice (Oryza sativaL., ecotype ‘transplanted aman’ [T. aman]) to increase rice–wheat (Triticum aestivumL.) rotation productivity. It is important to identify the best combination of tillage types and cropping systems to achieve a high yield of component crops and improve soil health. Three tillage practices, assigned to main experimental plots [namely, zero tillage (ZT), conventional tillage using a rotary tiller (CT) and deep tillage using a chisel plough (DT)] and three different cropping systems, assigned to sub-plots [namely, WFT: wheat–fallow–T. aman, WMT: wheat–mungbean (Vigna radiataL. Wilczek)–T. aman and WDT: wheat–dhaincha (Sesbania rostrata)–T. aman], were tested. After 4 years, ZT under WDT and WMT significantly increased soil organic matter (SOM) at 0–150 mm depth, and these replicates also held the highest levels of total organic carbon. Soil organic carbon (C) increased at a rate of 1.17 and 1.14 t/ha/y in ZT under WDT and WMT, respectively, while CT and DT under WFT were almost unchanged. After 4 years, SOM build-up by the three-crop system (WDT and WMT) under ZT helped conserve soil moisture and improve other soil properties, such as reduction in soil strength and bulk density and increase plant available water content, thus maintaining an optimum soil water infiltration rate. Zero tillage under WMT and WDT showed significant improvements in root mass density of rice and wheat at increased soil depth. The WDT and WMT plots under DT consistently gave the highest yield followed by WDT and WMT under CT, in contrast with ZT under WMT or WDT, which showed the highest improvement in crop yields over the years. In summary, minimum soil disturbance together with incorporation of a legume/green manure crop into the rice–wheat system as well as the retention of their residues increased soil C status, improved soil properties and maximized grain yields.

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 62-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
A K M Saiful Islam ◽  
M A Saleque ◽  
M M Hossain ◽  
A K M Aminul Islam

Soil organic matter, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) nutrition of rice-maize cropping systems are important for sustaining crop productivity and food security. An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of tillage practices and residue retention on soil chemical properties in rice-maize cropping system. Conventional tillage, single pass wet tillage in rice (rotated with zero tillage in maize), bed planting (unpuddled rice transplanting) and strip tillage (unpuddled rice transplanting) in vertical plots and residue retention (0, 50 and 100%) in horizontal plot were tested for three consecutive years (2009-12). Rice was grown as transplanted irrigated crop and maize as upland crop. After third crop, strip tillage increased soil organic matter compared to bed and zero tillage at 0–7.5 cm soil depth. After three years, retention of crop residues, irrespective of tillage treatments, increased soil organic matter (SOM) at 7.5–15.0 cm soil depth. Tillage practices (puddled or unpudled) showed no significant changes in SOM. Neither tillage nor residue management had any significant effect on soil pH, total nitrogen, available phosphorus and exchangeable potassium.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/agric.v13i2.26589The Agriculturists 2015; 13(2) 62-73


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md. Khairul Alam ◽  
Md. Monirul Islam ◽  
Nazmus Salahin ◽  
Mirza Hasanuzzaman

This study was conducted to know cropping cycles required to improve OM status in soil and to investigate the effects of medium-term tillage practices on soil properties and crop yields in Grey Terrace soil of Bangladesh under wheat-mungbean-T.amancropping system. Four different tillage practices, namely, zero tillage (ZT), minimum tillage (MT), conventional tillage (CT), and deep tillage (DT), were studied in a randomized complete block (RCB) design with four replications. Tillage practices showed positive effects on soil properties and crop yields. After four cropping cycles, the highest OM accumulation, the maximum root mass density (0–15 cm soil depth), and the improved physical and chemical properties were recorded in the conservational tillage practices. Bulk and particle densities were decreased due to tillage practices, having the highest reduction of these properties and the highest increase of porosity and field capacity in zero tillage. The highest total N, P, K, and S in their available forms were recorded in zero tillage. All tillage practices showed similar yield after four years of cropping cycles. Therefore, we conclude that zero tillage with 20% residue retention was found to be suitable for soil health and achieving optimum yield under the cropping system in Grey Terrace soil (Aeric Albaquept).


2008 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silmara R. Bianchi ◽  
Mario Miyazawa ◽  
Edson L. de Oliveira ◽  
Marcos Antonio Pavan

The quantity of soil organic matter (SOM) was estimated through the determination of soil organic carbon (SOC) times a factor, which assumes that 58% of the SOM was formed by carbon. A number of soil samples with wide range of SOC content collected in the state of Paraná, Brazil were evaluated in the laboratory. SOC was measured by Walkley-Black method and the total SOM by loss on ignition. The SOC was positively correlated with SOM. The SOM/SOC ratio varied from 1.91 to 5.08 for the soils. It shows that Brazilian SOM has greater oxidation degree. Although, the SOM and SOC decreased with soil depth the SOM/SOC ratio increased. It showed that SOM in the subsoil contained more oxygen but less carbon than the SOM in the upper soil surface. The CEC/SOC also increased with depth indicating that the functional groups of the SOM increased per unity of carbon.


1999 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 473-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. D. Wanniarachchi ◽  
R. P. Voroney ◽  
T. J. Vyn ◽  
R. P. Beyaert ◽  
A. F. MacKenzie

Agricultural management practices affect the dynamics of soil organic matter (SOM) by influencing the amount of plant residues returned to the soil and rate of residue and SOM decomposition. Total organic C and δ13C of soil were measured in two field experiments involving corn cropping to determine the effect of tillage practices on SOM dynamics. Minimum tillage (MT) and no tillage (NT) had no significant impact on the soil C compared with conventional tillage (CT) in the 0- to 50-cm soil depth sampled at both sites. Continuous corn under MT and CT for 29 yr in a silt loam soil sequestered 61–65 g m−2 yr−1 of corn-derived C (C4-C), and it accounted for 25–26% of the total C in the 0- to 50-cm depth. In a sandy loam soil cropped to corn for 6 yr, SOM contained 10 and 8.4% C4-C under CT and NT, respectively. Reduced tillage practices altered the distribution of C4-C in soil, causing the surface (0–5 cm) soil of reduced tillage (MT and NT) plots to have higher amounts of C4-C compared to CT. Tillage practices did not affect the turnover of C3-C in soil. Key words: Soil organic matter, 13C natural abundance, tillage practices


Author(s):  
Maximilian Meyer ◽  
Dörte Diehl ◽  
Gabriele Ellen Schaumann ◽  
Katherine Muñoz

AbstractPlastic and straw coverage (PC and SC) are often combined with fungicide application but their influence on fungicide entry into soil and the resulting consequences for soil quality are still unknown. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of PC and SC, combined with fungicide application, on soil residual concentrations of fungicides (fenhexamid, cyprodinil, and fludioxonil), soil fungal biomass, mycotoxin occurrence, and soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition, depending on soil depth (0–10, 10–30, 30–60 cm) and time (1 month prior to fungicide application and respectively 1 week, 5 weeks, and 4 months afterwards). Soil analyses comprised fungicides, fusarium mycotoxins (deoxynivalenol, 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol, nivalenol, and zearalenone), ergosterol, soil microbial carbon and nitrogen, soil organic carbon, dissolved organic carbon, and pH. Fludioxonil and cyprodinil concentrations were higher under SC than under PC 1 week and 5 weeks after fungicide application (up to three times in the topsoil) but no differences were observed anymore after 4 months. Fenhexamid was not detected, presumably because of its fast dissipation in soil. The higher fludioxonil and cyprodinil concentrations under SC strongly reduced the fungal biomass and shifted microbial community towards larger bacterial fraction in the topsoil and enhanced the abundance and concentration of deoxynivalenol and 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol 5 weeks after fungicide application. Independent from the different fungicide concentrations, the decomposition of SOM was temporarily reduced after fungicide application under both coverage types. However, although PC and SC caused different concentrations of fungicide residues in soil, their impact on the investigated soil parameters was minor and transient (< 4 months) and hence not critical for soil quality.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 13278
Author(s):  
Nikolaos V. Paranychianakis ◽  
Giorgos Giannakis ◽  
Daniel Moraetis ◽  
Vasileios A. Tzanakakis ◽  
Nikolaos P. Nikolaidis

The agricultural soils in the Mediterranean are characterized by low stocks of soil organic matter (SOM) because of the intensive management practices and constraints on litter inputs to the soil imposed by environmental conditions (low precipitation, high evapotranspiration). To date, several studies have provided evidence for a low potential of Mediterranean agroecosystems, especially on its southern part, to store C, even under soil conservation practices (e.g., non-tillage), questioning the capacity of commonly applied practices to restore soil health, mitigate climate change and improve resilience of agroecosystems to climate extremes. Using paired orchards of avocado and olive trees, we show that soils in the South Mediterranean have a high potential for C storage that depends strongly on crop type and soil properties. Soils planted with avocado trees showed higher SOM contents compared to olive trees mainly in the upper soil layer (0–10 cm) which were linked to higher inputs and litter chemistry. Our findings enable us to re-define achievable thresholds of SOC (≈8%) in Southern Mediterranean soils to store C, to quantify the effect of different cropping systems, and the period required to reach this potential and how this potential is affected by soil properties. Thus, the findings have profound implications for the design of soil conservation practices compatible with Mediterranean conditions and developing initiatives describing achievable targets of SOM restoration depending on soil properties and cropping systems.


Soil Research ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 187 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Somasundaram ◽  
M. Salikram ◽  
N. K. Sinha ◽  
M. Mohanty ◽  
R. S. Chaudhary ◽  
...  

Conservation agriculture (CA) including reduced or no-tillage and crop residue retention, is known to be a self–sustainable system as well as an alternative to residue burning. The present study evaluated the effect of reduced tillage coupled with residue retention under different cropping systems on soil properties and crop yields in a Vertisol of a semiarid region of central India. Two tillage systems – conventional tillage (CT) with residue removed, and reduced tillage (RT) with residue retained – and six major cropping systems of this region were examined after 3 years of experimentation. Results demonstrated that soil moisture content, mean weight diameter, percent water stable aggregates (&gt;0.25mm) for the 0–15cm soil layer were significantly (P&lt;0.05) affected by tillage practices. Soil penetration resistance was significantly higher for RT than CT. Irrespective of soil depth, there was higher soil organic carbon (SOC) for RT than CT. The SOC fractions followed in the order: non-labile&gt;moderately labile&gt;less labile. At the 0–15cm depth, the contributions of moderately labile, less labile and non-labile C fractions to total organic C were 39.3%, 10.3% and 50.4% respectively in RT and corresponding values for CT were 38.9%, 11.7% and 49.4%. Significant differences in different C fractions were observed between RT and CT. Soil microbial biomass C concentration was significantly higher in RT than CT at 0–15cm depth. The maize–chickpea cropping system had significantly (P&lt;0.05) higher soybean grain equivalent yield of 4.65 t ha–1 followed by soybean+pigeon pea (2:1) intercropping (3.50 t ha–1) and soybean–wheat cropping systems (2.97 t ha–1). Thus, CA practices could be sustainable management practices for improving soil health and crop yields of rainfed Vertisols in these semiarid regions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 2481-2490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Liu ◽  
Zeng Cui ◽  
Ze Huang ◽  
Hai-Tao Miao ◽  
Gao-Lin Wu

Abstract. Litter crusts are integral components of the water budget in terrestrial ecosystems, especially in arid areas. This innovative study is designed to quantify the ecohydrological effectiveness of litter crusts in desert ecosystems. We focus on the positive effects of litter crusts on soil water holding capacity and water interception capacity compared with biocrusts. Litter crusts significantly increased soil organic matter compared to biocrusts and bare lands, by 2.4 times and 3.8 times, respectively. Higher organic matter content resulted in increased soil porosity and decreased soil bulk density. Meanwhile, soil organic matter can help to maintain maximum infiltration rates. Litter crusts significantly increased the water infiltration rate under high water supply. Our results suggested that litter crusts significantly improve soil properties, thereby influencing hydrological processes. Litter crusts play an important role in improving hydrological effectiveness and provide a microhabitat conducive to vegetation restoration in dry sandy ecosystems.


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