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Knowing the concentration levels of phenolic compounds and anthocyanins in grape berries plays a key role, as these compounds significantly contribute to the nutritional value and quality of grapes, affecting both health benefits and grape quality. The current study was conducted to investigate how different tillage (disc harrow, chisel, no tillage) and organic fertilizer (Antep radish and broccoli chopped residue, olive blackwater) treatments affect the concentration of these valuable compounds in Royal grape berries over three consecutive years (2020–2022), providing insights into optimal agricultural practices for enhancing grape quality. Our results documented significant variations in phenolic and anthocyanin concentrations across different soil tillage, organic fertilizer treatments and years. Among the soil treatments, the disc harrow treatment emerged as the most effective in increasing the levels of most phenolic compounds and anthocyanins, while the broccoli fertilizer treatment was identified as the superior fertilizer application for achieving the same goal. Excluding disc harrow and broccoli fertilizer treatments, other treatments such as no tillage and chisel tillage, and fertilizers like olive blackwater and Antep radish, showed variable effectiveness. These treatments, although less effective overall than the leading treatments, contributed to increased levels of certain compounds such as resveratrol and pterostilbene, indicating their specific benefits. The findings also indicated specific combinations of tillage and fertilizer treatments that maximized the accumulation of certain phenolic compounds, like the combination of no tillage with broccoli fertilizer, which was particularly effective in increasing the levels of vanillic acid and trans‐caffeic acid. To sum up, by adopting practices such as disc harrow tillage and broccoli fertilizer application, viticulturists can enhance the phenolic and anthocyanin profiles of grapes, thus improving their nutritional value and potentially the quality of grape and wine produced from these grapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tillage practices significantly influence crop yield and soil quality. This study investigated the impact of rotary tillage (RT) and deep tillage (DT) on soil properties, microbial diversity, and melon (Cucumis melo L.) root growth and yield. RT involved breaking up the topsoil to a depth of 15 cm using a rotary tiller, while DT employed a rotary tiller followed by a moldboard plow to turn the soil layer over to a depth of 35 cm. The melon variety "Nasimi" was used as the material. Our findings revealed a remarkable response of soil phosphorus to tillage practices. High-throughput sequencing results revealed a significant impact of tillage practices on the soil fungal composition, richness, and diversity but little impact on the bacterial communities. Compared to RT, DT markedly enhanced melon root length, root surface area, root volume, and mean root diameter by 47.42%, 56.70%, 58.83%, and 27.28%, respectively. Additionally, DT treatments significantly increased melon yield (53.46%) compared to RT. The results indicate that DT improves soil nutrient availability, affects soil fungal community characteristics, and optimizes root distribution in soil, thereby improving melon yield. The findings offer valuable theoretical insights for the implementation of effective tillage practices in open-field melon cultivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Red-soil sloping farmland in southern China plays a crucial role in the local economy and food production. However, improper tillage practices have resulted in topsoil degradation and deteriorating soil quality. This study investigated changes in soil physico-chemical properties under four tillage methods—cross-slope ridge tillage (RT), down-slope ridge tillage (DT), plastic mulching (PM), and conventional tillage (CT)—on red-soil sloping farmland. The study applied the Soil Management Assessment Framework (SMAF) to assess the influence of these tillage practices on soil quality. Results indicated that PM can increase the total porosity of the soil, reduce soil bulk density, and simultaneously decrease soil surface-water evaporation, significantly improving the soil's water-retention capacity. RT improved soil aggregate formation and stability, leading to increased macro-aggregate content, mean weight diameter, and soil water-stable aggregate stability rates. PM and RT effectively preserved soil nutrients like total nitrogen and organic matter, although PM lowered soil pH, potentially causing acidification. RT demonstrated the highest soil quality, with PM following. Crop growth positively impacted soil macro-aggregate content and stability, showing continuous improvement in soil structure and quality (p < 0.05). Priority should be given to RT in red-soil sloping farmland, followed by PM and CT, while avoiding DT if possible. This research furnishes valuable scientific substantiation for the selection of optimal tillage practices in the preservation of soil quality on red-soil slopes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of global efforts to improve food quality against the backdrop of climate change and increasing demands for food, this study sought to investigate the influence of tillage and fertilization methods on essential nutritional components. Thus, this extensive investigation into the variability of organic acid, sugar, and vitamin content within berries over the years 2020 to 2022 shows the critical influence of agricultural practices on the nutritional quality of grape. Our findings revealed significant fluctuations in the levels of various organic acids, with oxalic and propionic acids seeing a notable increase in 2022, while tartaric, citric, and maleic acids decreased. Similarly, a significant rise in sucrose, glucose, and fructose levels was documented by 2022, alongside a variable trend in vitamin content. The PCA results revealed a clear impact of tillage and organic amendments on the biochemical composition of Royal grapes. Heatmap findings confirmed the results obtained from PCA and showed that certain treatments resulted in high organic acid content, while others resulted in high sugar content. However, disc harrow and olive blackwater 2021 followed by disc harrow and Antep radish 2021 and no‐tillage broccoli 2020 were the best treatments with a balanced distribution of organic acids, soluble sugars, and vitamins among all treatments. On the other hand, chisel and olive blackwater '20 was the treatment with the lowest ratio of organic acids, sugars, and vitamins, followed by chisel and Antep radish 2020. These results show that the concentration of organic acids, soluble sugars, and vitamins in grapes is more affected by the tillage method than the type of organic fertilizer used. To sum up, our study holds valuable implications for viticulture and agriculture at large, highlighting the potential to tailor farming practices for enhanced nutritional outcomes. Such advancements not only promise to elevate the quality of agricultural produce but also contribute to the broader objective of achieving food security and nutritional adequacy, thus offering a roadmap for future research and practice in sustainable agriculture and viticulture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Objective] This study aimed to investigate the effects of different tillage patterns and biochar addition on soil nitrogen and phosphorus transformation and maize growth and development in farmland in the black soil area. [Methods] Through a field experiment, two tillage treatments (deep tillage and shallow tillage) and five biochar addition treatments (0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 t/hm2) were set up to investigate the combined effects of different tillage patterns and biochar addition on soil nitrogen and phosphorus fractions, enzyme activities, and physiological characteristics of maize. [Results] (1) Deep tillage and shallow tillage in combination with biochar addition could effectively improve soil structure, increase the geometric mean diameter of agglomerates, and reduce the percentage of damage. The deep tillage treatment was more effective than the shallow tillage treatment. (2) The addition of biochar improved soil nitrogen-phosphorus fractions, urease activity, and alkaline phosphatase activity, and the effect of applying biochar at the rate of 9 t/hm2 was the best, which was more pronounced in the deep tillage treatment. (3) The application of biochar up to 9 t/hm2 under deep tillage treatment increased the total nitrogen and phosphorus contents and glutamine synthetase activity of leaves and decreased the acid phosphatase activity. (4) The yield of corn under deep tillage condition with the addition of 9 t/hm2 of biochar was as high as 17.37 t/hm2, which was increased by 28.9% compared with that of 0 of biochar. [Conclusion] The deep-tillage treatment and addition of 9 t/hm2 biochar provided a reference for the nutrient environment and crop growth in agricultural fields in the black soil area.

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In Punjab, Pakistan, wheat production within the rice-wheat cropping system is frequently undermined by soil degradation and nutrient depletion, exacerbated by traditional agricultural practices. Addressing these challenges, this study evaluates the impact of green manuring and tillage practices on wheat productivity in rice-wheat cropping system, using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates. The study examined twelve treatments combining green manuring (no green manuring, Sesbania, or Cluster bean) with rice cultivation methods (direct-seeded or transplanted) and tillage practices (zero or plough tillage). Wheat was sown following rice at a rate of 125 kg ha-1, with fertilizers applied in split applications. The analysis revealed significant differences across treatments. The highest number of fertile tillers (429 m-2 in 2020, 441 m2 in 2021) was recorded in Treatment 5 (Sesbania green manuring, direct-seeded rice, zero tillage wheat), while the lowest (322 m-2 in 2020, 329 m-2 in 2021) was in Treatment 4 (No green manuring, transplanted rice, plough tillage wheat). Similar trends were observed for spikelets per spike, grains per spike, and thousand grain weight, with Treatment 5 consistently performing the best. Biological yield was highest in Treatment 5 (13.12 t ha-1 in 2020, 13.42 t ha-1 in 2021), and grain yield peaked at 4.10 t ha-1 (2020) and 4.50 t ha-1 (2021) in Treatments 5 and 6. These findings underscore the benefits of integrating Sesbania green manuring with zero tillage and direct seeding of rice, significantly enhancing soil moisture retention and structure, which leads to improved wheat yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of instrumental methods of analysis in the assessment of indices that record changes in symmetry in the structure of grains to evaluate the quality of durum and soft wheat grain is currently considered a search tool that will allow us to obtain previously unavailable data by finding correlations associated with differences in the shape and ratio of starch granules in conditionally symmetrical and asymmetrical wheat fruits (kernels) formed in different field conditions and with different genotypes. Indicators that had previously shown their effectiveness were used to analyze the obviously complex unique material obtained as a result of growing under critically unique sowing conditions in 2022, which affected the stability of grain development and filling. For the evaluation, a typical agronomic comparative experiment was chosen, which was used to evaluate the soil tillage practices (fallow, non-moldboard loosening, and plowing) and sowing dates (early and after excessive rainfalls), which made it possible to analyze a wider range of factors influencing the studied indices. The soil tillage methods were found to affect the uniformity of kernel fullness and their symmetry, and the sowing dates did not lead to significant differences. This study presents detailed changes in the shape of the middle cut of a wheat kernel, associated with assessing the efficiency of kernel filling and the symmetrical distribution of storage substances under the influence of external and internal physical factors that affect the formation of the wheat kernel. The data obtained may be of interest to breeders and developers of predictive phenotyping programs for cereal grain and seeds of other crops, as well as plant physiologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Tillage practices and crop growth play important roles in the soil erosion of sloping farmland. This study aims to investigate the effects of tillage practices on soil erosion in response to different crop growth stages and to determine the primary factors that affected the runoff reduction benefit of tillage practices among different growth stages. Methods: A field study was carried out under natural rainfall conditions, and 12 runoff plots (20 m × 5 m) were established, including four treatments, i.e., flat planting (FP), flat planting with hedgerow intercropping (HG), longitudinal ridge (LR) and bare land (CK). Runoff and soil losses after each rainfall event were monitored during the peanut seasons of 2021 and 2022 and the effects of tillage practices and peanut growth stages on runoff and sediment yields were evaluated. Results: The total surface runoff depth and sediment yield decreased in the following order: CK > LR > FP > HG. As peanuts grew, the seedling, needling, podding, and full fruit stages contributed approximately 71.5%, 20.4%, 6.4%, and 1.7% of the total runoff depth, respectively, which could be attributed to the synergistic impact of rainfall, crop growth, and antecedent soil moisture. During the seedling stage of peanuts, which did not provide sufficient surface cover, concentrated rainfall in large amounts resulted in high soil moisture and consequently high runoff losses. As peanuts grew, the S-shaped growth curve for peanut aboveground parts and root systems and reduced rainfall depth and frequency resulted in less runoff loss and increased runoff reduction benefits of tillage practices. Conclusions: The early growth stage of peanuts, generally accompanied by high antecedent soil moisture and heavy rainfall, should attract more attention to improving water erosion conditions on sloping farmland with only longitudinal ridges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tillage practices can substantially affect soil properties depending on crop stage. The interaction between tillage and crop growth on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) communities remains unclear. We investigated the interactions between four tillage treatments (CT: conventional tillage, RT: reduced tillage, NT: no tillage with mulch, and SS: subsoiling with mulch), maintained for 25 years, and two wheat growth stages (elongation stage and grain filling stage) on AMF diversity and community composition. Results: The AMF community composition strongly changed during wheat growth, mainly because of changes in the relative abundance of dominant genera Claroideoglomus, Funneliformi, Rhizophagu, Entrophospora, and Glomus. Co-occurrence network analysis revealed that the grain filling stage had a more complex network than the elongation stage. Redundancy analysis results showed that keystone genera respond mainly to changes in soil organic carbon during elongation stage, whereas the total nitrogen content affected the keystone genera during grain filling. Compared with CT, the treatments with mulch, i.e., NT and SS, significantly changed the AMF community composition. The change of AMF communities under different tillage practices depended on wheat biomass and soil nutrients. NT significantly increased the relative abundances of Glomus and Septoglomus, while RT significantly increased the relative abundance of Claroideoglomus. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that the relative abundance of dominant genera changed during wheat growth stages. Proper tillage practices (e.g., NT and SS) benefit the long-term sustainable development of the Loess Plateau cropping systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In the context of global efforts to improve food quality against the backdrop of climate change and increasing demands for food, this study sought to investigate the influence of tillage and fertilization methods on essential nutritional components. Thus, this extensive investigation into the variability of organic acid, sugar, and vitamin content within berries over the years 2020 to 2022 shows the critical influence of agricultural practices on the nutritional quality of grape. Our findings revealed significant fluctuations in the levels of various organic acids, with oxalic and propionic acids seeing a notable increase in 2022, while tartaric, citric, and maleic acids decreased. Similarly, a significant rise in sucrose, glucose, and fructose levels was documented by 2022, alongside a variable trend in vitamin content. The PCA results revealed a clear impact of tillage and organic amendments on the biochemical composition of Royal grapes. Heatmap findings confirmed the results obtained from PCA and showed that certain treatments resulted in high organic acid content, while others resulted in high sugar content. However, disc harrow and olive blackwater 2021 followed by disc harrow and Antep radish 2021 and no‐tillage broccoli 2020 were the best treatments with a balanced distribution of organic acids, soluble sugars, and vitamins among all treatments. On the other hand, chisel and olive blackwater '20 was the treatment with the lowest ratio of organic acids, sugars, and vitamins, followed by chisel and Antep radish 2020. These results show that the concentration of organic acids, soluble sugars, and vitamins in grapes is more affected by the tillage method than the type of organic fertilizer used. To sum up, our study holds valuable implications for viticulture and agriculture at large, highlighting the potential to tailor farming practices for enhanced nutritional outcomes. Such advancements not only promise to elevate the quality of agricultural produce but also contribute to the broader objective of achieving food security and nutritional adequacy, thus offering a roadmap for future research and practice in sustainable agriculture and viticulture.

Optimizing tillage practices to improve crop yield and crop water productivity (CWP) is essential for promoting sustainable dryland agriculture. This meta-analysis used the water supply during the growing season (WS, total soil water storage at sowing time, and growing-season precipitation) instead of mean annual precipitation (MAP), to assess the effects of different tillage practices on the yield and CWP of winter wheat and spring maize in northern China. The results showed that WS had a stronger correlation with crop yield than MAP, especially for winter wheat. Compared with conventional tillage, no-tillage combined with straw mulching (SM) increased winter yield by 36.56 % and CWP by 17.93 % when WS ≤ 650 mm, and subsoiling tillage increased winter wheat yield by 21.17 % and CWP by 9.29 % in winter wheat yield when WS > 650 mm. SM and subsoiling tillage performed better in regions with higher mean annual temperature (MAT) than that with lower MAT. For spring maize, no tillage, no-tillage combined with plastic film mulching (PM), subsoiling tillage and rotary tillage significantly increased yield and CWP under different WS conditions and the highest effect was showed in PM under higher WS condition; meanwhile, PM and subsoiling tillage performed good under various temperature conditions, while rotary tillage performed better in areas with lower temperature. Thus, the recommended tillage practice for spring maize is PM in northeast China, and subsoiling tillage in north-central and northwest China; for winter wheat, subsoiling tillage is recommended for north-central China, and SM is recommended for northwest China. Taken together, our results indicate that it is more accurate to use WS rather than the MAP to evaluate appropriate tillage practices in drylands. Furthermore, WS can also replace MAP for yield estimation and prediction.

Soil surface roughness (SSR) is an important factor affecting soil erosion and soil nutrient transport. Human tillage leads to increased instability in SSR, and the characteristics of SSR caused by different tillage practices await further study. This research utilizes terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) to measure the SSR of six farmland plots (25 m × 25 m) and analyzes the characteristics of SSR under different tillage practices (plowing, harrowing, ridging, crusting, etc.). The study results show: 1) Different agricultural tillage practices lead to significant differences in SSR. The plowed and harrowed plot corresponds to the maximum (2.49 cm) and minimum (1.5 cm) root mean square height (RMSH), respectively. Correlation length (CL) is more affected by different tillage practices than RMSH. The difference in CL between the ridged and harrowed plot is 2.6 times. 2) Ridging and crusting caused significant directional variation in SSR. The SSR anisotropy of the harrowed plot can be disregarded. 3) Under the condition of measuring soil profile in 12 directions and randomly sampling 70 times in each direction, the profile length must be at least 3 m to ensure that the measurement error of SSR is better than 5% compared to the “true” value. TLS can measure two-dimensional SSR. Therefore, it is only necessary to ensure that the measurement range is at least 3 m × 3 m. The study results provide a reference for the high-precision measurement of SSR (RMSH and CL) under different agricultural tillage practices.

An attempt to assess the mineral and vitamin contents of carrots led to a field (July-October, 2022) and laboratory studies conducted in the Department of Crop Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 2022, using 2 × 2 × 3 factorial (replications = 3) each, for Randomized Complete Block Design and Completely Randomized Design respectively. The roots of two carrot varieties (Touchon Mega and Kurado) with three levels of poultry manure in t/ha (0, 5, and 10) harvested from two tillage systems (Ridge and Bed) were tested for mineral and vitamin contents using standard methods. Data were subjected to analysis of variance using GenStat 12.1 edition. Differences were significant at p < 0.05. Variety, manure, and tillage significantly (p > 0.05) did not influence the mineral and vitamin contents of the root. The vitamin C content of the roots increased with manure level increase. These mineral elements: Iron (209 g/kg), Potassium (6.6 mg/100g), Phosphorus (21.3 g/kg), and Zinc (23.6 mg/100g) were higher in Kurado than Touchon mega while Calcium (23.7 mg/100g), Copper (2.9 g/kg), magnesium (4.5 mg/100g) and Selenium (9.3 g/kg) were higher in Touchon mega. The 10 t/ha of poultry manure had higher Zinc (26.5 mg/100g) and phosphorus (23.7 g/kg), while 5 t/ha had a higher content of Calcium (24.9 mg/100g), Copper (3 g/kg), Magnesium (4.6%) and Potassium (6.8 mg/100g). The study revealed the presence of the considered minerals and vitamins in the carrot roots. Kurado accumulated some of the minerals and vitamins in quantity within the recommended human rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tillage practices significantly influence crop yield and soil quality. This study investigated the impact of rotary tillage (RT) and deep tillage (DT) on soil properties, microbial diversity, and melon (Cucumis melo L.) root growth and yield. RT involved breaking up the topsoil to a depth of 15 cm using a rotary tiller, while DT employed a rotary tiller followed by a moldboard plow to turn the soil layer over to a depth of 35 cm. The melon variety “Nasimi” was used as the material. Our findings revealed a remarkable response of soil phosphorus to tillage practices. High-throughput sequencing results revealed a significant impact of tillage practices on the soil fungal composition, richness, and diversity but little impact on the bacterial communities. Compared to RT, DT markedly enhanced melon root length, root surface area, root volume, and mean root diameter by 47.42%, 56.70%, 58.83%, and 27.28%, respectively. Additionally, DT treatments significantly increased melon yield (53.46%) compared to RT. The results indicate that DT improves soil nutrient availability, affects soil fungal community characteristics, and optimizes root distribution in soil, thereby improving melon yield. The findings offer valuable theoretical insights for the implementation of effective tillage practices in open-field melon cultivation.

Long-term intensive tillage has led to soil environment degradation, reduced fertility, difficulty in increasing maize yield, and low nitrogen (N) use efficiency in the Mollisol region of northeast China. In order to raise maize yield and improve the soil hydrothermal environment, we conducted field experiments to investigate the effects of different tillage practices and straw returning on the soil hydrothermal environment, maize yield, N fertilizer recovery and loss, aiming to increase both the maize yield and N fertilizer recovery rate. Four treatments were established: flat no-tillage with full straw mulching (NM), ridge no-tillage with full straw mulching (RM), rotary tillage with full straw incorporation (RR), and conventional tillage without straw (CK) as the control treatment. The two-year results indicate that both tillage practices and straw returning increased maize yield and the 15N fertilizer recovery rate, accompanied by improvements in the soil water content (SWC) and regulation of soil temperature changes, as compared to the CK treatment. Specifically, the total 15N fertilizer recovery rate of RM was significantly increased by 15.23% and 23.46%, while the 15N fertilizer losses were notably reduced by 14.99% and 25.12%, respectively, compared to the NM and RR treatments. Additionally, the maize yield of RM was significantly increased by 3.10% in 2021 and 1.97% in 2022 compared to RR (P < 0.05), and it increased by 2.06% in 2021 and 0.91% in 2022 compared to NM (P > 0.05). The mean SWC of the 0–100-cm soil layer in RM significantly increased by 7.99% and 5.74% in 2021 and by 8.09%, and 5.50% in 2022 compared to NM and RR treatments during the maize growth seasons. At 60–80 days after sowing (DAS), when the air temperature was higher, the mean soil temperature of RM was significantly lower than that of the NM and RR treatments, by 0.46 ℃ and 0.54 ℃ in 2021 and by 0.31 ℃ and 0.70 ℃ in 2022. However, as the air temperature decreased at 100–140 DAS, the mean soil temperature in RM was significantly increased by 0.69 ℃ and 0.81 ℃ in 2021 and by 0.73 ℃ and 0.94 ℃ in 2022 compared to the NM and RR treatments. Our study indicates that RM treatment is the most suitable tillage practice and straw returning method in the Mollisol region of northeast China.

Purpose: Agricultural management as tillage systems and manure application can contribute effectively to controlling physical surface crusts (SCs), improving the soil's technical characteristics and germination rates. While agronomic practices are generally applied to winter wheat fields in southern Iraq, no previous study has explored their impact in combination with SCs and soil physical attributes on wheat productivity (WP) under different soil textures. Materials and methods: The impact of different agronomic management practices on the formation of soil physical surface crusts (SCs), soil compaction (measured by soil penetration resistance, SPR), soil volumetric water content (VWC), soil bulk density (ρb), mean weight diameter of aggregates (MWD), and WP was examined in two soil textures (clay loam, clay) during 2020 and 2022. Experimental data were subjected to an identical and randomized complete block design (RCBD) under a nested-factorial experimental design, where nine treatments with three replicates each were selected. This included three tillage practices (conventional tillage system (CT), till-plant (TP), and rotational tillage (NTCT)), alongside a sub-treatment with organic fertilizers (cattle manure (CF), and wheat straw (WR)), or without added fertilizer (WT). Results and discussion: Results showed that CT treatment increased SCs during wheat growth stages by significantly increasing aggregate stability. A significant difference in ρb and SPR and a higher distribution of VWC were seen under CT treatment when compared to TP and NTCT treatments. TP treatment showed a significantly increased in SPR and ρb, particularly in clay loam. The MWD under TP and NTCT was significantly different to CT treatment, which may be explained by an increase in soil stability due to their management practices. Additionally, both organic fertilizers (CF and WR) significantly enhanced SCs, SPR, VWC, ρb, MWD, and WP. Conclusions: These data showed a strong relationship between SCs and ρb and between VWC and SPR, which are directly affected by the soil's water content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on soils and their interrelationships with land use in the context of the semi-arid region of Brazil are still scarce, even though they have the potential to assist in understanding the use and management of soil and agricultural crops. From this perspective, this study investigated four land uses in different locations of the Apodi Plateau, an elevated area in semi-arid region of northeastern Brazil. The different soils were analyzed for their resistance to root penetration, water infiltration, inorganic fractions, soil density, total porosity, potential of hydrogen, electrical conductivity, total organic carbon, potential acidity, and sum of bases. The soil resistance to root penetration and water infiltration were determined in the field. The results obtained were interpreted using multivariate and geostatistical analysis. The resistance data were subjected to the Shapiro–Wilk test at 5% of probability and expressed in maps, whereas infiltration data curves were constructed to estimate the amount of infiltrated water at the different time intervals. The textural classification was an important factor for the analysis of soil resistance to root penetration (Q) and the infiltration rate, being evidenced in the cluster analysis and allowing the formation of two groups, one for the surface layers of the areas and another for the subsurface layers, with the inorganic sand and clay fractions standing out with the greatest dissimilarity. The establishment of conservation practices for soil management is suggested to correct the pore space problems and the degradation of agroecosystems in areas with soils whose conditions are similar to the ones of this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of instrumental methods of analysis in the assessment of indices that record changes in symmetry in the structure of grains to evaluate the quality of durum and soft wheat grain is currently considered a search tool that will allow us to obtain previously unavailable data by finding correlations associated with differences in the shape and ratio of starch granules in conditionally symmetrical and asymmetrical wheat fruits (kernels) formed in different field conditions and with different genotypes. Indicators that had previously shown their effectiveness were used to analyze the obviously complex unique material obtained as a result of growing under critically unique sowing conditions in 2022, which affected the stability of grain development and filling. For the evaluation, a typical agronomic comparative experiment was chosen, which was used to evaluate the soil tillage practices (fallow, non-moldboard loosening, and plowing) and sowing dates (early and after excessive rainfalls), which made it possible to analyze a wider range of factors influencing the studied indices. The soil tillage methods were found to affect the uniformity of kernel fullness and their symmetry, and the sowing dates did not lead to significant differences. This study presents detailed changes in the shape of the middle cut of a wheat kernel, associated with assessing the efficiency of kernel filling and the symmetrical distribution of storage substances under the influence of external and internal physical factors that affect the formation of the wheat kernel. The data obtained may be of interest to breeders and developers of predictive phenotyping programs for cereal grain and seeds of other crops, as well as plant physiologists.

Slope microtopography redistribution caused by the process of surface–subsurface hydrology results in the randomness and nonlinearity of erosion behavior. However, the erosion effects of various microtopographic features under the rainfall-seepage coupled impact remain inadequately explored. In this work, a specialized parameterization framework was employed, coupling numerical attribute, shape, and structure with the spatial pattern of microtopography, specifically to quantify changes in microtopography and to clarify their response mechanisms to rainfall-seepage erosion on purple soil slopes. The continuous rainfall-seepage simulation experiments were conducted on a 15° tilled-slopes differing in microreliefs (conventional tillage, CT; artificial digging, AD; ridge tillage, RT) with constant rainfall intensity of 1.0 mm min−1 coupling three seepage rates of 2, 4 and 8 L/min, respectively. Results revealed that the elevation decay occurred in the stage of transition from sheet erosion to rill erosion for CT, AD and RT slopes, representing a “erosion > deposition” feature. The numeric roughness and multifractal pattern of microtopography showed RT > AD > CT slope during the rainfall-seepage erosion. The spatial change of microtopography was attributed to structural-oriented factors because the nugget ratio with less than 25 % accounted for 73.33 %. Synchronously, the runoff, sediment yields and concentrations increased with the increase of rainfall-seepage intensity. It was found that the response of roughness index on soil erosion was more obvious for smooth surface with relatively contribution rate of 81 %, while the change of microstructure (H) and multifractal shape (ΔD) were more sensitive to erosion process on AD and RT slopes respectively. The results reported in this study have important implications for an in-depth apprehending of microtopography erosion effects in saturation-excess dominated slope cropland.

Tillage practices can regulate soil environmental factors and, thus, affect crop yield. Farmers' acceptance of this is not high because of a lack of awareness, and, in the dryland farming region of the Longdong Loess Plateau in China, the lack of acceptance is due to the established use of the no-till operation. It is urgent to explore suitable tillage practices for maize (Zea mays L., Longdan No.8) planting in this area. The impact of tillage practices on the soil water content, soil temperature, field water consumption structure, yield, and water use efficiency (WUE) of maize was determined. Six tillage practices were implemented in 2021 and their effects were determined in 2021 and 2022, including conventional tillage with no straw (T), conventional tillage with straw incorporated (TS), subsoiling tillage with no straw (SST), subsoiling tillage with straw incorporated (SSTS), no-tillage with no straw (NT) and no-tillage with straw mulching (NTS). Over two years, compared to T, the soil volumetric water content (SWv) with SSTS was significantly increased in the 5–10 cm soil layer at the V12 (big flare stage of maize) stage in 2022. SSTS significantly reduced soil temperature (ST) in the 20 and 25 cm soil depths at the V12 stage, and in every soil layer of the R2 (grain-filling stage of maize) stage. SSTS significantly reduced soil evaporation during the growing season (Ec), and significantly increased crop transpiration (Tc) when compared to T. Compared with T, SST and SSTS significantly increased biomass yield (BY), by 29.7–32.1 and 41.2–53.5%, respectively, increased grain number per ear by 6.3–16.5 and 10.4–38.8%, respectively, improved grain yield (GY) by 4.9–6.9 and 6.2–13.7%, respectively; SSTS significantly increased WUE by 5.5–15.4%. The correlation between soil volumetric water content at the V12 stage and grain yield was highly significant; the ST at the R2 stage had a significant positive correlation with grain number per ear, GY, and BY. Therefore, subsoiling tillage with straw incorporated increased the soil moisture content and reduced the soil temperature, optimized the water consumption structure, and improved the effective utilization of soil water, resulting in the accumulation of a higher biomass yield, and increased the number of ears, obtaining a higher yield, and improved water use efficiency. Therefore, subsoiling tillage with straw incorporated is a suitable tillage practice in the dry farming area of Longdong Loess Plateau, China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice–wheat cropping system (RWCS) is a dominant agricultural practice in the Indo-Gangetic plains, particularly in the North–Western states of India. The prevalent practice of open burning of rice residue, driven by the need for timely land preparation, poses severe environmental and health consequences, including nutrient loss, greenhouse gas emissions, high concentrations of particulate matter (PM), and disruption of the ecological cycle. This study focuses on implementing effective management practices in the RWCS through tillage-based crop establishment, residue retention, and incorporation methods. The objective is to improve crop yield and its attributes by enhancing soil health properties. A split-plot experimental design was practiced with four different treatments, zero-tillage with manual harvesting (ZT), Happy Seeder with combine harvester (HS), Happy Seeder with Mulcher and combine harvesting, and conventional tillage (CT). By evaluating soil nutrient content, including organic carbon (OC), N, P, and K, at a 0–10 cm depth, the study demonstrates the superiority of the mulcher with Happy Seeder (MHS), which significantly increased soil nutrient levels by 105, 59, 102, and 97%, respectively, compared to conventional tilled broadcasted wheat (CT). Furthermore, the MHS treatment exhibited the highest yield of 56.8 q ha−1, outperforming the yield of 43.6 q ha−1 recorded under conventional tilled broadcasted wheat. These findings underscore the critical role of surface residue retention with MHS in ensuring crop productivity and overall production sustainability of the RWCS in Haryana, India. Moreover, effective rice residue management holds long-term implications for agricultural resilience, farm economics, environmental conservation, and human health. It emphasizes the importance of adopting sustainable practices, prioritizing research efforts, and advocating for policies that ensure the prolonged sustainability and productivity of the RWCS while safeguarding environmental well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment was laid out in split-plot design with 3-Sesbania alley-based rainfed food-ufodder systems [Sesbania+(fodder sorghum–chickpea), Sesbania+(fodder sorghum–barley) and Sesbania+(fodder sorghum–mustard)] in main-plots and 6-reduced tillage and Sesbania mulching combinations in sub-plots to assess their impact on soil health. Minimum tillage (MT) during rainy season followed by zero tillage (ZT) during winter season along with mulch (MT-ZT+mulch) resulted in higher proportion of soil macro-aggregate, increased infiltration rate by 27.4%, hydraulic conductivity by 14.9% and water holding capacity by 5.9% (v/v) over conventional tillage (CT) during rainy season followed by conventional tillage during winter season without mulch (CT-CT without mulch). The MT-ZT+mulch had the highest soil organic carbon (7.3 g kg–1), microbial biomass carbon (226 mg kg–1 soil), SOC stock (14.9 Mg ha−1), carbon sequestration rate (1.72 Mg ha−1 year−1), soil quality index (SQI, 1.09) and enhanced the available soil N, P and K by 45.1, 47.2 and 22.2%, respectively, over CT-CT without mulching. The Sesbania alley + (fodder sorghum–mustard) cropping system had adverse effect on soil health while inclusion of chickpea in the system improved soil health and recorded the highest SQI (0.97). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimization of crop production inputs to reduce energy input and greenhouse gases emissions with maximizing economic productivity is needed to develop sustainable agriculture under groundwater-based irrigation conditions. This paper examined the effects of irrigated wheat tillage practices on energy indices, greenhouse gases emissions, and economic indices. Research treatments were conventional tillage and no-tillage (environment-friendly) systems in semi-arid environments. This study was conducted in wheat farms under groundwater-based irrigation, and data were monitored and collected for two years between 2012–2013 and 2013–2014. The results indicated that no-tillage practice had lower energy input (13%, 21.12 vs. 24.34 GJ ha−1), energy output (18%, 83.01 vs. 101.11 GJ ha−1), and energy use efficiency (7%), but higher energy productivity (19%) and indirect energy (9%) than conventional tillage practice. Moreover, no-tillage practice produced lower emissions of CO2 (24%, 830.28 vs. 1096.40 kg ha−1) and total global warming potential (GWP) (14%, 1830.03 vs. 2120.43 kg CO2-equivalents ha−1) than conventional tillage practice. In comparison, 53.9% of GWP originated from N2O and 45.4% from CO2. Inputs of electricity, diesel fuel, machinery, and nitrogen fertilizer had 95% contributions in emission from farms. Economically, no-tillage practice had higher productivity (3%, 7.06 vs. 6.86 kg US$−1) but lower net return (18%, 1076.52 vs. 1313.48 US$ ha−1) and benefit to cost ratio (14%, 3.10 vs. 3.61) than conventional tillage practice. However, producing wheat in this agroecosystem is profitable and beneficial under both tillage systems. It was concluded that the promising technique of the no-tillage under groundwater-based irrigation conditions significantly facilitated a cleaner production of wheat through managing energy with controlling greenhouse gases emissions in a semi-arid environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of land use change on soil organic carbon (SOC) content have been investigated extensively. However, little research has been conducted on how soil organic matter (SOM) chemistry changes under different land use management practices, particularly with different soil cultivation methods. Thus, in this study, we compared the effects of various land use management practices, including six medium‐term tillage practices, namely no‐tillage (zero‐tillage), disking, shallow cultivation, deep cultivation, ploughing, and loosening, and a natural ecosystem, namely tree line, on SOM composition. The present study examined Chernozem soils during spring and autumn under varying land uses in randomised complete block designs, with four replicates at depth increments of 0–10 cm. The SOM composition was characterised using diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transformat spectroscopy (DRIFTS) and ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV‐VIS). More intensive tillage operations resulted in larger SOM composition changes. Overall, conservation tillage, namely no‐tillage, disking, shallow cultivation, and deep cultivation, SOM was more like the tree line soil than the soil under conventional tillage. Both DRIFTS and UV‐VIS revealed that tree line soil had the lowest aromaticity (15%) and, therefore, a lower decomposition rate and higher SOM recalcitrance compared with the cropland soil (27%). After observing the relationship between tillage operation and aromaticity, aromaticity increased with increasing tillage intensity. This study demonstrates that land use can alter the structure and stability of SOM compounds. We observed that afforestation is similar to conservation tillage, and results are obtained quickly (<40 years). Hence, regeneration agriculture and conservation tillage may be the superior solutions for increasing SOM, sustainable agriculture, and food security in current soil and climate conditions. In addition, DRIFTS measurements of bulk soil provided more detailed information on the quality and stability of SOM than UV‐VIS measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the water-use efficiency (WUE) of crops is the most effective way to increase yields in semi-arid regions. Field research was carried out based on a long-term experiment initiated in 2001, aimed to explore the mechanisms of different tillage practices effects on grain yield and WUE of spring wheat. Tillage practices in the research including conventional tillage (CT), no tillage with no straw mulching (NT), conventional tillage with straw incorporation (TS), and no tillage with straw mulching (NTS). The effects of tillage practices on soil's physical and chemical properties, dry matter accumulation, grain yield, dynamics of stress-related substances, and WUE were observed. Soil and plant samples in this research were collected in 2020 (wet year), 2021 (dry year), and 2022 (dry year). The results indicated that NTS improved the soil's physical and chemical properties. The NTS treatment had the lowest soil bulk and pH and the highest total N, NO3--N, and available P. Throughout the whole growth stage, soil water content in the NTS and TS treatments were significantly higher than that of CT by 8.77–20.40% and 2.19–18.83, respectively. Averaged catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), and soluble protein across the three years with NTS and TS were significantly increased by 1.26–25.52% compared to CT. Meanwhile, the NTS treatment had the lowest malondialdehyde (MDA) content among the different tillage practices. NTS maintained the highest dry matter accumulation throughout the whole growth stage among different treatments; it was increased by 10.47–73.33% compared with CT. The average grain yields and WUE of NTS across the three years were 6.09–30.70% and 6.79–40.55% higher than other tillage practices, respectively. It is concluded that NTS influences dry matter accumulation and water-use efficiency during the whole growth stage of spring wheat by improving the soil's physicochemical properties and modulating spring wheat substances related to stress, which in turn promotes yield formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microorganisms are important in maintaining soil quality and contribute to plant nutrient uptake and pathogen resistance. However, intensive tillage and inappropriate fertilizer management distorts these important functions. This study therefore investigates the influence of tillage practices and P-fertilizer management on plant beneficial bacteria. The bacterial communities were profiled using DNA metabarcoding. Actinobacteria (40%) and Proteobacteria (21%) were the most abundant phyla in both the No-tillage (NT) and Conventional-tillage (CT) treatments. Alpha diversity analysis revealed that differences in P application influenced diversity. The bacterial community structure was significantly impacted by tillage practices. Plant beneficial bacteria including Lysobacter, Dyella, Sphingomonas and Dactylosporangium were among biomarkers in the NT treatment. Pathways for energy metabolism and the biosynthesis of siderophores were significantly influenced by both P-fertilizer application and tillage practices. Co-occurrence analysis revealed that the CT treatment reduced the efficiency of the bacterial communities while keystone species with potential for plant pathogen suppression were more in the NT treatment. Overall, this study demonstrates that tillage practices induce bacterial compositional changes, with the NT treatment exhibiting greater potential in promoting the stability and proliferation of plant beneficial bacteria, while P fertilizer influences diversity and community putative functions, regardless of tillage practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural operations such as excessive tillage and intense cropping deplete soil organic carbon (SOC), making sustainable agriculture management critical for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study evaluates the impact of crop intensification on soil quality and soil organic carbon stocks (SOCS) under double cropping (DC) and single cropping pattern (SC) in upper Haramosh of Gilgit, Pakistan. Soil samples were taken from cropping zones (DC and SC) under three depths (0–20, 20–40, and 40–60 cm). Standard methods were used to analyze selected soil quality parameters and SOC. Statistical analysis using ANOVA showed that soil temperature, moisture, pH, SOC, and SOCS highly significantly differed (p < 0.001) for different cropping patterns (DC and SC), whereas bulk density (BD), electrical conductivity (EC), and clay were not significantly different. The SC retained 4.4% more moisture and had lower BD than the DC, while BD increased with increasing depth. The texture of the soil was sandy loam at both cropping zones. The mean SOC and SOCS of SC were greater (by 12%) than in the DC zone. Pearson correlation showed a significant and positive correlation of SOC stock with SOC, moisture (p < 0.01), and EC (p < 0.05), but had a negative correlation with bulk density, pH (p < 0.01), and sand (p < 0.05). DC apparently degraded soil quality and organic carbon reserves, thus reducing the soil health in mountain agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cropping systems and tillage practices suitable for local environmental conditions to balance the demand for food production and environmental impacts are critical for achieving a low-carbon cycle and sustainability of agricultural production systems in arid and semiarid regions. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of three tillage practices under diversified cropping systems in terms of food production, farmers' income, mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and economic and environmental sustainability. Therefore, we conducted a 12-year (2007–2019) field experiment involving three tillage practices (no-tillage, NT; subsoiling tillage, ST; conventional tillage, CT) and three cropping systems (continuous winter wheat, W-W; winter wheat-spring maize cropping, W-M; continuous spring maize, M-M) in the Loess Plateau of China to evaluate their impact on food production, farmers' income, GHG emissions, and environmental sustainability. Results indicated that the equivalent yield and equivalent economic benefit were the highest for M-M (9412 kg ha−1and 2655 USD ha−1); W-M and M-M increased equivalent yield by 44.1 % and 102.4 %, equivalent economic benefit by 44.6 % and 164.6 %, soil C sequestration by 23.8 % and 52.9 %, and reduced net GHG emissions (NGHG) by 12.5 % and 7.3 %, respectively, compared with W-W. The equivalent yield and equivalent economic benefit were highest under ST (7200 kg ha−1 and 1767 USD ha−1); NT and ST increased equivalent yield by 3.7 % and 8.1 %, equivalent economic benefit by 10.2 % and 11.1 %, soil C sequestration by 23.5 % and 7.5 %, and carbon sustainability index (CSI) by 5.5 % and 3.1 %, respectively, compared with CT. In addition, NT resulted in 6.5 % lower NGHG emissions than CT, whereas ST resulted in 2.7 % higher NGHG emissions than CT. This study identified W-M and NT with a higher comprehensive evaluation index (CEI) based on entropy-TOPSIS considering 6 indicators (equivalent yield, equivalent economic benefit, soil C sequestration, carbon sustainability index, net greenhouse gases emissions and yield-scaled carbon footprint). The adoption of W-M and NT in the Loess Plateau has the potential to enhance crop yield and farmers' income while proving benefits to the environment. These findings provide a scientifically grounded basis for selecting effective agricultural management strategies that can maintain food security while minimizing environmental impacts amid climate warming. • Trade-offs were assessed among yield, economic and environmental indicators. • Winter wheat-spring maize cropping can maintain food production and reduce environmental footprint. • No-tillage can enhance food production with reduce mechanical input and environmental impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The M-ΔDEM (Micro-Digital Elevation Model) could reflect surface erosion, deposition, and their spatial distribution. • Soil erosion and deposition primarily occur in the middle and lower parts of the slope. • Tilled slopes exhibit erosion equilibrium effects during the processes of erosion development. • Among the three tillage practices, the artificial backhoe slope is the most susceptible to slope gradient, resulting in soil loss. • There is a positive correlation between microtopographic factors and slope gradient. The tilled slopes in the loess region are characterized by artificial management practices that result in variations in microtopography, which serve as both the site of water erosion and a significant factor contributing to further slope erosion development. However, the response of microtopography during the process of erosion development on tilled loess slopes is unclear. In this study, artificial rainfall simulations were conducted to simulate the development of water erosion (splash erosion (SpE), sheet erosion (ShE), and rill erosion (RE)) under three slope gradients (5°, 10°, and 20°) and three tillage practices (artificial backhoe (AB), artificial digging (AD), and contour tillage (CT)) at a rainfall intensity of 60 mm h−1. The spatial correlation and heterogeneity of the microtopography were analysed using semivariogram functions and fractal dimensions. The response characteristics of microtopography during the water erosion development process on tilled loess slopes were analysed from three perspectives: microtopography factors, erosion equilibrium areas, and slope strips M-ΔDEM. The results indicated that the microtopography process data exhibited moderate to high spatial autocorrelation. There is a positive correlation between microtopographic factors and the slope gradient. Tilled slopes exhibit erosion equilibrium effects during the processes of splash erosion, sheet erosion, and rill erosion. These equilibrium effects are located in the longitudinal ranges of 700 to 1200 mm, 700 to 1300 mm, and 800 to 1100 mm, respectively. Soil erosion and deposition primarily occur in the middle and lower parts of the slope, with 70 % of the slope's elevation changing within 10 mm, while the remaining changes can reach 25 mm. Among the three tillage practices, AB is the most susceptible to slope influences, which can lead to soil loss, and an optimal slope gradient exists for implementing AB measures. In the case of CT at a slope of 20°, ridge breaking is more likely to occur, but considering the combined effects of soil loss suppression and the difficulty in forming rills, it is recommended to prioritize CT as the preferred tillage practice among the three practices. This study can provide a theoretical foundation for understanding the mechanisms through which microtopography influences water erosion. Additionally, it can serve as a theoretical basis for calibrating parameters in soil erosion models for sloping cultivated lands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Making the best use of limited precipitation in semi-arid dryland cropping systems is important for crop production. Tillage practices may influence how this precipitation is utilized to predict winter wheat grain yield (Triticum aestivum L.). This study examined how tillage practices influence winter wheat grain yield prediction accuracy using precipitation received at three different periods of the season. Data were obtained from the period of 1972 to 2010 from a long-term tillage experiment. The study was designed as a winter wheat-fallow experiment. Each phase of the winter wheat-fallow rotation was present each year. The trial was set up as a randomized complete block design with three replications. Tillage treatments included no-till (NT), stubble mulch (SM), and moldboard plow (MP). Feed-forward neural network and multiple linear regression (ordinary least squares) were used to fit models under each tillage practice. No-till had the highest yield prediction accuracy with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.53 Mg ha-1 and accounted for 81% of the variability in grain yield. Stubble mulch had an RMSE of 0.55 Mg ha-1 and explained 73% of the variability in yield. Stubble mulch and NT were more accurate in yield prediction than MP which had an RMSE of 0.77 Mg ha-1 and accounted for 53% of the variability in yield. The multiple linear regression model was less accurate than the feed-forward neural network model since it had at least 0.30 Mg ha-1 more RMSE and accounted for only 5-8% of the variability in yield. Relative RMSE classified all neural network models as fair (21.6-27.3%) while linear regression models for the different tillage practices was classified as poor (33.3-43.6%), an illustration that the neural network models improve yield prediction accuracy. This study demonstrated that a large proportion of the variability in grain yield may be accounted for under NT and SM systems when using precipitation as predictors with neural networks.

Gully erosion is considered to be a severe land degradation process around the world. The combined effects of tillage methods and topographic variation on gully erosion are poorly understood. This study investigated permanent gullies in three farmland, geomorphic areas in the black soil region of Northeastern China: low mountains and hills, tableland, and rolling hill areas. Cross‐sectional measurements were used to obtain estimates of volumetric soil loss from the gullies. Digital contour maps and remote sensing images were used to obtain the topography and row direction data. The results showed that tableland area had the greatest volumetric soil loss and was the most prone to develop gully erosion, followed by the low mountains and hills, and finally the rolling hill areas. Topography was the dominant control on gully erosion and volumetric soil loss and length density increased first and then decreased as a function of increase of slope gradient. Farmland with slope gradient between 15° and 20° had the most serious gully erosion. Hillslope gullies were classified into three types by morphological indicators. Compared to other geomorphic areas, low mountains and hills had the most gully types and the greatest variability of morphology. Surface areas and volumes were related to gully type. Different tillage methods have affected the frequency of gully occurrence. Cross‐slope tillage areas were more prone to develop gully erosion than contoured tillage and up and down slope tillage areas, especially for farmlands with slope of 5 to 10°. The results suggest that gully erosion could be reduced if up and down slope tillage was used for slope gradients less than 15° and contoured tillage was used for slope gradient greater than 15°. This study demonstrates the combined effect of topographic variations and tillage methods on gully erosion, and highlights the importance of considering different tillage methods under different geographical conditions to control gully erosion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Objective] To investigate the effects of tillage practices, irrigation amount and their interaction on the growth, development and yield of wheat. [Methods] Two factors, tillage practices and irrigation amount were set in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia. Four tillage practices, rotary tillage straw mulching conventional sowing (XG), straw mulching no tillage sowing (MG), traditional tilling (CT) and subsoiling straw mulching (SS), and five irrigation levels, 900, 1 350, 1 800, 2 250 and 2 700 m³/hm² were set to determine wheat seedling rate, plant height, leaf area index, yield traits and grain yield. In addition, the interactions between the indexes were analyzed. [Results] With average seedling rate of 96.55%, MG had the highest seedling rate. Except for CT, under XG, MG and SS treatment, wheat plant height at maturity increased gradually with the increase of irrigation amount, with the maximum of 93.52, 95.67 and 94.00 cm, respectively. The wheat leaf area index was affected by tillage practices, and was significantly (P<0.05) different under different irrigation amount. Under different tillage practices the five irrigation levels had different effect on the growth and development of wheat. The wheat yield under MG treatment was significantly higher than that of other treatments (P<0.05), and the maximum yield was 8 152.63 kg/hm² under irrigation amount of 2 700 m³/hm², followed by the yield of 6 493.55 kg/hm2 at irrigation amount of 2 250 m³/hm². [Conclusion] In Chifeng City, straw mulching no tillage sowing along with irrigation of 1 350-2 250 m³/hm² for wheat planting could achieve water conservation and productive yield improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on soils and their interrelationships with land use in the context of the semi-arid region of Brazil are still scarce, even though they have the potential to assist in understanding the use and management of soil and agricultural crops. From this perspective, this study investigated four land uses in different locations of the Apodi Plateau, an elevated area in semi-arid region of northeastern Brazil. The different soils were analyzed for their resistance to root penetration, water infiltration, inorganic fractions, soil density, total porosity, potential of hydrogen, electrical conductivity, total organic carbon, potential acidity, and sum of bases. The soil resistance to root penetration and water infiltration were determined in the field. The results obtained were interpreted using multivariate and geostatistical analysis. The resistance data were subjected to the Shapiro–Wilk test at 5% of probability and expressed in maps, whereas infiltration data curves were constructed to estimate the amount of infiltrated water at the different time intervals. The textural classification was an important factor for the analysis of soil resistance to root penetration (Q) and the infiltration rate, being evidenced in the cluster analysis and allowing the formation of two groups, one for the surface layers of the areas and another for the subsurface layers, with the inorganic sand and clay fractions standing out with the greatest dissimilarity. The establishment of conservation practices for soil management is suggested to correct the pore space problems and the degradation of agroecosystems in areas with soils whose conditions are similar to the ones of this study.

Water stress has been the major limiting factor for the sustainable agriculture in the southern part of the North China Plain (NCP). It is a high demand to develop the water-saving agricultural practice for the winter wheat-summer maize double cropping system. Tillage practice has great effects on the soil water movement, water use efficiency, and crop growth, due to the changed soil physical properties and the disturbed soil materials. It is also essential to quantify the soil water dynamics and crop growth processes under different tillage practices for the reasonable tillage system. The objective of this study was to improve the Soil Water Heat Carbon Nitrogen Simulator (WHCNS) model, which was used to simulate the soil water movement and crop growth under different tillage practices. A system evaluation was also made to determine the tillage practices on the water balance, crop growth, and Water Use Efficiency (WUE). The WHCNS model was improved to add the tillage module using Erosion-Productivity Impact Calculator (EPIC) model. Among them, there were the effects of various tillage practices on the change of soil bulk density, soil hydraulic parameter, and soil water content. A two-year field experiment was conducted in the Shangqiu experimental station of Henan province (34°35.222′N,115°34.515′E) on a silty clay soil in the southern part of the NCP from 2015 to 2017. Three tillage treatments were designed, including the Deep Tillage (DT), No Tillage (NT), and Rotation Tillage (RT). Some parameters were measured to calibrate and evaluate the improved WHCNS model, including the soil water storage, Leaf Area Index (LAI), crop dry mass, and yield. The performance of model was then verified by the Relative Root Mean Square Errors (nRMSE), consistency index, Nash coefficient (NSE), and coefficient of determination (R²) between the simulated and measured values. The improved model was then used to analyze the effects of different tillage practices on the soil evaporation, crop transpiration, actual evapotranspiration (ET), crop yield, and WUE of the winter wheat and summer maize. The results showed that there was no significance in the crop yields among different tillage practices. The nRMSE between the simulated and measured values of soil water storage, LAI, and dry mass for all treatments were all less than 30%, the consistency index values were all greater than 0.90, the NSE were all greater than 0.58, R² were all greater than 0.93, and the R2 between the simulated and measured values of crop yields was reached 0.99. Compared with DT and NT in both winter wheat seasons, RT reduced the ET by 8.8%-10.8% and 13.8%-21.0%, and increased WUE by 6.7%-9.4% and 15.7%-24.9%, respectively. Compared with DT and RT in both summer maize seasons, NT reduced the ET by 12.5%-12.9% and 20.7%-22.2%, and increased the WUE by 13.4%-15.2% and 29.1%-31.3%, respectively. In summary, the improved WHCNS model performed the best to simulate the dynamic processes of soil water storage and crop growth under different tillage practices in the NCP. Correspondingly, the WUE of RT was the best performance for the winter wheat, whereas, the WUE of NT was the best for the summer maize. The finding can provide a powerful tool to optimize the field tillage management practices for the water-saving agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil surface roughness (SSR) impacts runoff dynamics of surface-subsurface and the magnitude of soil erosion, limited attention has been paid to how SSR governs runoff hydrodynamics to affect erosion behavior and the effectiveness of erosion reduction under rainfall-seepage scenarios on low-permeability purple soil slopes. Herein the seepage rates of 2, 4, and 8 L min⁻¹ were sequentially simulated under a rainfall intensity of 1.0 mm min⁻¹ among different microrelief treatments (CT: conventional tillage; AD: artificial digging; RT: ridge tillage) on purple soil slopes with gradients of 5°, 10°, and 15°. These simulations aimed to investigate the mechanisms underlying the erosion reduction benefits associated with flow properties due to microrelief. The results showed that increased SSR altered erosion kinetic energy under rainfall-seepage conditions. The benefits of rough slopes to control erosion decreased as rainfall-seepage intensity and slope gradient increased. During rainfall-seepage events, the variation in runoff behavior was regulated positively by the effect of SSR on unit stream power. However, the increasing net output power of runoff due to flow turbulence altered sediment output, thereby affecting sediment control benefits. Overall, the impact of rainfall-seepage intensity on surface roughness became more significant with increasing slope gradient. Our findings suggest the capable of integrating for interrelated microrelief and runoff processes in factors analysis of driving soil erosion at rainfall-seepage hydrologic states to elucidate erosion effect. [Display omitted] • Soil surface roughness has more significant effect on runoff production than soil loss. • The cascading effect between microtopography and hydrodynamics regulated runoff behavior. • Microtopography can change the flow hydrodynamics to impact runoff reduction benefits. • Intensified net output power of runoff due to flow turbulence altered sediment discharge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Different modes of residue return lead to the same enrichment of RDC in plough layer. • Tillage had no effects on RDC distribution in labile and recalcitrant fractions. • No-tillage provided strong protection for newly derived carbon via macroaggregate. • RDC could reach 10–20 cm in no-tillage through leaching and stored in MAOC. The soil organic carbon (SOC) cycle is dynamic and exhibits both addition of new carbon and consumption of existing SOC; carbon inventory in the soil is the net result of these two opposing processes. Quantifying the residue-derived carbon (RDC) under different tillage systems via 13C tracing technique provides an objective appraisal of the contribution of returned residue to soil carbon sequestration in bulk soil and different fractions. We used 13C-labelled maize residue to monitor the fate of RDC stock (RDC stock) in different soil fractions under no-tillage (NT) and mouldboard ploughing (MP). Accumulation of RDC increased in the surface layer under NT while it decreased in all layers under MP over time. After two years, both NT and MP stored an equivalent amount of RDC stock with a RDC conversion rate of 16.8–17.0 %. Tillage had no effect on the RDC concentration (RDC con) in microaggregate (Mic), silt–clay (Si-Cl), labile organic carbon (LP-C) and recalcitrant carbon (RP-C), but affected the RDC con in macroaggregate (Mac) and particulate organic carbon (POC). NT generated more RDC stock in Mac than MP, which was induced by the higher RDC stock in coarse particulate organic matter (cPOM) and occluded silt–clay (O-Si-Cl). The percentage of RDC stock in mineral-associated organic carbon (MAOC) contributed more to total RDC stock than POC in both NT and MP, but RDC stock in POC was higher in NT (47 %) than MP (18 %). Most (70 %-75 %) of RDC stock existed as LP-C in both tillage practices. Our results showed that although the total RDC stock reached the same status in both NT and MP, the distribution in soil fractions varied, especially in physical fractions. RDC reached 10–20 cm in NT through leaching and was stored in MAOC, and NT provided strong protection for newly derived carbon via macroaggregates. It also inferred that tillage practices strongly affected the way that newly derived carbon was stored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the water-use efficiency (WUE) of crops is the most effective way to increase yields in semi-arid regions. Field research was carried out based on a long-term experiment initiated in 2001, aimed to explore the mechanisms of different tillage practices effects on grain yield and WUE of spring wheat. Tillage practices in the research including conventional tillage (CT), no tillage with no straw mulching (NT), conventional tillage with straw incorporation (TS), and no tillage with straw mulching (NTS). The effects of tillage practices on soil’s physical and chemical properties, dry matter accumulation, grain yield, dynamics of stress-related substances, and WUE were observed. Soil and plant samples in this research were collected in 2020 (wet year), 2021 (dry year), and 2022 (dry year). The results indicated that NTS improved the soil’s physical and chemical properties. The NTS treatment had the lowest soil bulk and pH and the highest total N, NO3--N, and available P. Throughout the whole growth stage, soil water content in the NTS and TS treatments were significantly higher than that of CT by 8.77–20.40% and 2.19–18.83, respectively. Averaged catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), and soluble protein across the three years with NTS and TS were significantly increased by 1.26–25.52% compared to CT. Meanwhile, the NTS treatment had the lowest malondialdehyde (MDA) content among the different tillage practices. NTS maintained the highest dry matter accumulation throughout the whole growth stage among different treatments; it was increased by 10.47–73.33% compared with CT. The average grain yields and WUE of NTS across the three years were 6.09–30.70% and 6.79–40.55% higher than other tillage practices, respectively. It is concluded that NTS influences dry matter accumulation and water-use efficiency during the whole growth stage of spring wheat by improving the soil’s physicochemical properties and modulating spring wheat substances related to stress, which in turn promotes yield formation.

Soil microbes are the main drivers of nutrient turnover in agro-ecosystems. The series of biochemical processes involved by these microorganisms are inseparable from the regulation of metabolites in the root-zone soils. Therefore, understanding the evolution of microbial communities driven by root-zone soil metabolites will help optimize agricultural management practices. Based on a field experiment, we explore the changes in soil properties, microbes, and metabolites under three tillage practices such as no-tillage with straw mulching (NTS), rotary tillage, and plough tillage with straw returning (RTS and PTS) based on untargeted metabolomics. We found that NTS helped to enhance nutrient contents and enzyme activities in the 0–20 cm soil layer. Specifically, compared with RTS and PTS, NTS increased grain yield by 6.4 % and 8.5 %, and SOC by 13.3 % and 5.7 %, respectively, but decreased pH by 2.8 % and 1.1 %. In addition, compared with NTS, RTS and PTS decreased the fungal richness by 16.5 % and 8.1 %, and decreased the fungal shannon index by 16.4 % and 9.2 %. However, tillage practices did not result in substantial differences in the alpha diversity of bacterial community. Both bacterial and fungal community composition were substantially affected by tillage practices and they were both significantly correlated with soil metabolites. In the symbiotic networks, NTS significantly increased the abundance of microorganisms with high connectivity, while RTS significantly increased the concentration of metabolites with high connectivity. Amino acids, as the main drivers, were significantly and positively associated with bacterial and fungal community composition, mainly enriched in the metabolic pathways of D − glutamine and D − glutamate metabolism and arginine and proline metabolism, and correlated with soil properties negatively and carbohydrates positively, directly or indirectly affecting soil microbial community composition. Our findings would provide new insight into metabolomics for the in-depth understanding of the metabolic mechanism for soil microbial community changes in dryland wheat fields under different tillage practices. [Display omitted] • Tillage practices changed the compositions of microbial communities and metabolites. • Soil metabolites are significantly correlated with microbial community composition. • Amino acids are the main drivers of microbial community composition. • Untargeted metabolomics can serve as a reference tool to evaluate tillage practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimizing tillage practices to improve crop yield and crop water productivity (CWP) is essential for promoting sustainable dryland agriculture. This meta-analysis used the water supply during the growing season (WS, total soil water storage at sowing time, and growing-season precipitation) instead of mean annual precipitation (MAP), to assess the effects of different tillage practices on the yield and CWP of winter wheat and spring maize in northern China. The results showed that WS had a stronger correlation with crop yield than MAP, especially for winter wheat. Compared with conventional tillage, no-tillage combined with straw mulching (SM) increased winter yield by 36.56 % and CWP by 17.93 % when WS ≤ 650 mm, and subsoiling tillage increased winter wheat yield by 21.17 % and CWP by 9.29 % in winter wheat yield when WS > 650 mm. SM and subsoiling tillage performed better in regions with higher mean annual temperature (MAT) than that with lower MAT. For spring maize, no tillage, no-tillage combined with plastic film mulching (PM), subsoiling tillage and rotary tillage significantly increased yield and CWP under different WS conditions and the highest effect was showed in PM under higher WS condition; meanwhile, PM and subsoiling tillage performed good under various temperature conditions, while rotary tillage performed better in areas with lower temperature. Thus, the recommended tillage practice for spring maize is PM in northeast China, and subsoiling tillage in north-central and northwest China; for winter wheat, subsoiling tillage is recommended for north-central China, and SM is recommended for northwest China. Taken together, our results indicate that it is more accurate to use WS rather than the MAP to evaluate appropriate tillage practices in drylands. Furthermore, WS can also replace MAP for yield estimation and prediction. • There is a strong correlation between water supply and crop yield in northern China. • Water supply could consider the mismatch between the growing period and rainfall. • Optimizing tillage practices based on water supply is accurate in northern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tillage practices and intercropping plays an imperative role in the final production and quality of forages. Therefore, field studies were performed to compare forage quantity and quality of cereals and sesbania grown alone and in combination with different row ratios under different tillage practices during 2013 and 2014. The experiment consisted of tillage practices; i. e., minimum tillage (MT), and deep tillage (DT) and variable row ratios, i.e., sole sorghum, sole millet, sole sesbania, sorghum + sesbania (1:1), sorghum + sesbania (1:2), sorghum + sesbania (2:1), millet + sesbania (1:1), millet + sesbania (1:2), millet + sesbania (2:1). The experiment was performed in RCBD with a split plot arrangement having three replications. The results indicated that forage yield was significantly affected by tillage practices; however, forage quality remained non-significant. The deep tillage produced maximum fresh forage yield (FFY) and dry matter yield (DMY) compared to MT. Cereals-sesbania row intercropping significantly affected fodder yield and quality. The maximum fresh forage and dry matter yields were observed in cereals alone and the lowest was recorded in millet + sesbania (1:2) ratios. Growing of cereals + sesbania at different row ratios improved forage quality (ash % and crude protein %); however, an increase in rows of sesbania in the mixture decreased the crude fiber contents. In conclusion, growing sesbania alone or in row intercropping with cereals has the potential to improve the forage as compared to cereals grown alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present an on-farm approach to measure the effect of crop diversification on farmers' field economic values. Eleven years of data (2010–2020) on the chemical herbicide use, tillage practices and crop yields of 17 farms in north-eastern Germany were examined for winter wheat (WW) and winter oilseed rape (WOSR). We used a common conceptual framework to classify farmers' crop sequences according to their susceptibility to weeds ('riskiness'). Linear mixed models were used to analyse the relationship between crop sequence, tillage practice (inversion/non-inversion) and the response variables 'total herbicide costs', 'crop yield' and 'economic income'. Our results indicate that farmers in the area surveyed commonly grow crop sequences with a high risk of weeds. The driving forces behind this classification are high ratios of winter cereals and WOSR in the sequences. The most interesting result of our analysis is that farmers' total herbicide costs (THCfy) significantly decreased from a higher to a lower riskiness class. Diversified crop sequences decreased the THCfy for WW by up to 12 EUR ha−1 and for WOSR by 19–56 EUR ha−1. Considering the crop diversification effects, the combined influence of tillage and crop sequence seems to be important. Significant differences in crop yield between the riskiness classes were found in WW and WOSR solely in non-inversion tillage systems. Hence, the analysis of farmers' 'economic income' revealed the great impact of crop diversification for non-inversion tillage systems. Indeed, we found that simplifying both crop sequence diversity and tillage intensity implies higher herbicide costs and, thereby, higher economic input. The best strategy for reducing herbicide costs in WW and WOSR cropping is to increase the use of summer crops or field grass as previous crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil enzymes and microorganisms are both important to maintaining good soil quality and are also sensitive to changes in agricultural management. The individual effects of tillage, straw incorporation and nitrogen (N) fertilization on soil enzymes and microflora have been widely acknowledged, but their interactive effect remains largely unknown. In a 5-year in-situ field study, effects of rotary (RTS) and plow tillage (PTS) practices with straw incorporation combined with three N fertilization levels (0 kg N ha-1, CK; 187 kg N ha-1, MN; 337 kg N ha-1, HN) on soil enzyme activities and microbial communities were assessed. Our results showed that the activities of ß-glucosidase (ßG), N-acetylglucosaminidase (NAG) and acid phosphatase (APH) were improved in RTS+MN. The bacterial and fungal abundances in RTS+MN and RTS+HN were 1.27-27.51 times higher than those in other treatment groups. However, the bacterial and fungal alpha diversities were enhanced in PTS+MN and PTS+CK compared with other treatments, respectively. Proteobacteria and Basidiomycota were the predominant phylum for the respective bacterial and fungal communities. Moreover, significant interactive effects were found in the fungal community composition, but only minor impacts were observed on the bacterial community composition. Soil water content and penetration resistance contributed more to the soil enzyme activity and microbial community than other soil properties investigated, whereas there was a significant positive correlation between ßG and APH activities and microbial abundance. These findings can provide new insights into tillage with straw incorporation and N fertilization on maize cultivation in northeast China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]