Does no-till crop management mitigate gaseous emissions and reduce yield disparities: An empirical US-China evaluation.

Global agricultural systems face one of the greatest sustainability challenges: meeting the growing demand for food without leaving a negative environmental footprint. United States (US) and China are the two largest economies and account for 39 % of total global greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions into the atmosphere. No-till is a promising land management option that allows agriculture to better adapt and mitigate climate change effects compared to traditional tillage. However, the efficacy of no-till for mitigating GHG is still debatable. In this meta-analysis, we comprehensively assess the impact of no-till (relative to traditional tillage) on GHG mitigation potential and crop productivity in different agroecological systems and management regimes in the US and China. Overall, no-till in China did not change crop yields, although soil CO ₂ (8 %) and N ₂ O (12 %) emissions decreased significantly, while soil CH ₄ emissions increased by 12 %. In contrast to Chinese no-till, a significant improvement in crop yields (up to 12 %) was recorded on US cropland under no-till. Moreover, significant decreases in soil N ₂ O (21 %) and CH ₄ (12 %) emissions were observed. Of the three cropping systems, only wheat showed significant reduction in CO ₂ , N ₂ O and CH ₄ emissions in the Chinese no-till system. In the case of US, no-till soybean-rice and maize cropping systems demonstrated significant emission reductions for N ₂ O and CO ₂ , respectively. Interestingly, yields of no-till maize in China and rice in US exceeded those of other no-till cereals. In China, no-till on medium-texture soils resulted in significant reductions in GHG emissions and higher crop yields compared to other soil types. In both countries, the relatively higher crop yields under irrigated versus non-irrigated no-till and the significant yield differences on fine textured soils under US no-till are likely due to the substantial N ₂ O reductions. In summary, crop yield disparities from no-till between China and the US were related to the insignificant effects on controlling CH ₄ emissions and successfully mitigating N ₂ O, respectively. This study comprehensively demonstrates how cropping system and pedoclimatic conditions influence the relative effectiveness of no-till in both countries.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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