TY - JOUR
T1 - Four tillage method assessments on soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, biological activities, and maize grain yield in Southern China
AU - Asenso, Evans
AU - Hu, Lian
AU - Issaka, Fuseini
AU - Tian, Kai
AU - Zhang, Lina
AU - Zhang, Luyong
AU - Zeng, Jiefeng
AU - Zhu, Yan Fei
AU - Li, Jiuhao
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Authors. Food and Energy Security published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. and the Association of Applied Biologists.
PY - 2019/11/1
Y1 - 2019/11/1
N2 - Creating a soil habitat is the first step to manage soil health for long-term soil quality and output. This means using soil management methods that lessen the soil uproar. An experiment was established in 2016 and 2017 on a middle term (7 years) consistent tillage method in typical Latosolic red soil of Southern China to access the effects of four treatments: subsoiling (SS), two passes of rotary tillage (2RT), two passes of rotary tillage + subsoiling (2RTSS), and zero tillage (ZT), on soil organic carbon, soil total nitrogen, soil biological activities (bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, urease, catalase, and phosphatase), and maize grain yield. The results showed that mean SOC, total N, biological activities, and maize grain yields were affected significantly (p < 0.05) by tillage methods. Compared with SS, 2RT, and 2RTSS, ZT had higher SOC, total N, soil bacteria, and soil actinomycetes in the 0–40 cm soil depth. The highest levels of fungi, urease, catalase, and phosphatase were recorded under SS in the 0–40 cm soil depth. Average maize grain yield of 7.37 ton/ha (9.81%) was recorded under SS compared to under ZT. Overall, we conclude that SS could be adopted as a promising soil management method for soil health, quality, and productivity resulting in a sustainable agricultural system.
AB - Creating a soil habitat is the first step to manage soil health for long-term soil quality and output. This means using soil management methods that lessen the soil uproar. An experiment was established in 2016 and 2017 on a middle term (7 years) consistent tillage method in typical Latosolic red soil of Southern China to access the effects of four treatments: subsoiling (SS), two passes of rotary tillage (2RT), two passes of rotary tillage + subsoiling (2RTSS), and zero tillage (ZT), on soil organic carbon, soil total nitrogen, soil biological activities (bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, urease, catalase, and phosphatase), and maize grain yield. The results showed that mean SOC, total N, biological activities, and maize grain yields were affected significantly (p < 0.05) by tillage methods. Compared with SS, 2RT, and 2RTSS, ZT had higher SOC, total N, soil bacteria, and soil actinomycetes in the 0–40 cm soil depth. The highest levels of fungi, urease, catalase, and phosphatase were recorded under SS in the 0–40 cm soil depth. Average maize grain yield of 7.37 ton/ha (9.81%) was recorded under SS compared to under ZT. Overall, we conclude that SS could be adopted as a promising soil management method for soil health, quality, and productivity resulting in a sustainable agricultural system.
KW - SOC
KW - actinomycetes
KW - bacteria
KW - catalase
KW - fungi
KW - phosphatase
KW - tillage
KW - total N
KW - urease
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85074822184&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/fes3.176
DO - 10.1002/fes3.176
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85074822184
SN - 2048-3694
VL - 8
JO - Food and Energy Security
JF - Food and Energy Security
IS - 4
M1 - e176
ER -