Dataset Information

Assessment of Micro-Basin Tillage as a Soil and Water Conservation Practice in the Black Soil Region of Northeast China.

ABSTRACT: Micro-basin tillage is a soil and water conservation practice that requires building individual earth blocks along furrows. In this study, plot experiments were conducted to assess the efficiency of micro-basin tillage on sloping croplands between 2012 and 2013 (5°and 7°). The conceptual, optimal, block interval model was used to design micro-basins which are meant to capture the maximum amount of water per unit area. Results indicated that when compared to the up-down slope tillage, micro-basin tillage could increase soil water content and maize yield by about 45% and 17%, and reduce runoff, sediment and nutrients loads by about 63%, 96% and 86%, respectively. Meanwhile, micro-basin tillage could reduce the peak runoff rates and delay the initial runoff-yielding time. In addition, micro-basin tillage with the optimal block interval proved to be the best one among all treatments with different intervals. Compared with treatments of other block intervals, the optimal block interval treatments increased soil moisture by around 10% and reduced runoff rate by around 15%. In general, micro-basin tillage with optimal block interval represents an effective soil and water conservation practice for sloping farmland of the black soil region.

SUBMITTER: Sui Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4816346 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Assessment of Micro-Basin Tillage as a Soil and Water Conservation Practice in the Black Soil Region of Northeast China.

Sui Yuanyuan Y Ou Yang Y Yan Baixing B Xu Xiaohong X Rousseau Alain N AN Zhang Yu Y

PloS one 20160331 3

Micro-basin tillage is a soil and water conservation practice that requires building individual earth blocks along furrows. In this study, plot experiments were conducted to assess the efficiency of micro-basin tillage on sloping croplands between 2012 and 2013 (5°and 7°). The conceptual, optimal, block interval model was used to design micro-basins which are meant to capture the maximum amount of water per unit area. Results indicated that when compared to the up-down slope tillage, micro-basin ...[more]

PMID: 27031339

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Project description:Soil tillage can affect the stability and formation of soil aggregates by disrupting soil structure. Frequent tillage deteriorates soil structure and weakens soil aggregates, causing them to be susceptible to decay. Different types of tillage systems affect soil physical properties and organic matter content, in turn influencing the formation of aggregates. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of long-term tillage on soil aggregates and aggregate-associated carbon in a black soil of Northeast China and to identify the optimal conservation tillage in this system. This research was conducted on a long-term tillage experimental field established in 1983 at the Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Gongzhuling, China. Plots were treated with four tillage systems including no tillage (NT), spacing tillage (ST), moldboard plowing (MP), and conventional tillage (CT). We took samples every 10cm from 0-60cm depth and demonstrated that water-stable soil aggregates >0.25mm in diameter accounted for over 66.0% of total aggregates for all tillage treatments, and the percentage for the ST treatment was 34.5% higher than in the other treatments. The NT treatment had the highest effect at 0-10cm depth, while the effect for the ST treatment was highest at 0-30cm. SOC storage decreased with soil depth, with a significant accumulation at 0-20cm depth. Across treatments, aggregate-associated C at a depth of 0-10cm was higher in the NT and ST treatments than in the MP and CT treatments. The advantage of the NT treatment weakened with soil depth, while the amount of aggregate-associated C remained higher for the ST treatment. There were more macro-aggregates in the ST and NT treatments than in the MP and CT treatments, while the MP and CT treatments had more micro-aggregates. The sum of macro-aggregate contributing rates for soil organic C (SOC) was significantly superior to that of the micro-aggregates. Water-stable aggregates increased by 34.5% in the ST treatment, effectively improving the soil structure. Furthermore, 0.25-1.00 and 1-2mm aggregates had the highest SOC storage and responded rapidly to the various tillage treatments. Hence, they can serve as indicators for the long-term influence of different tillage treatments on the distribution of aggregates and SOC.

Project description:Soil microorganisms are important components of agricultural ecosystems; they are important in agricultural soil nutrient cycle and are easily affected by soil tillage. The response of soil microbial community to tillage is very complex, and the effect of the no tillage and residue mulching method on soil microbial diversity remains unclear. In 2019, the soil was collected from an experimental field after 10 years of continuous cultivation in the black soil area of the Sanjiang Plain in Northeastern China. In this study, the diversity and composition of the soil bacterial community and their relationship with soil properties were explored via high-throughput sequencing under no tillage with four residue mulching treatments. No tillage with 60% residue mulching (NTR3) significantly increased the alpha diversity of the rhizosphere soil bacteria and changed the composition of the bacterial community-consistent with changes in soil physicochemical properties. Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Actinobacteria were the dominant phyla in the sample soil. Soil physicochemical properties explained 80.6% of the changes in soil diversity and composition, of which soil organic carbon, soil pH, and soil temperature were the principal contributors. Our results suggest that no tillage and residue mulching is conducive to increasing soil organic carbon and soil nutrient content, which is a beneficial conservation tillage measure for black soil protection in Sanjiang Plain of Northeast China. The no tillage with residue mulching, especially 60% residue mulching, alters soil bacterial community and highlights the importance of soil physicochemical properties in shaping the diversity and composition of the soil bacterial community. Our findings contribute to a broad understanding of the effects of no tillage and residue mulching on bacterial community differences and provide a scientific basis for the optimization of no tillage measures and sustainable utilization of the black soil of the Sanjiang Plain in Northeastern China.

Project description:IntroductionConservation tillage is a widely used technique worldwide, but the effects of conservation tillage on bacterial community structure are poorly understood. We explored proportional alterations in the bacterial community under different tillage treatments.MethodologyHence, this study utilized high-throughput sequencing technique to investigate the structure and assembly processes of microbial communities in different tillage treatments.Results and discussionTillage treatments included tillage no-straw retention (CntWt), no-tillage with straw retention (CntWntS), tillage with straw retention (CntWtS), no-tillage and no-straw retention (CntWnt). The influence of tillage practices on soil bacterial communities was investigated using Illumina MiSeq sequencing. Different tillage methods and straw retention systems significantly influenced soil parameters such as total potassium and pH were not affected by tillage practices, while straw retention significantly affected soil parameters including nitrogen content, available phosphorus and available potassium. Straw retention decreased bacterial diversity while increased bacterial richness. The effect of straw retention and tillage on bacterial communities was greater than with no tillage. Phylogenetic β-diversity analysis showed that deterministic homogeneous selection processes were dominated, while stochastic processes were more pronounced in tillage without straw retention. Ecological network analysis showed that microbial community correlation was increased in CntWntS and CntWnt. Straw retention treatment significantly increased the relative abundance of bacterial taxa Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and OD1, while Nitrospirae, Actinobacteria, and Verrucomicrobia significantly decreased.ConclusionThe conservation tillage practices significantly affect soil properties, bacterial composition, and assembly processes; however, further studies are required to investigate the impact of different crops, tillage practices and physiological characteristics on bacterial community structure and functions.

Project description:Conservation tillage is an extensively used agricultural practice in northern China that alters soil texture and nutrient conditions, causing changes in the soil microbial community. However, how conservation tillage affects rhizosphere and bulk soil fungal communities during plant growth remains unclear. The present study investigated the effect of long-term (6 years) conservation (chisel plow, zero) and conventional (plow) tillage during wheat growth on the rhizosphere fungal community, using high-throughput sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) gene and quantitative PCR. During tillering, fungal alpha diversity in both rhizosphere and bulk soil were significantly higher under zero tillage compared to other methods. Although tillage had no significant effect during the flowering stage, fungal alpha diversity at this stage was significantly different between rhizosphere and bulk soils, with bulk soil presenting the highest diversity. This was also reflected in the phylogenetic structure of the communities, as rhizosphere soil communities underwent a greater shift from tillering to flowering compared to bulk soil communities. In general, less variation in community structure was observed under zero tillage compared to plow and chisel plow treatments. Changes in the relative abundance of the fungal orders Capnodiales, Pleosporales, and Xylariales contributed the highest to the dissimilarities observed. Structural equation models revealed that the soil fungal communities under the three tillage regimes were likely influenced by the changes in soil properties associated with plant growth. This study suggested that: (1) differences in nutrient resources between rhizosphere and bulk soils can select for different types of fungi thereby increasing community variation during plant growth; (2) tillage can alter fungal communities' variability, with zero tillage promoting more stable communities. This work suggests that long-term changes in tillage regimes may result in unique soil fungal ecology, which might influence other aspects of soil functioning (e.g., decomposition).

Project description:Judicious application of saline water except for critical growth stages, could be the only practical solution to meet the crop water demand in arid and semi-arid regions, due to limited access to freshwater, especially during dry winter months. A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of tillage [conventional (CT), reduced (RT), and zero (ZT)], rice straw mulch and deficit saline-water irrigation in wheat (100, 80 and 60% of wheat water requirement, CWR) followed by rainfed sorghum on soil properties and the yields of the cropping system. Yields of both the crops were comparable between RT and CT, but the wheat yield was reduced in ZT. The RT, mulching and deficit saline irrigation in wheat season (60% CWR) increased the sorghum fodder yield. Olsen's P (8.7-20.6%) and NH4OAc-K (2.5-7.5%) increased in RT and ZT, respectively, over CT under both the crops. Deficit irrigation reduced soil salinity (ECe) by 0.73-1.19 dS m-1 after each crop cycle, while soil microbial biomass C (MBC) and N (MBN), dehydrogenase, urease and alkaline phosphatase reduced with an increase in ECe. The α-glucosidase, MBC, ECe, KMnO4oxidizable N, and urease were identified as major contributors in developing the soil health index. Deficit irrigation (60% CWR) and rice straw mulching under ZT and RT showed higher values of soil health index. Overall, deficit saline-water irrigation under reduced tillage and straw mulching had the greatest potential in maintaining soil health, saving fresh irrigation water without affecting the productivity of the sorghum-wheat system in the semi-arid regions of India. Results also demonstrated that salt affected areas of arid and semiarid countries can replicate the protocol for indexing and screening of soil health indicators to assess the sustainability of a cropping system. This integrated management based on the nature of the available resources also provided a practical approach to achieve the target of land degradation neutrality and land restoration.

Dataset Information

Assessment of Micro-Basin Tillage as a Soil and Water Conservation Practice in the Black Soil Region of Northeast China.

Publications

Assessment of Micro-Basin Tillage as a Soil and Water Conservation Practice in the Black Soil Region of Northeast China.

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