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Influence of conservation tillage on Greenhouse gas fluxes and crop productivity in spring-wheat agroecosystems on the Loess Plateau of China.

ABSTRACT: The effects of climate change such as dry spells, floods and erosion heavily impact agriculture especially smallholder systems on the Northwestern Loess Plateau of China. Nonetheless agriculture also contributes to global warming through the emission of greenhouse gases such as CO₂, CH₄ and N₂O. Yet this complex conundrum can be alleviated and mitigated through sound soil and water management practices. Despite considerable literature on Conservation Agriculture (CA) as a strategy to improve the resilience and mitigation capacity of agroecosystems, there is still paucity of information on the impacts of CA on crop production and environmental quality on the Plateau. In order to fill this gap this study examined the effects of no-till and straw mulch on crop productivity and greenhouse gas fluxes in agroecosystems on the Plateau where farmers' common practice of conventional tillage (CT) was tested against three CA practices: conventional tillage with straw mulch (CTS), no-till (NT) and no-till with straw mulch (NTS). The results indicated that all three CA practices (CTS, NT and NTS) markedly increased soil water content (SWC), soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil total nitrogen (STN) but reduced soil temperature (ST). Average grain yields were 854.46 ± 76.51, 699.30 ± 133.52 and 908.18±38.64 kg ha^-1 respectively under CTS, NT and NTS indicating an increase by approximately 33%, 9% and 41% respectively compared with CT (644.61 ± 76.98 kg ha^-1). There were significant (p < 0.05) reductions of Net CO₂ emissions under NT (7.37 ± 0.89 tCO2e ha^-1y^-1) and NTS (6.65 ± 0.73 tCO2e ha^-1y^-1) compared with CTS (10.65 ± 0.18 tCO2e ha^-1y^-1) and CT (11.14 ± 0.58 tCO2e ha^-1y^-1). All the treatments served as sinks of CH₄but NTS had the highest absorption capacity (-0.27 ± 0.024 tCO2e ha^-1y^-1) and increased absorption significantly (p < 0.05) compared with CT (-0.21 ± 0.017 tCO2e ha^-1y^-1); however, CA did not reduce emissions of N₂O. These had an influence on Global warming potential (GWP) as NT and NTS resulted in significant reduction in net GWP. Grain yield was significantly correlated positively with SOC and STN (p < 0.05); ecosystem respiration was also significantly correlated with SWC and ST while CH₄ flux was highly correlated with ST (p < 0.001). Crop yield and GHG responses to CA were controlled by soil hydrothermal and nutrient changes, thus improving these conditions through adoption of sustainable soil moisture improvement practices such as no-till, straw mulch, green manuring, contour ploughing and terracing can improve crop resilience to climate change and reduce GHG emissions in arid and semi-arid regions.

SUBMITTER: Alhassan AM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8048409 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Appropriate fertilizer application methods can help to improve crop yields. However, limited information is available regarding how different fertilizer application depths might affect crop production in dryland winter wheat-summer maize cropping in the Loess Plateau region of China. Therefore, we conducted field experiments in 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 to evaluate the effects of changing the fertilizer placement depth on summer maize (current crop) and winter wheat (succeeding crop) productivity, as well as the resource use efficiency and soil nitrate-nitrogen residue (SNR) level. Four fertilizer placement depths were tested comprising 5 cm (FD5), 15 cm (FD15), 25 cm (FD25), and 35 cm (FD35). The nitrogen uptake by summer maize in the two seasons was 10.0, 6.5, and 11.8% higher under FD15 compared with those under FD5, FD25, and FD35, respectively, because FD15 effectively increased the root length density, root surface area density, and rate of root bleeding sap. Due to the increased nitrogen uptake, the leaf area index, plant height, stem diameter, and accumulated dry matter were improved in summer maize. The interception of photosynthetically active radiation was 3.6, 3.7, and 5.9% higher under FD15 compared with those under FD5, FD25, and FD35, respectively. The summer maize grain yield increased by 13.9–22.4% under FD15 compared with the other treatments. In addition, the SNR in the deep soil (200–300 cm) was significantly lower under FD15 during the summer maize harvest (17.9–30.7%) compared with the other treatments. Moreover, FD15 increased the winter wheat (succeeding crop) grain yield (2.6–11.2%) and reduced the SNR in the 200–300 cm soil layer (8.8–16.8%) at the winter wheat harvest. The highest radiation use efficiency, precipitation use efficiency, and nitrogen use efficiency were obtained under FD15 in both summer maize and winter wheat. These results clearly suggest that depth fertilization of 15 cm enhanced the productivity and resource use efficiency for the current and subsequent crops in rainfed farmland in the Loess Plateau of China, as well as reducing the SNR in the deep soil to promote sustainable agricultural development. These findings provide a practical reference for optimizing fertilizer application management.

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Influence of conservation tillage on Greenhouse gas fluxes and crop productivity in spring-wheat agroecosystems on the Loess Plateau of China.

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