Long-term combined subsoiling and straw mulching conserves water and improves agricultural soil properties
Corresponding Author
Yonghui Yang
Institute of Plant Nutrition & Resource Environment, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou, China
International Joint Research Laboratory for Global Change Ecology, School of Life Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
Yuanyang Experimental Station of Crop Water Use, Ministry of Agriculture, Yuanyang, China
Field Scientific Observation and Research Station of Water Saving Agriculture in the Yellow River Basin of Henan Province, Yuanyang, China
Correspondence
Yonghui Yang, Institute of Plant Nutrition & Resource Environment, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou 450002, China.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorHao Liu
International Joint Research Laboratory for Global Change Ecology, School of Life Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
Search for more papers by this authorJicheng Wu
Institute of Plant Nutrition & Resource Environment, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou, China
Yuanyang Experimental Station of Crop Water Use, Ministry of Agriculture, Yuanyang, China
Field Scientific Observation and Research Station of Water Saving Agriculture in the Yellow River Basin of Henan Province, Yuanyang, China
Search for more papers by this authorCuimin Gao
Institute of Plant Nutrition & Resource Environment, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou, China
Yuanyang Experimental Station of Crop Water Use, Ministry of Agriculture, Yuanyang, China
Field Scientific Observation and Research Station of Water Saving Agriculture in the Yellow River Basin of Henan Province, Yuanyang, China
Search for more papers by this authorSensen Zhang
Henan Provincial Institute of Geology, Zhengzhou, China
Search for more papers by this authorDarrell W. S. Tang
Soil Physics and Land Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Yonghui Yang
Institute of Plant Nutrition & Resource Environment, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou, China
International Joint Research Laboratory for Global Change Ecology, School of Life Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
Yuanyang Experimental Station of Crop Water Use, Ministry of Agriculture, Yuanyang, China
Field Scientific Observation and Research Station of Water Saving Agriculture in the Yellow River Basin of Henan Province, Yuanyang, China
Correspondence
Yonghui Yang, Institute of Plant Nutrition & Resource Environment, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou 450002, China.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorHao Liu
International Joint Research Laboratory for Global Change Ecology, School of Life Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
Search for more papers by this authorJicheng Wu
Institute of Plant Nutrition & Resource Environment, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou, China
Yuanyang Experimental Station of Crop Water Use, Ministry of Agriculture, Yuanyang, China
Field Scientific Observation and Research Station of Water Saving Agriculture in the Yellow River Basin of Henan Province, Yuanyang, China
Search for more papers by this authorCuimin Gao
Institute of Plant Nutrition & Resource Environment, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou, China
Yuanyang Experimental Station of Crop Water Use, Ministry of Agriculture, Yuanyang, China
Field Scientific Observation and Research Station of Water Saving Agriculture in the Yellow River Basin of Henan Province, Yuanyang, China
Search for more papers by this authorSensen Zhang
Henan Provincial Institute of Geology, Zhengzhou, China
Search for more papers by this authorDarrell W. S. Tang
Soil Physics and Land Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Search for more papers by this authorYonghui Yang and Hao Liu contributed equally to this study.
Abstract
Subsoiling and straw mulching are two techniques that conserve soil water and improve the sustainability of agricultural production. However, the benefits to soil sustainability of combining subsoiling with straw mulching under intensive rotation between wheat and maize remain uncertain. We conducted a field experiment to determine the long-term impacts of conventional tillage with straw mulching (CS), and subsoiling with straw mulching (SS), on soil macropore characteristics (>160 μm), soil aggregate characteristics, and soil hydraulic parameters at 0–100 cm depths. Results indicate that SS increased the mean macropore number (66.9%), macroporosity (93.5%), pore circularity (3.5%), field moisture capacity (11.8%), saturated moisture content (21.4%), available soil moisture content (24.1%), and the saturated hydraulic conductivity (39.3%) in the shallowest 50 cm of soil, and total organic carbon content (34.5%) and soil labile organic carbon (20.2%) in the shallowest 30 cm of soil, compared to CS. Compared with CS, SS was more effective at increasing the proportion of aggregates larger than 0.25 mm in the top 20 cm of soil and decreasing the proportion of aggregates smaller than 0.25 mm in the top 30 cm of soil. Correlations between soil organic carbon and various soil physical properties under different practices suggest that SS has larger causative effects on soil physical properties than CS. Therefore, SS is recommended over CS.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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