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Land
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Tillage Systems Impact Soil Structure and Cover Crop
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Tillage Systems Impact Soil Structure and Cover Crop

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Soil-Sediment-Water Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 April 2023) | Viewed by 7210

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Lifeng Yuan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center for Environmental Solutions and Emergency Response (CESER), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Durham, NC 27709, USA
Interests: watershed modeling; soil erosion; climate change
Dr. Qingfeng Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
Interests: land resources and spatial information technology; soil erosion and soil and water conservation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The effective adoption of agricultural management strategies, such as tillage systems and crop rotations (or double cropping), can improve arable soil quality and promote sustainable agricultural development. The process of tillage breaks up the soil structure and influences crop growth by disturbing soil aggregation, the porous system, organic carbon content, soil moisture content, and water infiltration. Additionally, tillage destroys surface residue and releases greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere. Intensive tillage, such as conventional tillage (CT), leaves the soil surface almost bare, which greatly increases the occurrence probability of soil erosion. Surface runoff strips the fertile topsoil and causes the loss of soil organic matter, which decreases crop productivity. Conservation tillage practices, such as reduced tillage (RT) and no-till (NT), minimize soil disturbance and, therefore, retain more organic matter in the soil. Moreover, compared to CT, conservation tillage can effectively reduce soil loss due to a better surface residue cover, as well as mitigate GHG emissions from the soil.

In addition, cover crops play an important role in soil health and farm management by controlling weeds and pests, adding organic matter to soil, enhancing water infiltration, conserving soil moisture, mitigating soil erosion, improving soil fertility, and even adding crop yield. Some studies have shown that crop rotations under NT can greatly reduce soil erosion in comparison to monocropping under CT. Hence, it is essential to evaluate the impact of various tillage practices on soil structure, soil health, soil loss, cover crops, and crop yield under extensive geographical conditions. On the other hand, with climate change becoming increasingly more undisputed, it is an imperative task to study the climatic adaption of agricultural management.

The Special Issue aims to assess the effects of tillage systems on the soil structure, cover crops, and/or soil loss under extensive agricultural management considering or not considering climate change. This Special Issue closely encompasses the aims and scope of the Land journal (MDPI), involving the soil–sediment–water systems, land management, and land–climate interactions.

The article types for submissions include reviews or regular research papers. Preferred topics involve, but are not limited to, the following areas:

  • The impact of various tillage systems on soil structure or soil health;
  • The impact of cover crops with different tillage practices on soil properties (e.g., physical, chemical, and biological);
  • Simulating the potential impact of crop types and tillage systems on crop yield, surface runoff, and soil loss under climate change;
  • Climatic adaption of cover crops and tillage systems;
  • Soil erosion response to land use and land cover change;
  • Crop response to cropping management and tillage systems;
  • Soil properties/quality change under long-term cropping and tillage systems;
  • The impact of tillage forms alteration on crop productivity and/or soil characteristics;
  • Cover crops and/or tillage systems promote soil carbon storage/sequestration.

Dr. Lifeng Yuan
Dr. Qingfeng Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • tillage systems
  • soil structure
  • soil quality
  • crop rotation
  • soil erosion
  • climate change
  • soil health
  • cover crops
  • land use and land cover change

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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23 pages, 3199 KiB  
Article
Changes in Soil Properties and Crop Yield under Sustainable Conservation Tillage Systems in Spring Wheat Agroecosystems
by Jianyu Yuan, Mahran Sadiq, Nasir Rahim, Majid Mahmood Tahir, Yunliang Liang, Macao Zhuo, Lijuan Yan, Aqila Shaheen, Basharat Mahmood and Guang Li
Land 2023, 12(6), 1253; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12061253 - 19 Jun 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1282
Abstract
The cultivated soils in several semi-arid areas have very low organic matter due to climatic constraints that limit primary crop yield. Conservation tillage systems, outlined here as no tillage, no tillage with straw return and straw incorporation into the field, have been accepted [...] Read more.
The cultivated soils in several semi-arid areas have very low organic matter due to climatic constraints that limit primary crop yield. Conservation tillage systems, outlined here as no tillage, no tillage with straw return and straw incorporation into the field, have been accepted as capable systems that preserve soil’s resources and sustain soil productivity. However, in semi-arid climates, there is presently no knowledge about the influence of different conservation tillage techniques on soil’s physical, chemical and biological properties at different soil depths in spring wheat fields and only little information about spring wheat yield in these management systems. Therefore, the present study was carried out with the objective of examining the impact of conservation tillage systems on soil properties (physical, chemical and biological) and spring wheat yield. The three conservation tillage treatments consisted of no tillage system (NT), wheat stubble return with no tillage (NTS) and straw incorporation with conventional tillage (CTS), as well as one conventional tillage (CT) control treatment, which were evaluated under randomized complete block design with three replications. The three conservation tillage treatments were compared with the conventional tillage control. Conservation tillage significantly increased the bulk density, gravimetric water content, water storage, hydraulic conductivity and soil aggregates and decreased the pore space and soil temperature compared to CT; however, no significant difference was found in the case of field capacity. Soil chemical properties in the 0–40 cm soil layer increased with conservation tillage compared to CT. Conservation tillage also notably increased the soil microbial counts, urease, alkaline phosphatase, invertase, cellulase and catalase activities relative to CT. Microbial biomasses (carbon and nitrogen) and wheat yield significantly elevated under conservation tillage compared to CT. Therefore, conservation tillage could significantly improve soil properties and maintain wheat yield for the research zone. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tillage Systems Impact Soil Structure and Cover Crop)
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14 pages, 3525 KiB  
Article
Effects of Conventional Tillage and No-Tillage Systems on Maize (Zea mays L.) Growth and Yield, Soil Structure, and Water in Loess Plateau of China: Field Experiment and Modeling Studies
by Shuang Liu, Yuru Gao, Huilin Lang, Yong Liu and Hong Zhang
Land 2022, 11(11), 1881; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11111881 - 23 Oct 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2076
Abstract
Cropping system models can be useful tools for assessing tillage systems, which are both economically and environmentally viable. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the decision support system for agrotechnology transfer (DSSAT) CERES-Maize model’s ability to predict maize growth and yield, [...] Read more.
Cropping system models can be useful tools for assessing tillage systems, which are both economically and environmentally viable. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the decision support system for agrotechnology transfer (DSSAT) CERES-Maize model’s ability to predict maize growth and yield, as well as soil water dynamics, and to apply the evaluated model to predict evapotranspiration processes under conventional tillage (CT) and no-tillage (NT) systems in a semi-arid loess plateau area of China from 2014 to 2016. The field experiment results showed that NT increased the surface soil bulk density and water-holding capacity but decreased the total porosity for the surface soil and the maize grain yield. Model calibration for maize cultivar was achieved using grain yield measurements from 2014 to 2016 for CT, and model evaluation was achieved using soil and crop measurements from both CT and NT for the same 3 yr period. Good agreement was reached for CT grain yields for model calibration (nRMSE = 4.02%; d = 0.87), indicating that the model was successfully calibrated. Overall, the results of model evaluation were acceptable, with good agreement for NT grain yields (nRMSE = 4.26%; d = 0.86); the agreement for LAI ranged from good to moderate (RMSE = 0.30‒0.31; d = 0.84‒0.85); the agreement for soil water content was good for NT (RMSE = 0.03‒0.08; d = 0.81‒0.95), but ranged from good to poor for CT (RMSE = 0.06‒0.09; d = 0.42‒0.88); the overall agreement between measured and simulated soil water varied from poor to good depending on soil depth and tillage. It was concluded that the DSSAT CERES-Maize model provided generally good-to-moderate simulations of continuous maize production (yield and LAI) for a short-term tillage experiment in the loess plateau, China, but generally good-to-poor simulations of soil water content. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tillage Systems Impact Soil Structure and Cover Crop)
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21 pages, 27985 KiB  
Article
Multisource Remote Sensing Monitoring and Analysis of the Driving Forces of Vegetation Restoration in the Mu Us Sandy Land
by Zhao Wang, Tinglong Zhang, Chenyang Pei, Xiaonan Zhao, Yingying Li, Shuai Hu, Chongfeng Bu and Qingfeng Zhang
Land 2022, 11(9), 1553; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11091553 - 13 Sep 2022
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 1697
Abstract
The Mu Us Sandy Land is a key region of man-made desert control and farmland to forest (grass) return in China. Despite global change and the strong influence of human activities, the vegetation in this region has been significantly improved and restored. In [...] Read more.
The Mu Us Sandy Land is a key region of man-made desert control and farmland to forest (grass) return in China. Despite global change and the strong influence of human activities, the vegetation in this region has been significantly improved and restored. In this study, multisource remote sensing data and multiple indicators were used to quantitatively monitor and evaluate the vegetation restoration status in this area. The driving factors were also analysed. The results show that in the past 20 years, nearly the entire Mu Us Sandy Land significantly and substantively recovered. The regional fractional vegetation cover increased, with an average annual growth rate of 0.59% and obvious spatial heterogeneity. The nine most important driving factors could comprehensively account for 58.38% of the spatial distribution of the vegetation coverage. Factors such as land use and land cover, the aridity index, and gross domestic product had the most significant impact, followed by precipitation and temperature. The results confirmed that the vegetation was restored and improved in the Mu Us Sandy Land and determined the main driving factors, which is helpful for vegetation restoration and ecological improvement on sandy land similar to the Mu Us Sandy Land. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tillage Systems Impact Soil Structure and Cover Crop)
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Review

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22 pages, 3400 KiB  
Review
Progress of Study on Interception of Soil Mulching with an Insight into Karst Soil Leakage Control: A Review
by Chenxu Wu, Kangning Xiong, Ding Luo and Xing Gu
Land 2022, 11(11), 1984; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11111984 - 05 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1393
Abstract
Soil erosion is a global issue of great concern, especially in karst areas with special environments, where subsurface soil leakage is closely related to soil erosion, which has become a key factor limiting agricultural development. To explore how to improve soil erosion in [...] Read more.
Soil erosion is a global issue of great concern, especially in karst areas with special environments, where subsurface soil leakage is closely related to soil erosion, which has become a key factor limiting agricultural development. To explore how to improve soil erosion in karst areas to enhance soil quality and maintain the sustainable use of the land in the long term, a total of 176 studies on the interception characteristics of soil mulching and erosion management were reviewed using a systematic review approach, through the WoS and CNKI databases. Firstly, quantitative analysis was conducted in terms of the annual volume, content and countries of the published literature. Secondly, from four aspects (theoretical research, mechanism research, technology research and technical demonstration), the main progress and landmark achievements of soil mulching interception and erosion management were classified. It is shown that the interception characteristics of soil mulching can produce an effective blockage for soil leakage in karst areas. Based on the global classification, compared to synthetic materials, natural materials have received more attention. We propose five key scientific questions that still need to be addressed. This review explores the insightful role of soil mulching for karst soil leakage management and aims to provide theoretical support for future research on sustainable land development in karst areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tillage Systems Impact Soil Structure and Cover Crop)
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