Traffic and tillage effects on wheat production on the Loess Plateau of China: 2. Soil physical properties
Yuhua Bai A E , Fu Chen A E , Hongwen Li B , Hao Chen B , Jin He B , Qingjie Wang B , J. N. Tullberg C and Yuanshi Gong D FA College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China.
B College of Engineering, China Agricultural University, PO Box 46, Beijing 100083, China.
C University of Queensland, Gatton, Qld 4343, Australia.
D College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100094, China.
E These authors contributed equally to the work.
F Corresponding author. Email: gongys@cau.edu.cn
Australian Journal of Soil Research 46(8) 652-658 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR07193
Submitted: 22 November 2007 Accepted: 3 April 2008 Published: 2 December 2008
Abstract
Controlled traffic zero and minimum tillage management with residue cover has been proposed as a solution to erosion and other soil degradation challenges to the sustainability of dryland farming on the Loess Plateau of China. This was assessed between 1998 and 2007 in a field experiment involving a conventional tillage treatment, and 2 controlled traffic treatments, no tillage and shallow tillage, with full straw cover in both cases. This paper reports the soil physical properties after 9 years of dryland wheat production under these treatments, and the substantial improvements seen in soils under controlled traffic. Compared with conventional tillage, controlled traffic significantly reduced soil bulk density in the 0–0.15 m soil layer, and increased total porosity in the 0–0.60 m soil layer, where macroporosity (>60 µm) and mesoporosity (0.2–60 µm) increased at the expense of microporosity (<0.2 µm). Readily available water content and saturated hydraulic conductivity were greater in controlled traffic treatments. Controlled traffic farming appears to be an improvement on current farming systems on the Loess Plateau, and valuable for the sustainable development agriculture in this region.
Additional keywords: controlled traffic, soil physical properties.
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), under project 96143, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, and the Shanxi Provincial Government, the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (grant no. IRT0412). We are grateful for Ms Jenny Fegent for her kind organisation of this special section. Also thanks to Mr Ross Murray for his work in implementing the ACIAR project in China, and the staff at the Conservation Tillage Research Center, MOA.
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