TY - JOUR
T1 - Optimized tillage can enhance crop tolerance to extreme weather events
T2 - Evidence from field experiments and meta-analysis
AU - Sun, Jun
AU - Niu, Wenquan
AU - Mu, Fei
AU - Li, Ruoyu
AU - Du, Yadan
AU - Ma, Li
AU - Zhang, Qian
AU - Li, Guochun
AU - Zhu, Jinjin
AU - Siddique, Kadambot H.M.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would first like to thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions, which helped to improve the quality of the paper; in addition, the authors would like to thank Prof. Kadambot H.M. Siddique for polishing the language of the paper. This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China ( 52379048 and 52079112 ), the Major Science and Technology Engineering Innovation Project of Shandong Province , China ( 2020CXGC010808 ) and the Key Research and Development Program of Shaanxi Province , China ( 2022ZDLNY03 -03).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2024/5
Y1 - 2024/5
N2 - The frequency of droughts and floods has increased due to climate change and human activities, leading to adverse impacts on agricultural production. Conventional tillage exacerbates the vulnerability of crops to extreme weather. Optimized tillage practices can maintain crop yield stability by increasing soil water-holding capacity during dry seasons and improving crop lodging resistance during heavy rainfall events. The effects of tillage practice under different rainfall types on the productivity of summer maize were studied by combining a five-year field experiment and a meta-analysis. The study tested four tillage treatments: conventional tillage (CT), no-tillage (NT), ridge cultivation with no-tillage (RNT), and winter wheat conventional tillage followed by summer maize no-tillage (NC). Normal rainfall years (2018, 2019 and 2021), a wet year (2020), and a drought year (2022) were experienced during the experiment. Compared to CT, NC significantly increased available soil water storage during the dry season by an average of 19.7 % (P < 0.05). NC and RNT had lower lodging rates during the wet year than CT, and over the five years, NC had a higher average maize yield (9.8 t ha−1) than RNT, while RNT had a higher yield during the wet year (10.7 t ha−1). NC also had significantly higher yield stability than CT. Furthermore, NC and RNT had higher rainwater use efficiencies (RUE) (23.9 and 23.0 kg ha−1 mm−1, respectively) than NT and CT (22.9 and 21.6 kg ha−1 mm−1, respectively). A meta-analysis showed that the crop yield under combined tillage (COT) was significantly higher than CT and NT by 6.7 % and 7.1 %, respectively, confirming the reliability and universality of the field experiment results. Overall, NC rotation is recommended as the best tillage system for sustainable crop production under semi-arid conditions, while RNT can be used in areas with abundant rainfall and prone to flooding. Our research findings offer evidence-based insights into management strategies that can enhance agricultural ecosystem resilience and production stability under extreme climate conditions.
AB - The frequency of droughts and floods has increased due to climate change and human activities, leading to adverse impacts on agricultural production. Conventional tillage exacerbates the vulnerability of crops to extreme weather. Optimized tillage practices can maintain crop yield stability by increasing soil water-holding capacity during dry seasons and improving crop lodging resistance during heavy rainfall events. The effects of tillage practice under different rainfall types on the productivity of summer maize were studied by combining a five-year field experiment and a meta-analysis. The study tested four tillage treatments: conventional tillage (CT), no-tillage (NT), ridge cultivation with no-tillage (RNT), and winter wheat conventional tillage followed by summer maize no-tillage (NC). Normal rainfall years (2018, 2019 and 2021), a wet year (2020), and a drought year (2022) were experienced during the experiment. Compared to CT, NC significantly increased available soil water storage during the dry season by an average of 19.7 % (P < 0.05). NC and RNT had lower lodging rates during the wet year than CT, and over the five years, NC had a higher average maize yield (9.8 t ha−1) than RNT, while RNT had a higher yield during the wet year (10.7 t ha−1). NC also had significantly higher yield stability than CT. Furthermore, NC and RNT had higher rainwater use efficiencies (RUE) (23.9 and 23.0 kg ha−1 mm−1, respectively) than NT and CT (22.9 and 21.6 kg ha−1 mm−1, respectively). A meta-analysis showed that the crop yield under combined tillage (COT) was significantly higher than CT and NT by 6.7 % and 7.1 %, respectively, confirming the reliability and universality of the field experiment results. Overall, NC rotation is recommended as the best tillage system for sustainable crop production under semi-arid conditions, while RNT can be used in areas with abundant rainfall and prone to flooding. Our research findings offer evidence-based insights into management strategies that can enhance agricultural ecosystem resilience and production stability under extreme climate conditions.
KW - Lodging
KW - Meta-analysis
KW - Tillage
KW - Water use efficiency
KW - Yield
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85182260220
U2 - 10.1016/j.still.2024.106003
DO - 10.1016/j.still.2024.106003
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85182260220
SN - 0167-1987
VL - 238
JO - Soil and Tillage Research
JF - Soil and Tillage Research
M1 - 106003
ER -
