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Variable impacts of reduced and zero tillage on soil carbon storage across 4–10 years of UK field experiments

  • Soils, Sec 3 • Remediation and Management of Contaminated or Degraded Lands • Research Article
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Abstract

Aims

Reduced tillage has been advocated as a practical measure to increase soil carbon in long-term cropping soils. We examine three medium-term experiments in sites with contrasting soil and climatic characteristics in the UK. The objectives were to determine the effects of different reduced and zero tillage practices on bulk density and soil carbon storage and depth distribution and to quantify the effect of stones in their calculation.

Methods

The treatments were zero tillage, minimum tillage, conventional plough, deep non-inversion tillage and plough compaction. Soil samples were collected from three sites at five depth intervals to approximately 60 cm.

Results

Deep non-inversion and minimum tillage led to 6.5 and 1.6 Mg ha−1 greater SOC than conventional plough in sites under rotation systems. In a monoculture system in Scotland, conventional plough had 25.3, 21.6 and 17.7 Mg ha−1 greater SOC than plough compaction, minimum tillage and zero tillage, respectively. After harvest, bulk density was greater in the soil surface of conventional plough compared with minimum tillage.

Conclusions

Our results suggest variable impacts of reduced tillage on SOC storage. Overall there is limited benefit in using shallow minimum tillage and zero tillage practices in the UK to increase soil carbon storage when a soil profile of 60 cm is considered but other benefits associated to these systems, such as speed of working and timeliness of operations, should be considered.

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Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files.

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Funding

This research was financially supported by AHDB Cereals and Oilseeds grant RD-2012-3786 “Platforms to test and demonstrate sustainable soil management: integration of major UK field experiments” and the Scottish Government Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS).

The collection of meteorological data by the James Hutton Institute is supported by underpinning capacity funding provided by the Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS) division of Scottish Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The James Hutton Institute, Invergowrie, Dundee, Scotland, DD2 5DA, UK

    J.L. Brown, T.S. George, A.C. Newton, T.A. Valentine & B.M. McKenzie

  2. Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Ltd, 33 Holborn, London, EC1N 2HT, UK

    R. Stobart

  3. NIAB, Morley, Wymondham, Norfolk, NR18 9DF, UK

    R. Stobart & N.L. Morris

  4. School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, AB24 3UU, UK

    P.D. Hallett

  5. Geography and Environmental Science, University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland, DD1 4HN, UK

    B.M. McKenzie

Authors
  1. J.L. Brown
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Correspondence to J.L. Brown.

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Appendix

Appendix

Table 4 Variance models tested in residual maximum likelihood (REML) analyses. Dev deviance, df degrees of freedom, BIC Bayesian Information Criterion. The three asterisks mark the selected model for each analysis based on the lower BIC number
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Brown, J., Stobart, R., Hallett, P. et al. Variable impacts of reduced and zero tillage on soil carbon storage across 4–10 years of UK field experiments. J Soils Sediments 21, 890–904 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-020-02799-6

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