Tillage system and cover crop effects on organic carbon and available nutrient contents in light chestnut soil

Abstract

Optimal use of management systems including tillage and cover crops are recommended to improve available nutrient contents in soils and sustain agricultural production. The effects on organic carbon and available nutrient contents of three tillage methods (conventional tillage, minimum tillage and no-tillage) and different cover crops such as flaxseed oil, buckwheat, soybean, pea, corn, sorghum, spring oilseed rape and sugar beet were evaluated in a short-term experiment on a light chestnut soil in Kazakhstan. Organic carbon and available nutrient contents were measured in the autumn of 2021. The field measurements included the yield of cover crops and input of organic matter into soils with root and other residues of cover crops. In the laboratory, total organic carbon, labile organic carbon, easily hydrolyzable nitrogen (NH4-N), NO3-N, available P and exchangeable K were measured. The results showed that one season of cover crop growth was not enough to find detectable changes in soil organic matter and available nutrient status in light chestnut soils. On the other hand, even in a short-term field experiment period of 3 months, the most labile organic carbon in soil organic carbon was obtained in conventional tillage. Overall, the results show that at least in the short term and under lower drip irrigation rate in summer for the study area, reduced tillage methods (no-tillage and minimum tillage) is suitable in the study area for soybean, corn and sugar beet production after intensive tillage in the previous year.