Caiyun Lu

Influence of no tillage controlled traffic system on soil physical properties in double cropping area of North China plain

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of tillage on soil properties in the field of maize ( Zea mays L.) and winter wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) annual double cropping region in North China Plain. Measurements were made following six years (2005 to 2010) of three tillage treatments; no till with controlled traffic (NTCT), no till random trafficking (NTRT) and conventional tillage (CT) on a silt loam according to the USDA texture classification system soil in Daxing district, which lies in the suburb of Beijing. Long term no till with controlled traffic significantly (P < 0.05) increased macro-aggregates, infiltration rate, soil moisture, together with reductions in soil bulk density, soil compaction in different layers compared with the no till random traffic and traditional mould board tillage treatment currently used in this region. Consequently, mean winter wheat and summer maize yields for the NTCT treatment were improved by 2.8 and 7.1% when compared with the soils under no till random traffic, while huge improvement was found when it was compared with conventional ploughing management (4.2 and 12.08% for wheat and maize, respectively). The long-term experiment demonstrated that no-tillage controlled traffic with residues retained, offers a potentially significant improvement over the current farming systems in annual double cropping areas of North China Plain. Key words : No tillage, controlled traffic, soil physical properties, North China Plain.

Effects of controlled traffic no-till system on soil chemical properties and crop yield in annual double-cropping area of the North China Plain

A controlled traffic no-till system is a cropping system that has a significant potential to improve soil health, sustainability and crop yield. A pilot experiment was conducted to compare soil chemical properties and crop yields between controlled traffic no-till and random traffic in an annual double-cropping area of the North China Plain from 2005 to 2010. The experiment was performed using three treatments: (1) controlled traffic no-till (NTCT); (2) random traffic no-till (NTRT); and (3) conventional tillage (CT). The NTCT treatment significantly improved soil organic matter and total N compared with both NTRT and CT treatments and remarkably increased available P compared with CT treatment in the surface soil layer (0–10cm), but no significant differences were found in soil pH compared with both NTRT and CT treatments. However, in the 10–20- and 20–30-cm soil profiles, soil organic matter, total N and available P were reduced after NTCT treatment when compared with those obtained after CT treatment. At 0–10cm soil depths, soil bulk density under NTCT and NTRT was higher than in CT, whereas the opposite was true at soil depths of 10–30cm. Overall, it was found that the 6-year mean maize yield of NTCT and NTRT treatments was 10.9% and 1.1% higher respectively than the CT treatment, whereas the winter wheat yield was 1.1% and 3.0% higher respectively compared with the CT treatment. NTCT appears to be an improvement over current farming systems in an annual double-cropping area of the North China Plain.