{"type": "FeatureCollection", "features": [{"id": "10.1111/sum.13150", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-06-27T16:21:10Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2024-12-09", "title": "Long\u2010term conservation tillage in organic farming maintains sandy loam soil functioning despite increased penetration resistance", "description": "Abstract

Conservation tillage is an attractive practice in organic farming; however, it requires more trafficking for weed management than conventional tillage. This scenario can lead to soil compaction below the tillage working depth. However, it is not clear whether long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term conservation tillage practices impair soil functions. Therefore, this study investigated whether long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term conservation tillage causes soil compaction and impairs water retention, gaseous exchange capability and microbial activity of the soil below the tillage working depth. A long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term (16\uffe2\uff80\uff89years) organic farming experiment consisting of conservation tillage (VST, shallow tillage to 7\uffe2\uff80\uff89cm depth) and conventional tillage (MP, mouldboard ploughing to 30\uffe2\uff80\uff89cm depth) was conducted on a sandy loam soil. Soil penetration resistance (PR), saturated hydraulic conductivity (SHC), water retention, gaseous exchange properties and microbial activity were determined in the 20\uffe2\uff80\uff9330\uffe2\uff80\uff89cm soil layer. The PR did not significantly differ between the tillage treatments at any depth; however, VST recorded 30%\uffe2\uff80\uff9363% higher PR values in the 10\uffe2\uff80\uff9330\uffe2\uff80\uff89cm soil layer. Among the measured soil properties, only microbial activity could yield a statistical difference between the two tillage practices. The water retention behaviour, plant available water capacity, SHC and relative gas diffusivity were very similar under both tillage treatments. The mean effective air\uffe2\uff80\uff90filled porosity (E\uffe2\uff80\uff90AFP) at pF 1.5 was 21% lower under VST than that under MP; however, the difference was reduced to 3% at pF 2. At field capacity, the E\uffe2\uff80\uff90AFP was approximately 14%\uffe2\uff80\uff94above the critical limit (10%) for plant growth\uffe2\uff80\uff94under both tillage practices. Air permeability was 76% and 57% higher under VST at pF 1.5 and 1.7, respectively, compared with MP. The microbial activity was 56% lower (p\uffe2\uff80\uff89=\uffe2\uff80\uff89.04) under VST than that under MP. Likewise, 31%, 65% and 34% higher microbial biomass carbon, microbial biomass nitrogen and dissolved organic carbon, respectively, were observed under MP compared with VST. These results indicated that despite higher penetration resistance, long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term conservation tillage did not limit water retention and aeration capability of soil in the 20\uffe2\uff80\uff9330\uffe2\uff80\uff89cm soil layer. However, long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term conservation tillage may induce vertical stratification of organic matter and microbial activity, which have implications for crop production.The impacts of tillage and organic fertilization on soil organic matter (SOM) are highly variable and still unpredictable, and their interactions need to be investigated under various soil, climate and cropping system conditions. Our work examined the effect of reduced tillage and animal manure on SOM stocks and quality in the 0\uffe2\uff80\uff9340\uffe2\uff80\uff83cm layer of a loamy soil under mixed cropping system and humid temperate climate. The soil organic carbon (SOC) and N stocks, particulate organic matter (POM), and C and N mineralization potential (301\uffe2\uff80\uff83days at 15\uffe2\uff80\uff83\uffc2\uffb0C) were measured in a 8\uffe2\uff80\uff90yr\uffe2\uff80\uff90old split\uffe2\uff80\uff90plot field trial, including three tillage treatments [mouldboard ploughing (MP), shallow tillage (ST), no tillage (NT)] and two fertilization treatments [mineral (M), poultry manure 2.2\uffe2\uff80\uff83t/ha/yr C (O)]. No statistically significant interactive effects of tillage and fertilization were measured except on C mineralization. NT and ST showed greater SOC stocks (41.2 and 39.7\uffe2\uff80\uff83t/ha C) than MP (37.1\uffe2\uff80\uff83t/ha C) in the 0\uffe2\uff80\uff9315\uffe2\uff80\uff83cm increment, while no statistical differences were observed at a greater depth. N stocks exhibited similar distribution patterns with regard to tillage effect. Animal manure, applied at a rate representative of typical field application rates, had a smaller impact on SOC and N stocks than tillage. The mean SOC and N stocks were higher under O than M, but the differences were statistically significant only in the 0\uffe2\uff80\uff935\uffe2\uff80\uff83cm increment. MP showed lower C\uffe2\uff80\uff90POM stocks than NT and ST in the 0\uffe2\uff80\uff935\uffe2\uff80\uff83cm increment, whereas greater C\uffe2\uff80\uff90POM stocks were measured under MP than under NT or under ST in the 20\uffe2\uff80\uff9325\uffe2\uff80\uff83cm increment. Organic fertilization had no impact on C\uffe2\uff80\uff90POM or N\uffe2\uff80\uff90POM stocks. In the 0\uffe2\uff80\uff9325\uffe2\uff80\uff83cm increment, NT showed a lower C and N mineralization potential than MP. Our work shows that the sensitivity of SOM to reduced tillage for the whole soil profile can be relatively small in a loamy soil, under humid\uffe2\uff80\uff90temperate climate. However, POM was particularly sensitive to the differential effects of tillage practices with depth, and indicative of differentiation in total SOM distribution in the soil profile.

", "keywords": ["Carbon sequestration", "[SDE] Environmental Sciences", "2. Zero hunger", "[SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "shallow tillage", "[INFO] Computer Science [cs]", "15. Life on land", "630", "6. Clean water", "[SDV] Life Sciences [q-bio]", "no tillage", "[SDE]Environmental Sciences", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "[INFO]Computer Science [cs]", "organic amendment"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-2743.2010.00314.x"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Soil%20Use%20and%20Management", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/j.1475-2743.2010.00314.x", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/j.1475-2743.2010.00314.x", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/j.1475-2743.2010.00314.x"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2010-11-23T00:00:00Z"}}], "links": [{"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "This document as GeoJSON", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=shallow+tillage&f=json", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "alternate", "type": "text/html", "title": "This document as HTML", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=shallow+tillage&f=html", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection URL", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"type": "application/geo+json", "rel": "first", "title": "items (first)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=shallow+tillage&", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "last", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "items (last)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=shallow+tillage&offset=2", "hreflang": "en-US"}], "numberMatched": 2, "numberReturned": 2, "distributedFeatures": [], "timeStamp": "2026-06-27T22:26:53.246000Z"}