On-farm assessment of tillage impact on the vertical distribution of soil organic carbon and structural soil properties in a semiarid region in Tunisia

In semiarid areas, low and erratic rainfall, together with the intensive agricultural use of soils, has depleted soil organic carbon and degraded the soil's chemical, biological and physical fertility. To develop efficient soil-management practices for the rapid restoration of severely degraded...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of environmental management 2012-12, Vol.113, p.488-494
Main Authors: Jemai, Imene, Ben Aissa, Nadhira, Ben Guirat, Saida, Ben-Hammouda, Moncef, Gallali, Tahar
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural production
Arid zones
bulk density
Carbon
Carbon - analysis
clay loam soils
Conservation of Natural Resources - methods
Conventional tillage
crop production
Crop residue
crop rotation
direct seeding
Environmental Monitoring - methods
faba beans
Farming
farming systems
Farms
Hedysarum coronarium
Management
Models, Theoretical
New technology
No-tillage
Organic farming
Physical properties
plowing
porosity
rain
semiarid zones
Soil (material)
Soil - chemistry
Soil conservation
Soil fertility
Soil management
Soil organic carbon
soil physical properties
soil profiles
soil quality
Soil structure
Tillage
Triticum aestivum
Tunisia
Wheat
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Summary:In semiarid areas, low and erratic rainfall, together with the intensive agricultural use of soils, has depleted soil organic carbon and degraded the soil's chemical, biological and physical fertility. To develop efficient soil-management practices for the rapid restoration of severely degraded soils, no-till, mulch-based cropping systems have been adopted. Thus, a study was conducted on a farm to evaluate the effect of a no-tillage system (NT) versus conventional tillage (CT) on the vertical (0–50 cm) distribution of soil organic carbon (SOC), bulk density (BD), total porosity (TP), structural instability (SI), stable aggregates and infiltration coefficient (Ks) in a clay loam soil under rain-fed conditions in a semiarid region of north-western Tunisia. CT consisting of moldboard plowing to a depth of 20 cm was used for continuous wheat production. NT by direct drilling under residue was used for 3 (NT3) and 7 (NT7) years in wheat/fava bean and wheat/sulla crop rotations, respectively. SOC was more significantly increased (p 
ISSN:0301-4797
1095-8630
DOI:10.1016/j.jenvman.2012.05.029