Changes in soil properties and soil solution nutrients due to conservation versus conventional tillage in Vertisols

AbstractUnderstanding of tillage effects on soil chemical properties and cations in soil solution dynamics is essential for making appropriate land-management decisions. Measurements were made after more than 25 years of different tillage treatments: conventional tillage (CT) and conservation tillage, which includes no-till (NT) and minimum tillage (MT). pH and bulk density did not show important changes but exchangeable cations and cations in soil solution were affected by depth and different tillage. The highest concentration of exchangeable Ca2+ and Mg2+ was found in NT, decreased in MT and the lowest concentration was found in CT (mean values were 26.0, 24.4 and 23.3 cmolc kg−1 for exchangeable Ca2+ and 4.2, 3.7 and 3.3 cmolc kg−1 for exchangeable Mg2+ in NT, MT and CT, respectively). In addition, the highest concentration of exchangeable Na+ was found in NT, decreased in CT and the lowest concentration was found in MT. However, the highest concentration of exchangeable K+ was found in MT. A significant depth effect was observed for cations in soil solution: Na+ increased with depth whereas K+ and Ca2+ decreased with depth. This study aims to demonstrate the effect of tillage on the distribution and concentration of certain chemical soil properties.Keywords: exchangeable cationsconventional tillageno-tillminimum tillageVertisol AcknowledgementsThe authors are grateful to the I.F.A.P.A. (Andalusian Institute of Agrarian Research and Training, Fisheries, Food Production and Environment) 'Las Torres – Tomejil' of the Agriculture and Fisheries of the Andalusian for the support offered.