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Assess the 46-year impacts of tillage intensity and crop rotation on the storage and vertical distribution of soil organic carbon and total nitrogen down to a depth of 1 meter.

June 10, 2025Soil and Tillage ResearchOpen Access

Does 46 years of conservation tillage and crop rotations change soil carbon and nitrogen distribution and storage?

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Assess the 46-year impacts of tillage intensity and crop rotation on the storage and vertical distribution of soil organic carbon and total nitrogen down to a depth of 1 meter.
Evaluated a 46-year continuous management trial in a U.S. Midwest Mollisol soil profile sampled to a 1 m depth.
Compared three tillage intensities (no-tillage [NT], chisel plow [CP], and moldboard plow [MBP]) across three crop rotations: continuous corn (CC), corn-soybean (CB), and continuous soybean (BB).
NT systems stored an average of 15 Mg ha⁻¹ more soil organic carbon and 2.0 Mg ha⁻¹ more total nitrogen than tilled systems across the full 1 m profile.
Soil organic carbon and total nitrogen storage were similar between CP and MBP, showing limited benefit of reduced tillage over intensive plowing.
Crop rotation minimally affected soil organic carbon storage, but CC accumulated significantly more total nitrogen than CB and BB rotations, with tillage driving distribution differences mainly in the upper 75 cm.

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Implication

Long-term field experiment reveals increased soil carbon and nitrogen storage under no-tillage in agricultural mollisols, highlighting the role of conservation practices in climate mitigation.

Cite This Study

Gautam et al. (2025) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a82b2c3abc87fc4bf1e1791 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2025.106702

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Implication

Long-term field experiment reveals increased soil carbon and nitrogen storage under no-tillage in agricultural mollisols, highlighting the role of conservation practices in climate mitigation.

Does 46 years of conservation tillage and crop rotations change soil carbon and nitrogen distribution and storage?

Key Points

Discussion

Implication

Cite This Study

Does 46 years of conservation tillage and crop rotations change soil carbon and nitrogen distribution and storage?

Key Points

Discussion

Implication

Cite This Study

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