Long-term tillage and drainage influences on soil organic carbon dynamics, aggregate stability and corn yield

Figures & data

Figure 1 The experimental design showing different treatments including no-till (NT) and chisel-till (CT) under drainage (TD) and non-drainage (ND) systems at the Waterman Farm of Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.

Table 1  Soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) concentrations influenced by long-term no-till and chisel-till under drainage and non-drainage systems for the 0–10 and 10–20 cm depths, and analysis of variance

Treatments	SOC	TN	C/N
	0–10 cm depth
Tillage	−..........g kg^−1..........
No-till (NT)	18.7^a	1.56^a	12.9^a
Chisel-till (CT)	15.3^b	1.54^a	9.98^a
Drainage
Tile-drained (TD)	16.0^a	1.47^a	11.0^a
Un-drained (ND)	18.0^a	1.63^a	11.9^a
	Analysis of variance P > F
Tillage	0.02	0.90	0.18
Drainage	0.10	0.42	0.64
Tillage × drainage	0.75	0.55	0.59
	10–20 cm depth
Tillage
No-till (NT)	15.3^a	1.46^a	10.6^a
Chisel-till (CT)	11.0^b	1.15^b	9.6^a
Drainage
Tile-drained (TD)	12.3^a	1.18^a	10.5^a
Un-drained (ND)	14.0^a	1.42^a	9.67^a
	Analysis of variance P > F
Tillage	0.01	0.03	0.21
Drainage	0.14	0.06	0.27
Tillage × drainage	0.03	0.10	0.54

C/N: carbon/nitrogen.Means followed by different letters within a column, tillage, drainage, and depth are significantly different at P < 0.05.

Table 2 Soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) concentrations influenced by long-term no-till and chisel-till under drainage and non-drainage systems for the 20–40 and 40–60 cm depths, and analysis of variance

Treatments	SOC	TN	C/N
	20–40 cm depth
Tillage	..........g kg^−1..........
No-till (NT)	10.9^a	1.07a	10.2^a
Chisel-till (CT)	17.3^a	0.87a	22.7^a
Drainage
Tile-drained (TD)	17.0^a	0.88a	23.0^a
Un-drained (ND)	11.2^a	1.05a	10.7^a
	Analysis of variance P > F
Tillage	0.19	0.14	0.13
Drainage	0.24	0.20	0.17
Tillage × drainage	0.07	0.80	0.12
	40–60 cm depth
Tillage
No-till (NT)	9.73^a	1.41^a	8.45^a
Chisel-till (CT)	7.05^b	0.82^a	9.31^a
Drainage
Tile-drained (TD)	7.35^b	0.96^a	8.75^a
Un-drained (ND)	9.43^a	1.26^a	9.03^a
	Analysis of variance P > F
Tillage	0.01	0.10	0.65
Drainage	0.02	0.34	0.88
Tillage × drainage	0.01	0.66	0.16

C/N: carbon/nitrogen.Means followed by different letters within a column, tillage, drainage, and depth are significantly different at P < 0.05.

Figure 2 Soil organic carbon stock (SOC, Mg ha⁻¹) as influenced by tillage (A; NT, no-tillage, and CT, chisel-tillage) and drainage (B; D, drainage, and ND, no-drainage) systems for the 0–10, 10–20, 20–40 and 40–60 cm depths.

Figure 3 Soil carbon stored in heavy (HF-C) and light (LF-C) fractions of carbon under long-term tile drainage (TD) and non-drainage (ND) systems for the 0–10, 10–20, 20–40 and 40–60 cm depths.

Figure 4 Soil nitrogen stored in heavy (HF-N) and light (LF-N) fractions of nitrogen under long-term tile drainage (TD) and non-drainage (ND) systems for the 0–10, 10–20, 20–40 and 40–60 cm depths.

Table 3 Microbial biomass carbon (MBC) for the 0–10 and 10–20 cm depths under no-till and chisel-till of drainage and non-drainage systems, and analysis of variance

	MBC
Treatments	0–10 cm	10–20 cm
Tillage	..........µg g soil^−1..........
No-till (NT)	1.93^a	1.48^a
Chisel-till (CT)	1.61^b	1.67^a
Drainage
Tile-drained (TD)	1.67^b	1.69^a
Un-drained (ND)	1.88^a	1.47^b
	Analysis of variance P > F
Tillage	0.01	0.07
Drainage	0.01	0.04
Tillage × drainage	0.01	0.52

Means followed by different letters within a column, tillage, drainage, and depth are significantly different at P < 0.05.

Table 4 Water stable aggregates (WSA) and mean weight diameter (MWD) for no-till and chisel-till under drainage and non-drainage systems for the 0–10 cm depth, and analysis of variance

	WSA
	0–10 cm depth
Treatment	> 2000 μm	250–2000 μm	53–250 μm	< 53 μm	MWD
Tillage	−....................%....................				mm
No-till (NT)	73^a	9^a	6^b	12^b	4.59^a
Chisel-till (CT)	45^b	12^a	9^a	34^a	1.80^b
Drainage
Tile-drained (TD)	66^a	9^b	7^a	17^b	3.68^a
Un-drained (ND)	50^b	13^a	8^a	29^a	2.72^b
	Analysis of variance P > F
Tillage	0.01	0.08	0.02	0.02	0.01
Drainage	0.02	0.04	0.40	0.05	0.01
Tillage × drainage	0.01	0.02	0.09	0.02	0.27
Tillage	10-20 cm depth
No-till (NT)	39^a	25^a	15^a	22^a	1.53^a
Chisel-till (CT)	34^a	20^a	14^a	32^a	1.32^a
Drainage
Tile-drained (TD)	42^a	18^a	13^a	27^a	1.57^a
Un-drained (ND)	31^a	26^a	16^a	27^a	1.28^a
	Analysis of variance P > F
Tillage	0.72	0.37	0.95	0.26	0.39
Drainage	0.42	0.17	0.36	0.94	0.24
Tillage × drainage	0.75	0.29	0.61	0.72	0.04

Means followed by different letters within a column, tillage, drainage, and depth are significantly different at P < 0.05.

Table 5 Corn (Zea mays L.) yield for 2006 through 2012 as influenced by tillage and drainage systems

	Corn yield
Treatments	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Tillage	...................Mg ha^−1...................
No-till (NT)	5.78	5.49	5.31	5.40	2.66	4.28	4.65
Chisel-till (CT)	7.03	4.90	6.62	5.64	3.24	6.04	4.03
Drainage
Tile-drained (TD)	6.35	5.26	6.52	6.36	3.19	5.37	3.60
Un-drained (ND)	6.46	5.13	5.41	4.67	2.70	4.95	5.08
	Analysis of variance P > F
Tillage	0.06	0.44	0.25	0.84	0.26	0.06	0.69
Drainage	0.85	0.86	0.32	0.18	0.34	0.62	0.35
Tillage × drainage	0.35	0.64	0.58	0.49	0.86	0.89	0.65