Impact of No-Till on physicochemical properties of Vertisols in Chaouia region of Morocco

Abstract

Conservation agriculture (CA) relies on low soil disturbance, mulching, and crop rotation, and these characteristics present CA as a good candidate to control soil degradation and preserve soil fertility. Therefore, agricultural scientists promote it as an efficient technique to sustain agricultural production. Conventional tillage (CT) dominates many semi-arid regions of Morocco, like Chaouia. However, crop/livestock management worsens degradation of soil organic matter and thus soil fertility. Since the eighties’, controlled experimental trials tried to promote No-Till (NT) system in these regions. But it is still experiencing a low level of adoption. This on-farm research study aimed to evaluate NT effect on some Vertisols' physicochemical properties of this region. Analysis of variance only found a significant NT effect on soil organic matter (SOM), but factorial analysis provided evidence of a behavior of its effect on several physicochemical properties such as active limestone (CaCO3), total nitrogen (TN), nitrate (NO3-), calcium (Ca2+), potassium (K+) and cation exchange capacity (CEC). Furthermore, pH, Electrical Conductivity (EC) and sodium (Na+) did not show any significant difference between the two tillage treatments. This study also found that continuous cereal cropping with no mulching management mostly explains this low improvement in soil quality. This last approach, reduce CA to NT process. To promote CA in these regions, more efforts are still needed for a satisfactory up-scaling and a sustainable soil fertility conservation.