Soil & Tillage Research最新文献

{"title":"Microplastics decrease soil compressibility but have no major impact on soil physical properties","authors":"Yuhao Dong ,&nbsp;Lidong Ren ,&nbsp;Xiaoxu Jia ,&nbsp;Xiaoyong Liao ,&nbsp;Laiming Huang ,&nbsp;Xubo Zhang ,&nbsp;Markus Flury ,&nbsp;Li Xu","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106688","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106688","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Microplastic pollution of soils has raised concerns on how microplastics impact soil properties and functions. Impacts of microplastics on soil properties is usually studied by amending soils with microplastics at various concentrations, but little attention has been given on how to compact soils after microplastic incorporation and how microplastics affect soil compressibility. Here, we used the uniaxial compression test to investigate the effects of microplastic type (i.e., granular polyethylene and fibrous polypropylene), size (i.e., 20, 200, 1000 µm for granular polyethylene and 3000 and 5000 µm for fibrous polypropylene) and concentration (i.e., 0.0 %, 0.5 %, 1 % and 2 %) on compression characteristics of a silt loam soil, followed by the evaluation of soil structure, water holding characteristics, and water and gas permeability. Soil compression was significantly affected by microplastic types, size, and concentrations. Granular microplastics increased the void ratio uniformly within the applied stress whereas fibrous microplastics increased the void ratio much more at low stress than at high stress. As a result, fibrous microplastics significantly increased the compression index (C_c) with increasing microplastics concentration. Granular microplastics decreased the swelling index (C_s), making soil less resilient against compaction. However, soil structure, water holding characteristics, and water and gas permeability were not significantly affected, except for the 5000 µm fibrous polypropylene at a concentration of 2 %, where soil porosity increased and soil water holding capacity decreased. These findings highlight the importance in considering soil compressibility, especially for laboratory incubation experiments, when evaluating microplastic effects.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106688"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144166456","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The fate of soil microbial communities under seasonal and continuous yak grazing in alpine meadows of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau","authors":"Muhammad Usman ,&nbsp;Lan Li ,&nbsp;Muhammad Kamran ,&nbsp;Mengyuan Wang ,&nbsp;Fujiang Hou","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106679","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106679","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Alpine meadows of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in China are among the most degraded grasslands due to overgrazing. Soil microbial communities are an essential part of the ecosystem and are affected by environmental changes, including climate, soil properties, and grazing. This study investigated the soil microbial communities and plant and soil properties under seasonal (SG) and continuous (CG) grazing in alpine meadows. Soil organic carbon and nitrogen decreased with SG, while phosphorus decreased under grazing exclusion (GE). Plant species richness and diversity increased under GE. CG increased the microbial alpha diversity. Grazing changed beta diversity (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.001) of bacterial and fungal communities. The prokaryotic and fungal OTUs were highest under GE and CG, respectively. Grazing mainly affected the fungal phyla and genera, while the bacteria and archaea showed little variation. Ascomycota were highest under summer and CG, while Basidiomycota were highest under winter grazing. SG and GE decreased the methanogenic archaea, which might have lowered the methane emissions in these grasslands. The co-occurrence network indicated that grazing affected bacterial, archaeal, and fungal communities differently. Positive interactions decreased under winter grazing, suggesting that SG might mainly affect microbial networks. SG might provide restoration time for the microbial and plant communities, maintaining the natural diversity and preventing grassland degradation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106679"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144167472","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Site-specific determinants of hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) seed yield","authors":"Juan P. Renzi ,&nbsp;Marcelo Verdinelli ,&nbsp;Federico Santiago ,&nbsp;Facundo Bilbao ,&nbsp;Miguel A. Cantamutto","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106682","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106682","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Hairy vetch (HV, <em>Vicia villosa</em> Roth) cover cropping is an increasing key practice to regenerative agriculture, but its broad adoption is usually limited by the low seed availability. Up to present, the tools for managing HV crops are not well-known, with seed yield being extremely variable within a given field. During three growing cycles intra-field seed yield variation was studied using site-specific variables from small sampling units (1.25 ± 0.03 ha) located in 13 extended seed fields, with a wide range of soil depth. The mean consumptive water use (∼ ETc) was estimated at 440 mm during the growing cycle. The yield of HV seed reached a maximum of 1549 kg ha⁻¹ when water was provided by rain plus irrigation, matching the crop demand at each site. An excess of crop water availability with respect to crop demand strongly reduced the seed yield, more severely than that observed under water deficit. Given the intra-field variability in soil depth and water distribution, it is possible to design site-specific management to optimize HV seed yield.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106682"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144167425","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Biochar enhances mitigation of CH4 and N2O emissions from rice fields under different irrigation and tillage managements","authors":"Antonio López-Piñeiro ,&nbsp;Damián Fernández-Rodríguez ,&nbsp;Luis Vicente ,&nbsp;David Peña Abades ,&nbsp;Ángel Albarrán Liso ,&nbsp;Jose Manuel Rato Nunes ,&nbsp;David Paulo Fangueiro","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106660","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106660","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The present field study assessed the effects of different managements on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Mediterranean rice crop. Given the pressing need to identify sustainable agricultural practices that mitigate GHG emissions while maintaining productivity, the effects on GHG emisions of two irrigation methods (permanent flooding and sprinkler) and two tillage practices (conventional tillage and no-tillage), with or without biochar application (28 t ha⁻¹) (short term and medium term effect) were analyzed. Over two years, emissions of methane (CH₄), carbon dioxide (CO₂), and nitrous oxide (N₂O) were measured, and global warming potential (GWP), yield-scaled GWP (GWP-y), and net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB) were calculated under these different treatments: flooding with tillage (FST), sprinkler irrigation with tillage (SST), sprinkler irrigation without tillage (SSNT), and the corresponding biochar amendment treatments (FST-B, SST-B and SSNT-B). The results showed that flooding irrigation generated significant CH₄ emissions (with a mean value of 350 kg CH₄-C ha⁻¹ across biochar and non-biochar treatments), while sprinkler irrigation acted as a sink of CH₄ (mean value of −2.40 kg CH₄-C ha⁻¹). However, the transition from flooding to sprinkler irrigation, regardless of tillage systems, led to a significant increase in N₂O emissions (whose values reached up to 10.7 N₂O-N kg ha⁻¹), which can be counteracted by biochar application (at both short or médium term), to values statistically similar to those of permanent flooding. Furthermore, throughout the study, the lowest values of GWP-y was observed under SST-B treatment. In addition, biochar contributed to a further rise in the NECB, regardless of irrigation and tillage methods. Therefore, the implementation of sprinkler irrigation, especially under tillage system, with biochar represents a effective strategy to greehouse gas mitigation, as well as to enhance the C inputs into NECB of rice crop.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106660"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144154917","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The power of soil amendments to restore degraded grassland soil: A combined approach using physical indicators and X-ray computed tomography","authors":"Emanuela Lepore ,&nbsp;Giulia Bondi ,&nbsp;Owen Fenton ,&nbsp;Olaf Schmidt ,&nbsp;Saoirse Tracy ,&nbsp;David P. Wall","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106674","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106674","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The impact of organic and inorganic amendments on soil physical properties under varying moisture conditions remains unclear. This study uniquely integrates X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) and soil physical measurements to assess structure changes following amendment application in degraded soil under different moisture conditions. In this study i) soil resilience, defined as soil ability to naturally restore physical structure and functionality after disturbance, was evaluated in soils physically degraded by traffic under dry (D), moist (M), and waterlogged (W) conditions, as well as in unmanaged soils; ii) soil recovery capacity was evaluated when slurry (SL), farmyard manure (FYM), and agricultural gypsum (AG) were applied as soil amendments. Key soil physical properties, including soil bulk density, pore volume (measured using X-ray CT scan), water-stable aggregates, and herbage dry matter, were evaluated at time intervals of: Prior-amendments application, six- and 12-months post–amendments application. In the short term (6 months), FYM was the most effective amendment across all three soil moisture conditions, with AG and SL showing notable performance in D and M soils. In W soils, FYM remained the top performer, followed by SL. Over the long term (12 months), FYM and AG provided comparable remediation benefits in D soils, while SL proved to be the most effective in moist conditions. The results indicate that amendment effectiveness is influenced by initial soil conditions. In the short term (6 months), FYM reduced bulk density by up to 12 % in D and M soils, while SL showed the same reduction after 12 months in M plots only. However, all the tested amendments did have a significant increase in soil water stable aggregates. Overall, under waterlogged conditions, amendment effects were significantly reduced, with no measurable improvement in bulk density across treatments (p &gt; 0.05). For future management advice, understanding the interactions between compaction, amendment type and time will be critical as these determine how different amendments like FYM, SL and AG can be strategically used to remediate soil compaction and restore soil physical structure and help to improve aspects of soil health.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106674"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144154918","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fertility and carbon stocks in Oxisols under Urochloa pastures and Eucalyptus-based agrosilvopastoral systems established in the Brazilian Cerrado","authors":"Jaqueline de Cássia de Oliveira ,&nbsp;Igor Costa de Freitas ,&nbsp;Ana Clara Santos Duarte ,&nbsp;João Gabriel Figueiredo Moreira ,&nbsp;Alex José Silva Couto ,&nbsp;Marcos Fernando Gonçalves Lessa ,&nbsp;Miguel Marques Gontijo Neto ,&nbsp;Márcia Vitória Santos ,&nbsp;Mauricio Roberto Cherubin ,&nbsp;Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino Cerri ,&nbsp;Leidivan Almeida Frazão","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106663","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106663","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The increase in the global demand for food, energy and fibre, together with the need to adapt to or mitigate climate change, has intensified the search for agricultural production systems that minimise environmental impact and increase productivity. Our aim was to compare the soil C and N levels and stocks and soil fertility in areas of pasture monoculture and agrosilvopastoral systems under different arrangements in two experiments located in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Both experiments were conducted in the districts of Curvelo and Sete Lagoas in Minas Gerais. In each experiment, agrosilvopastoral systems, pasture and native vegetation (NV) were evaluated, the latter being used as a reference for the original state of the soil. In order to ensure the representativeness of the sample within the agrosilvopastoral systems (ASPS), sampling was carried out at three points, covering the tree, forage and/or grain components. The soil was sampled in the 0–5, 5–10, 10–20, 20–30, 30–40, 40–50, 50–60, 60–70, 70–80, 80–90 and 90–100 cm layers, to evaluate the density (Ds), chemical attributes, and the levels and stocks of C and N. In Curvelo, the agrosilvopastoral system (SASP) increased soil pH, base saturation (V), cation exchange capacity (CEC), and soil organic carbon (SOC) compared to degraded pastures. SOC contents in SASP ranged from 29.1 g kg⁻¹ (0–5 cm) to 7.6 g kg⁻¹ (90–100 cm), with no significant differences among sampling positions (P1, P2, P3). In Sete Lagoas, SOC contents ranged from 51.6 g kg⁻¹ (0–5 cm) to 18.9 g kg⁻¹ (90–100 cm) depending on system age and sampling location. Total SOC stocks in managed pasture (PM) and SASP1 (13 years) were higher than native vegetation (NV), reaching up to 133.4 Mg ha⁻¹ (0–50 cm) and 16.0 Mg ha⁻¹ for nitrogen. SASP improved soil fertility and reduced exchangeable Al compared to native vegetation and degraded pastures. The results demonstrate that the adoption of agroforestry-pastoral systems can be an effective strategy to restore soil fertility and increase carbon sequestration in degraded pasture areas in the Cerrado, contributing to climate change mitigation and the sustainability of agricultural production. However, agronomic and environmental gains depend on the continuous management of these systems. Investments in technical training, policies that promote low-carbon agriculture (such as the ABC+ Plan), and the monitoring of soil indicators are essential to ensure long-term benefits.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106663"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144139547","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Unveiling the impact of tillage radish on soil chemical, biological, and physical soil properties under reduced and conventional tillage","authors":"Antonio Pescatore ,&nbsp;Antonio Delgado ,&nbsp;Simone Orlandini ,&nbsp;Marco Napoli","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106676","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106676","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The timespan between the crop harvesting and the subsequent crop sowing presents an opportunity to improve soil properties through the sowing of cover crops (CCs). However, the short-term effects of specific CCs, such as tillage radish (TR), on soil properties under different tillage systems remain insufficiently explored, particularly in the European context. This study examined the short-term effects of TR sowing on soil properties under reduced and conventional tillage systems. Results demonstrated that TR biomass yield and phosphorus uptake were consistently higher under conventional tillage compared to reduced tillage. The highest increase in soil organic carbon across soil depths was observed in plots sown with TR under conventional tillage, which was 60–75 % greater than that under reduced tillage. TR increased particulate organic carbon by 16.5 mg C kg⁻¹ in reduced tillage and 65.2 mg C kg⁻¹ in conventional tillage compared to fallow. The sowing of TR under conventional tillage also influenced soil Olsen phosphorus, with a threefold increase in the upper soil depth compared to reduced tillage. Microbial biomass carbon, phosphorous, and nitrogen showed similar trends with respect to their chemical pools, with higher values in TR under conventional tillage. Regarding the soil physical properties, bulk density was higher under reduced tillage, particularly in deeper layers, compared to under conventional tillage. Overall, the sowing of TR provided short-term soil benefits on some soil properties, especially under conventional tillage. Further research is needed to evaluate its performance and benefits across diverse soils and cropping conditions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106676"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144139545","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Short-term no-tillage improves soil water retention and maintains soil aeration at high moisture conditions despite reduced macroporosity","authors":"Jing Tan ,&nbsp;Bingcheng Si ,&nbsp;Ying Zhao ,&nbsp;Yili Lu ,&nbsp;Yuxin Chen ,&nbsp;Ning An ,&nbsp;Song Li ,&nbsp;Weichao Wang ,&nbsp;Han Fu ,&nbsp;Wei Han ,&nbsp;Yanli Yi","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106677","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106677","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Short-term no-tillage (NT) management increased soil bulk density, thereby reducing total porosity and macroporosity, potentially impairing soil aeration. However, whether NT can overcome these negative effects through altering pore morphology remains unclear. Based on a 4-year field experiment comparing rotary tillage (RT), subsoiling (SS), and NT in Northeast China, we evaluated soil gas diffusivity (D_s/D₀) and water retention across a range of soil matric potential (-1∼-1500 kPa). Undisturbed soil samples (0–40 cm depth) were analyzed using X-ray Computed Tomography (X-ray CT) to characterize pore structure. NT significantly reduced total porosity (by approximately 7 %) and macroporosity (by 46.72∼68.54 %) in the upper 30 cm soil depth compared to RT and SS. Nevertheless, NT increased plant-available water content by 22.52∼40 %. Importantly, despite lower air-filled porosity and macroporosity, NT maintained higher gas diffusivity under wet conditions by forming irregular-shaped pore networks that increased specific diffusivity compared to RT and SS. Gas diffusivity at −6 kPa matric potentials was well correlated with CT-derived macropore characteristics (&gt; 50 μm), but there were no consistent correlations at other matric potentials. These results underscore that NT effectively balances soil air-water conditions at higher moisture levels despite initial compaction, underscoring its potential waterlogging resistance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106677"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144139546","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Pilot study into the performance of inclusion plates used in deep ripping","authors":"Mustafa Ucgul ,&nbsp;Chris Saunders ,&nbsp;Jacky M.A. Desbiolles","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106673","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106673","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Inclusion plates added behind deep ripping tines aim to facilitate the movement of topsoil layers deeper into the soil profile, creating longer-lasting pathways to deeper plant root development in situations where natural subsoil reconsolidation is likely. This Australian innovation has recently seen significant adoption in sandy-soil broadacre cropping contexts; however, the use of inclusion plates comes at the cost of higher draught requirements, and the mechanics of natural backfilling of topsoil layers into the inclusion gap has yet to be fully understood. The reported study was initiated with a scaled model of ripper tine fitted with scaled-inclusion plates replicating a commercial design. Soil-tool forces in a loose sandy soil were predicted by the discrete element method (DEM), with relative errors in the range of 2.4–19.1 %, while topsoil distribution within the inclusion space was predicted reasonably well (R²=0.75). The impact of a range of operational settings and plate geometrical parameters was also explored via DEM simulations. Results suggest that a reduction in deep ripping speed and an increase in plate sidewall length can both be used to maximise the topsoil inclusion outcomes, while greater plate sidewall length generates minimal draught increase. Taller inclusion plates are required to include top layers deeper in the profile (such as to full ripping depth) but at the cost of a significant draught increase. The soil bin results were also validated in a field trial comparing a typical commercial inclusion plate with an extended sidewall design attached to a deep ripping tine at 4 and 7 km h⁻¹ speeds. The results confirmed that the extended sidewall inclusion plate could effectively improve the extent of top-layer inclusion and is a viable way to further enhance the functionality and benefit of deep ripping. Scaled-down tests were shown to serve as an effective method of validating DEM simulations. However, further work is needed to optimise the performance of inclusion plates in a range of broadacre sandy field contexts and explore their use in heavier soil textures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106673"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144134518","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Yield and soil impacts of pasture renovation methods in an australian subtropical grazing system","authors":"A.J. Gibson ,&nbsp;M.J.DuV. Gout ,&nbsp;N.M. Sutherland ,&nbsp;L. Kearney ,&nbsp;T.J. Rose","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106670","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106670","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Pasture renovation is widely used to increase biomass production and feed quality through establishment of favourable species, while it can also contribute to improved soil health. There are a number of pasture establishment methods available, however their efficacy for establishing an annual winter feed base has not been compared in subtropical grazing systems of Australia. This study investigated pasture biomass, species composition, soil function and SOC in a subtropical pasture over two seasons where a winter pasture species mix was sown annually. The effect of a direct drill tyned seeder, under sowing (Einböck), minimal disturbance strip tillage (Soilkee Renovator) or mulch and broadcast, compared to an un-sown control. Biomass was harvested from plots in line with the grazing rotation of the paddock, and soils were sampled to 10 cm depth annually in 2021, 2022 and 2023. All establishment methods produced significantly more biomass than the control in both years, but could not be statistically separated from each other. Species composition was variable between the establishment methods with the Soilkee treatment allowing establishment of more legumes and herbs than the other methods. No significant differences were found in soil function or soil organic carbon in any sampling year. Given the limited differences of establishment methods on pasture performance, the use of the lowest cost or readily available method is recommended. In most circumstances, this will be mulch and broadcast which also minimises soil disturbance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106670"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144139544","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}