Soil & Tillage Research最新文献

{"title":"Detection of negative consequences of traffic on subsoil properties depends on measurement type and scale: The case of a Calcaric Chernozem","authors":"Maliheh Fouladidorhani ,&nbsp;Mathieu Lamandé ,&nbsp;Gerhard Moitzi ,&nbsp;Muhammad Mohsin Nawaz ,&nbsp;Emmanuel Arthur","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106615","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106615","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Larger, heavier agricultural machinery compacts subsoil, degrading structure, impairing hydraulic properties, and increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The impacts of traffic-induced compaction can be assessed in the laboratory or the field, though results from these methods often differ. This study aimed to quantify changes in subsoil properties caused by field traffic using lab and field methods, compare traffic-induced pore structure alterations at two sample size scales, and explore links between pore structure and greenhouse gas emissions. A compaction experiment was conducted on a Calcaric Chernozem loam soil, comparing a trafficked treatment (TF) with a 3 Mg wheel load to a non-trafficked (NT) reference. Six months later, we evaluated the impact of the traffic event on the subsoil (30–35 cm depth) by conducting field measurements [saturated hydraulic conductivity (<em>K</em>_<em>s</em>), visual evaluation of subsoil structure (SubVESS), and penetration resistance (PR)]. Different laboratory measurements conducted on intact soil cores (100 cm³ and 580 cm³) included soil water retention curve (SWC), air-filled porosity (ε_a), Darcy air permeability (k_a-Darcy), gas diffusivity (D_p/D₀), and bulk density (BD), X-ray computed tomography (CT) analysis of soil pore structure, and potential N₂O and CO₂ emissions. Both field and laboratory measurements indicated negative impacts of traffic. In the field, traffic reduced <em>K</em>_<em>s</em> by 31 % (p = 0.45), increased PR by 22 % (p = 0.2), and lowered SubVESS structural quality (p = 0.001). Laboratory measurements showed that traffic significantly (p &lt; 0.05) increased BD by 4 %, and at pF 2, it decreased ε_a, k_a-Darcy, and D_p/D₀ by 23 %, 71 %, and 48 %, respectively, alongside a decrease (p &gt; 0.05) in CT-derived macroporosity volume. Potential greenhouse gas emissions were higher in the trafficked (TF) treatment. The effect of compaction on BD, ε_a, and k_a-Darcy was similar regardless of sample size, though, for a given treatment, the 100 cm³ samples were denser and had lower ε_a, and slower airflow (k_a-Darcy) compared to 580 cm³samples. The effect of traffic on soil properties, relative to established thresholds indicating harmful deterioration of soil functions, varied depending on whether the variable was measured in the field or laboratory, and whether small or large rings were used. Further research is needed to establish critical limits for soil properties and functions using different sample scales.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"252 ","pages":"Article 106615"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143868127","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":"Nitrogen addition induces microbial phosphorus limitations in bulk soil but not in rhizospheric soil: A global analysis","authors":"Huihui Liu ,&nbsp;Xueping Gao ,&nbsp;Tingting Ren ,&nbsp;Han Y.H. Chen ,&nbsp;Xiaoming Zou ,&nbsp;Yuan Sun ,&nbsp;Guobing Wang ,&nbsp;Honghua Ruan","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106609","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106609","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The increased nitrogen (N) deposition can regulate ecosystem stability by enhancing plant photosynthesis, elevating transpiration, acidifying soil, and altering microbial metabolic limitations. Higher N deposition can alleviate ecosystem-level N limitation, yet its impact on microbial phosphorus (P) limitations in both the bulk and rhizospheric soils remains debated. For this study, we conducted a global meta-analysis based on 372 paired bulk and rhizospheric soils observations derived from 46 field studies. We found that the responses of enzyme stoichiometries and microbial P limitations determined by vector model to N addition differed between bulk and rhizospheric soils. Specifically, N addition increased the enzymatic carbon:N ratio by 14 % in the bulk soil, but had no impact in the rhizospheric soil. Meanwhile, N addition increased available N:P ratio by 85 % in the bulk soil but no effect on the rhizospheric soil, and decreased the enzymatic N:P ratio by 24 % and 12 % in the bulk and rhizospheric soils, respectively. Microbial P limitations in the bulk soil also intensified, as reflected by a 4 % increase in the vector angle. Conversely, N addition did not lead to microbial P limitations in the rhizospheric soil. Furthermore, the response of vector angle in the bulk soil was negatively correlated with the response of soil organic carbon, which suggested that the intensified microbial P limitations induced by N deposition might accelerate its decomposition. This work provides insights into the predictive modeling of the relationships between microbial nutrient limitations and terrestrial carbon sinks under global N deposition.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"252 ","pages":"Article 106609"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143868234","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":"Spatial analysis of soil quality in agricultural land using machine learning and environmental covariates: A case study of Khuzestan Province","authors":"Kazem Rangzan ,&nbsp;Zeinab Zaheri Abdehvand ,&nbsp;Seyed Roohollah Mousavi ,&nbsp;Danya Karimi","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106591","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106591","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Soil Quality Index (SQI) serves as a comprehensive assessment tool, encompassing various soil properties and providing a holistic measure of soil health and productivity. This study aimed to analyze the spatial variation of SQI at the regional level in the agricultural areas of Khuzestan province, employing a random forest (RF) machine learning (ML) algorithm along with environmental covariates. A total of 811 soil composite samples were collected from depths of 0–25 cm, and the physical and chemical soil properties including total nitrogen (TN), available phosphorus (P_av), exchangeable potassium (K_ex), soil acidity (pH), electrical conductivity (EC), soil organic carbon (SOC), cation exchange capacity (CEC), calcium carbonate equivalent (CCE), exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP), silt, sand, and clay were analyzed in the laboratory. Additionally, remote sensing (RS) data, topographic attributes and climatic factors were used as environmental covariates. Two approaches, the total data set (TDS) and the minimum data set (MDS) were applied, along with linear (L) and non-linear (NL) scoring functions, to assess SQI, resulting in four SQI-IQI outputs (MDS_L, MDS_NL, TDS_L and TDS_NL) and two Nemero Quality Index (NQI) (MDS_L, TDS_L). The results demonstrated that the RF algorithm, in conjunction with selected environmental covariates, accurately predicted the SQI map, achieving an R² of 0.70 (IQI_TDSNL) and 0.79 (IQI_MDSNL) with low uncertainty. Furthermore, the relative importance emphasizes the significant role of climatic factors in SQI prediction, followed by RS indices. The developed mapping approach for SQ provides a valuable tool for sustainable agricultural development, contributing to food security and facilitating agricultural assessments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"252 ","pages":"Article 106591"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143860075","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":"Plastic film mulching ensures maize climate resilience: A perspective of temperature suitability and optimal sowing period window","authors":"Jing Wang ,&nbsp;Ling Zhao ,&nbsp;Bao-Zhong Wang ,&nbsp;Fei Mo ,&nbsp;Ning Wang ,&nbsp;Shu-Tong Liu ,&nbsp;Yuan Song ,&nbsp;Ai-Tian Ren ,&nbsp;Fu-Jian Mei ,&nbsp;Yang Wang ,&nbsp;Qi Lu ,&nbsp;You-Cai Xiong","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106611","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106611","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>It is crucial to enhance crop climate resilience using simple but efficient farming strategy. A two-year maize field experiment was conducted to examine the potentials of ridge-furrow mulching (RFM) and flat mulching (FM) with plastic films in a semiarid rainfed site, with flat planting without mulching as CK. Five sowing dates (SD1–5) were arranged with interval of two weeks, and SD2 was normal sowing date. The results showed that the increase in soil temperature under plastic film mulching effectively compensated for the insufficient effective accumulated air temperature across growing seasons. Moreover, plastic mulching significantly enhanced the temperature suitability degree (TSD) for maize growth during both vegetative and reproductive growth periods. And the sowing dates significantly influenced the TSD during reproductive growth period. Regardless of sowing dates, the biomass in FM and RFM was 25.7 % and 32.2 % higher (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.05) in 2019, and 37.2 % and 45.3 % higher (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.05) in 2020, respectively, relative to CK. The maximum biomass was observed in the SD1 or SD2 of RFM group, up to 22,146.8 kg ha⁻¹ . The dynamics of grain yield followed similar trends as those of biomass. Notably, the higher TSD turned to evidently favor biomass accumulation and yield formation. Furthermore, the optimal sowing date window (OSDW) for biomass and grain yield were longer under FM and RFM, relative to CK. Therefore, plastic film mulching resulted in greater promotion potentials to enhance maize climate resilience. Despite of a concern about residual pollution, a relatively complete management system, including the reasonable use of plastic film and timely recycling of residual film, has been established over last 10 years. The implementation of relevant policies can minimize environmental risks. This study provides novel insights into the mechanisms of high and stable yielding under film mulching planting from the perspectives of TSD and OSDW for maize production.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"252 ","pages":"Article 106611"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143855035","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":"An adaptive recognition method for crop row orientation in dry land by combining morphological and texture features","authors":"Xingming Zheng ,&nbsp;Jia Zheng ,&nbsp;Xigang Wang ,&nbsp;Fuheng Qu ,&nbsp;Tao Jiang ,&nbsp;Zui Tao ,&nbsp;Bo Zou ,&nbsp;Shixu Song ,&nbsp;Tianyu Ding","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106576","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106576","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Accurate identification of crop row orientation (CRO) is crucial for agricultural management. Most current CRO identification methods rely on image texture features from very-high-resolution (VHR) images, but their recognition accuracy still remains challenging, especially for large-scale mapping. To achieve rapid, cost-effective, and accurate large-scale CRO identification, an adaptive method was proposed. Vector cropland parcels generated on a cloud platform were combined with VHR imagery to adaptively identify CRO based on morphological and texture features. The effectiveness of the adaptive method was validated at Youyi Farm, Heilongjiang Province. The results are as follows: (1) A total of 4159 dry cropland parcels were extracted after removing paddy fields and a few non-cropland regions using the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) and the Ratio Vegetation Index (RVI). The mean Intersection over Union (mIoU) was 70.5 %, and the EP (Extraction Precision) was 0.88, indicating that the overall parcel morphology generally aligns with the actual parcel shape. (2) By adjusting the parcel Length-to-Width ratio (L/W) to balance the CRO Recognition Rate (RR), Precision (Prec), and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), an optimal L/W of 1.4 was determined, achieving the best overall balance. (3) Under the optimal L/W, the morphological feature method demonstrated a lower identification rate (RR: 67.3 %) but higher accuracy (Prec: 89 %) with a lower deviation (RMSE: 23.6°), while the texture feature method showed the opposite trend (RR: 89.4 %, Prec: 68 %, RMSE: 36.9°). Combining both features significantly improved the identification rate (RR: 94.7 %) while maintaining a low deviation (RMSE: 25.75°), indicating that the adaptive CRO identification method achieves optimal performance. The proposed method enables rapid and accurate CRO identification, supporting regional-scale CRO mapping.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"252 ","pages":"Article 106576"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143860074","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":"Ecological niche differentiation of detritivores dominates soil mesofaunal community assembly in a 33-year fertilized cropland","authors":"Peikun Li ,&nbsp;Shengyan Ding ,&nbsp;Xiuli Xin ,&nbsp;Anning Zhu ,&nbsp;Shunping Ding ,&nbsp;Yu Mei ,&nbsp;Yuan Liu ,&nbsp;Xiaoyi Wu ,&nbsp;Kaixin Lu ,&nbsp;Qinghe Zhao","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106605","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106605","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In agricultural ecosystems, long-term fertilization significantly alters soil mesofaunal diversity and composition. However, how fertilization shifts the relative contributions of deterministic and stochastic processes in the community assembly remains unclear. We examined mesofaunal co-occurrence networks, community assembly processes, and key drivers after 33 years of fertilization. Fertilization increased diversity, particularly among detritivores. Network analysis revealed that fertilization enhanced cooperative interactions within the mesofaunal networks. These interactions were more pronounced in networks associated with inorganic and mixed fertilizers compared to organic fertilizer, indicating a potential reduction in competitive and predatory pressures and an increase in mutualistic relationships among mesofaunal taxa. Detritivores exhibited higher network centrality, indicating their pivotal role in driving enhanced network cooperation and highlighting their critical importance in maintaining soil mesofaunal diversity in fertilized croplands. Fertilization drove the assembly of soil mesofaunal communities via a combination of deterministic and stochastic processes. The proportion of deterministic processes, such as heterogeneous selection, in the mesofaunal community assembly under inorganic fertilizer treatment was larger than that under organic fertilizer treatment, whereas stochastic processes were dominant in the unfertilized treatment. Detritivores exhibited a similar pattern in their assembly. Furthermore, our results revealed that both pH, as a crucial abiotic factor, and detritivore richness, serving as a pivotal biotic factor primarily influenced community assembly. Fertilization shaped soil mesofaunal communities via resource availability and ecological interactions. In summary, our research revealed the driving processes of 33-year fertilization on soil mesofaunal community assembly and the key guilds influencing these processes, providing insights into the mechanisms shaping and maintaining soil mesofaunal diversity in fertilized croplands.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"252 ","pages":"Article 106605"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143851394","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":"Influence of the forward direction surface slope on the sowing depth operation performance of the mechanical profiling maize seeder","authors":"Fei Chen ,&nbsp;Li Yang ,&nbsp;Tao Cui ,&nbsp;Dongxing Zhang ,&nbsp;Xiantao He ,&nbsp;Kailiang Zhang ,&nbsp;Zhimin Li","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106600","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106600","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The change in the forward direction surface slope (FDSS) has a significant influence on the sowing depth operating performance (SDOP) of the mechanical profiling maize seeder sowing depth adjustment device (SDAD).This study analyses and identifies the main factors affecting the SDOP of the SDAD. RecurDyn simulation of FDSS and spring initial increment (SII) on SDAD downforce show that, taking the non-tilting state (NTS) as a benchmark, the increase in downforce does not exceed 7.29 % in the range from −25° to 0°. Within the range of 0° to 25°, the downforce decreases by 26.42 %. The Multi-body Dynamics and Discrete Element Method (MBD-DEM) coupled simulations of the impact of FDSS on SDOP show that as the absolute value of the FDSS increases, relative to the NTS,the average of sowing depth (ASD) changes by −10.34–6.33 %, the qualification rate of sowing depth (QRSD) changes by −41.21–6.78 %,the coefficient of variation of sowing depth (CVSD) changes by −2.23–2.99 %. Under different FDSS, as the SII increases and the operation speed (OS) decreases, the ASD increases from 38.52 mm to 54.91 mm, the QRSD increases from 10.56 % to 99.27 %, and the CVSD decreases from 17.32 % to 2.87 %. The field experiment results showed that the error between the simulation and field experiment results for the SDOP was less than 7 %. A mathematical model of the FDSS, SII and OS is established, make the SDOP under the FDSS converges to that of the NTS.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"252 ","pages":"Article 106600"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143851391","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":"In-situ and laboratory determined Ultisol-derived paddy soil pH varied with flooding condition in subtropical China","authors":"Jun Jiang ,&nbsp;Feng Zhang ,&nbsp;Enze Xie ,&nbsp;Ruhai Wang ,&nbsp;Yiyi Deng ,&nbsp;Tianhua Feng ,&nbsp;Xueqing Zhang ,&nbsp;Xianli Xie ,&nbsp;Renkou Xu","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106608","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106608","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil pH measured by laboratory standard method does not accurately reflect its actual acidity. In this study, we compared the pH values of anaerobic and aerobic farmland soils in Langxi, Yujiang, and Jinggangshan Counties in subtropical China, measured using <em>in-situ</em> and laboratory standard methods. The results showed that the <em>in-situ</em> pH values of anaerobic Ultisol-derived paddy soils were significantly higher than the laboratory values. Although there was an extremely significant correlation between the pH values obtained by the two methods (<em>R</em>_<em>adj</em>^<em>2</em>=0.15, <em>P</em> = 1.77 ×10⁻⁴, n = 81), extrapolating these results across different soil types proved challenging due to the specificity of paddy soils. The <em>in-situ</em> pH values of aerobic paddy soils were 0.52 units lower than the laboratory values, with an extremely significant correlation (<em>R</em>_<em>adj</em>^<em>2</em>=0.67, <em>P</em> = 5.95 ×10⁻²¹, n = 81). <em>In-situ</em> pH mapping of farmland soils under both anaerobic and aerobic conditions revealed that the paddy soils in northwest Jinggangshan County, along with the majority of aerobic paddy soils in the study areas, exhibited acidification and aluminum-induced phytotoxicity. These findings provide valuable insights into estimating the <em>in-situ</em> soil pH of paddy soils under anaerobic and aerobic rotations, providing a more accurate and efficient representation of actual soil pH conditions during different cultivation stages in the acidic paddy soil regions of southern China.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"252 ","pages":"Article 106608"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143851393","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":"Effects of rice straw biochar application rates on soil aggregate biogeochemistry and linkages to microbial community structure and enzyme activities","authors":"Jiajun Wu ,&nbsp;Zichuan Li ,&nbsp;Yong Li ,&nbsp;Jiawen Liu ,&nbsp;Cheng Liu ,&nbsp;Yanjun Chai ,&nbsp;Chao Ai ,&nbsp;Qaiser Hussain ,&nbsp;Marios Drosos ,&nbsp;Shengdao Shan","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106589","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106589","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Biochar, a widely adopted soil amendment, has been widely recognized for its potential to improve crop yields and soil nutrients significantly. This enhancement is primarily attributed to the crucial role of soil microorganisms, whose contribution to soil fertility is significant and often underappreciated. However, the effects of varying biochar application rates on soil functional biota, particularly within aggregates that expand soil spatial heterogeneity, remain unclear. Understanding the relationship between nutrient dynamics and microbial community composition in these aggregates is essential for comprehending the intricate connections between soil microbiomes and related biogeochemical cycles. This study utilized long-term experimental soils, including treatments with no fertilizer, chemical fertilizer alone, and chemical fertilizer combined with rice straw biochar at gradient application rates (22.5, 45, 90 t·hm⁻²). The responses of microbial community structure and soil enzyme activities in whole soil and aggregates to different biochar application rates were investigated. Results showed that, compared to NPK treatment, biochar significantly increased bacterial and fungal diversity in macroaggregates. It also notably increased the relative abundance of <em>Proteobacteria</em> and <em>Ascomycota</em> in soil and aggregates, and at the same time reduced the relative abundance of <em>Chloroflexi</em> and <em>Basidiomycota</em>. Furthermore, carbon and phosphorus cycle-related enzyme activities increased significantly with higher biochar application rates. However, the activity of NAG, a nitrogen cycle-related enzyme, decreased as biochar application increased. Mantel analysis revealed that the relationship between microorganisms, enzyme activity, and soil nutrients was closest at a biochar application rate of 45 t·hm⁻². Structural equation modeling demonstrated that macroaggregates exhibited the most complex nutrient accumulation relationships, with bacterial and fungal diversity promoting nutrient accumulation. In conclusion, moderate biochar application induced the most intricate and closely connected microbial networks in macroaggregates, promoting soil nutrient cycling.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"252 ","pages":"Article 106589"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143851392","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":"Exploring and predicting nitrogen fertilizer use efficiency of maize (Zea mays L.)-soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) intercropping systems in China: A combined Meta-analysis and machine learning approach","authors":"Zhengxin Zhao ,&nbsp;Zongyang Li ,&nbsp;Yao Li ,&nbsp;Xuegui Zhang ,&nbsp;Xiaobo Gu ,&nbsp;Huanjie Cai","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106603","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106603","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Maize <strong>(Zea mays L.)</strong>-soybean <strong>(Glycine max (L.) Merr.)</strong> intercropping systems have been widely promoted in China due to their potential to enhance agricultural land use efficiency through crop complementarity. However, the complex interactions between environmental conditions and management practices create significant challenges for understanding and accurately predicting nitrogen (N) use efficiency under different production conditions. Through a meta-analysis of 330 datasets from 45 experimental sites across China and machine learning approaches, we evaluated the fertilizer N equivalent ratio (FNER) and developed a prediction model for it in maize-soybean intercropping systems. The national average FNER value of maize-soybean intercropping systems in China was 1.41 ± 0.02. The FNER of maize-soybean intercropping systems was significantly correlated with climate conditions, the proportion of maize, N application rate, and temporal niche differentiation (TND). Regions with higher annual precipitation and temperature showed a greater N fertilizer utilization advantage in maize-soybean intercropping. Furthermore, reducing N application rate and the proportion of maize while extending TND can enhance the FNER of maize-soybean intercropping systems. N application rate and TND were identified as the most important input parameters for machine learning-based FNER prediction in maize-soybean intercropping systems. Among the machine learning models, Random Forest and Gradient Boosting models demonstrated superior effectiveness in predicting FNER values using five input variables, including N application rate, TND, soil organic matter content, average annual temperature, and soybean planting density. The current study can provide practical guidance for improving the N use efficiencies of maize-soybean intercropping systems and offer a robust tool for predicting FNER under various environmental and management conditions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"252 ","pages":"Article 106603"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143855033","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}