Soil & Tillage Research最新文献

{"title":"Responses of crop yield and soil quality to organic material application in the black soil region of Northeast China","authors":"Ying Song ,&nbsp;Zhijie Li ,&nbsp;Hanwen Chen ,&nbsp;Jiayu Sun ,&nbsp;Xiaoling He ,&nbsp;Jinxia Fu ,&nbsp;Fenli Zheng ,&nbsp;Zhi Li","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106690","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106690","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The application of organic materials is an effective approach to mitigate the conflict between soil degradation and agricultural production. Therefore, it is important to optimize the organic material addition by assessing their influence on crop yield and soil quality (<em>SQI</em>) under various environmental and agronomic conditions. This meta-analysis, utilizing 1289 comparisons from 154 publications, evaluated the influence of organic material application on crop yield and <em>SQI</em> under various climates, soils, and agronomic practices (type, application rate, substitution rate of inorganic nitrogen fertilizer, tillage, and rotation) in Northeast China. Results demonstrate that organic material significantly increases crop yield by 14 % and improves <em>SQI</em> by 6 %. For climate, the regions with mean annual temperature &lt; 2 ℃ and annual precipitation of 500–600 mm show optimal effects on crop yield and <em>SQI</em>. For soil conditions, organic material application increases yield by 3 %-10 % and <em>SQI</em> by 9 %–19 % in soils with SOM&lt; 40 g·kg⁻¹. In areas with severe soil erosion, organic amendments lead to greater improvement in soil quality by enhancing soil structure, increasing water retention, and promoting plant growth. Agronomic practices, such as crop rotation and longer experimental durations (3–6 years), result in the most significant improvement, while deep plowing has no significant effect. Replacing chemical fertilizers with organic materials improves <em>SQI</em> by 1 %-38 %, but substitution rates above 60 % decline crop yield. An Extreme Gradient Boosting model reveals that the experimental duration and organic material type are primary factors affecting the changes in crop yield and soil quality. Extending the experimental duration can mitigate the negative impacts of high pH or use of single organic fertilizer on crop yield and significantly enhance soil quality in regions with high soil erosion rates. These findings provide valuable insights for optimizing organic amendment strategies to balance yield and soil quality, promoting sustainable agricultural practices.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106690"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144195011","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":"Seasonal dynamics of prokaryotic nitrogen cycling genes in cropland soils: Effects of soil texture, tillage, and environmental factors","authors":"Jingjing Yang ,&nbsp;Damien R. Finn ,&nbsp;Haotian Wang ,&nbsp;Joachim Brunotte ,&nbsp;Christoph C. Tebbe","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106694","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106694","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In cropland, prokaryotic microbiomes mediate the biogeochemical cycling of nitrogen (N), which is typically supplied at large amounts for plant growth promotion. While genes encoding for key enzymes of the N cycle in soil have been identified, little is known about their seasonal variation along cropping cycles. Here, we followed over a period of two years at 2-week intervals with quantitative PCR the abundance of seven N-functional genes on three neighboring fields at an operational farm in Northern Germany. The fields differed in soil texture (clay or loam) and soil management (soil conservation vs. conventional tillage). Total N (TN) was the main factor driving temporal dynamics of all seven N-functional genes, while total carbon, temperature, fertilization events and soil tillage were less important. Precipitation, and thus soil moisture, negatively affected gene abundances, and this effect was more pronounced in loam than in clay. Clear differences could be detected for the abundance of archaeal and bacterial <em>amoA</em> and also, though less stringent, for <em>nirS/K</em> but not for <em>nosZI/nosZII</em>. The contrasting responses of the two former suggests distinct preferences in response to different textures and tillage regimes. Overall, this study demonstrates that in cropland, the seasonal dynamics of N functional genes depends on the TN contents, which is variable in response to soil moisture, texture and tillage. The coexistence of alternative prokaryotic genes encoding for the same enzymatic reactions reflects their specific adaptations to different environmental conditions, which can result in high, but also low correlations between them.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106694"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144189325","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":"Recycling fishery waste into biobased fertilizers: Agronomic performance and soil health impacts","authors":"Jingsi Zhang ,&nbsp;Liina Edesi ,&nbsp;Tiina Talve ,&nbsp;Çağrı Akyol ,&nbsp;Birgit Koll ,&nbsp;Ireene Roman ,&nbsp;Merili Toom ,&nbsp;Marta Aranguren ,&nbsp;Susana Virgel Mentxaka ,&nbsp;Annely Kuu ,&nbsp;Stefaan De Neve ,&nbsp;Erik Meers","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106686","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106686","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study evaluated the agronomic performance and soil impact of biobased fertilizers derived from fishery waste and by-products as circular alternatives to synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizers in short-term field experiments with broccoli. Four biobased fertilizers — bokashi pellet (BP), nutrient solution with amino acids (NPKA), fish sludge pellet (FSP), and protein fraction (PF) — were obtained from pilot installations across Europe. The evaluation focused on soil mineral N (SMN) dynamics, N use efficiency (NUE), crop yield, and soil biological responses. One week after transplanting and fertilization, SMN levels in the topsoil (0–10 cm) were the highest in the NPKA (253 ± 94 kg ha⁻¹) and PF (181 ± 45 kg ha⁻¹) treatments, comparble to the mineral fertilizer (MF; 237 ± 5 kg ha⁻¹). In contrast, FSP (68 ± 17 kg ha⁻¹) and BP (30 ± 11 kg ha⁻¹) did not significantly differ from the unfertilized soil (40 ± 5 kg ha⁻¹). Early SMN availability showed a strong positive correlation with broccoli yield and N uptake. Crop yields ranged from 8594 to 14,842 kg ha⁻¹ among the organic treatments, with NPKA and PF performing comparably to MF (14,726 kg ha⁻¹) and substantially better than FSP and BP. The control treatment (CON) yielded 9252 kg ha⁻¹ . NPKA and PF also demonstrated the highest NUE values (108 % and 84.8 %, respectively), with estimated mineral fertilizer equivalents of 79.5 % and 62.7 %. Soil biological activity showed treatment-specific responses. Dehydrogenase activity, microbial biomass carbon, and phospholipid fatty acid profiles in the 0–10 cm soil layer were significantly affected by fertilizer treatments, though most microbial indicators returned to baseline levels post-harvest. Soil fauna responses were variable: Springtail abundance declined under MF, whereas mite populations were more sensitive to organic treatments. Overall, the findings suggest that certain biobased fertilizers, particularly NPKA and PF, can effectively replace mineral N fertilizers, maintaining crop productivity while enhancing soil health indicators. These results support the integration of fish waste-based biobased fertilizers into sustainable agricultural practices.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106686"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144185273","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":"Erratum to “Multiyear crop residue cover mapping using narrow-band vs. broad-band shortwave infrared satellite imagery” [Soil Tillage Res. 251 (2025) 1–19]","authors":"Brian T. Lamb ,&nbsp;W. Dean Hively ,&nbsp;Jyoti Jennewein ,&nbsp;Alison Thieme ,&nbsp;Alexander M. Soroka ,&nbsp;Leticia Santos ,&nbsp;Daniela Jones ,&nbsp;Steven Mirsky","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106692","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106692","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106692"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144261604","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":"Uncovering scale- and location-dependent variations and drivers of soil nutrients along a southeast-northwest transect of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau using wavelet analysis","authors":"Ziwei Wang ,&nbsp;Yanwu Pei ,&nbsp;Laiming Huang ,&nbsp;Ming’an Shao ,&nbsp;Pingping Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106683","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106683","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The spatial variability of soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP), along with relationships with individual environmental factors, have been widely studied. However, the combined effects of multiple controlling factors remain underexplored across different scales and locations, particularly in complex environments like China’s Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP). This study aimed to identify the scale-specific factors controlling SOC, TN, and TP along a 1,800-km southeast-northwest transect of the QTP using wavelet coherence analysis. Results showed that SOC exhibited significant spatial variability at small (&lt;100 km) and medium (100–200 km) scales, TN at small and medium scales, and TP at medium and large (&gt;200 km) scales, particularly over the 500–1000 km segment of the transect (at a 95 % confidence level). The relationships between influencing factors and SOC, TN, and TP varied with spatial scale and transect location. Across all scales, bulk density (BD) emerged as the dominant factor explaining SOC and TN variability, with the largest average wavelet coherence (AWC) (0.55 for SOC and 0.53 for TN) and the percent area of significant coherence (PASC) (35.46 % for SOC and 36.16 % for TN). For TP variability, pH was the primary controlling factor (AWC=0.50, PASC=24.81 %). The best combinations of factors were pH and BD for SOC (AWC=0.85, PASC=62.13 %); pH, BD, and mean annual precipitation for TN (AWC=0.92, PASC=58.63 %); and pH, BD, and silt for TP (AWC=0.90, PASC=43.81 %). Adding additional factors did not consistently enhance explanatory power; a two-factor combination was sufficient for SOC, while a three-factor combination adequately explained TN and TP variability. Our findings clarify the spatial variations of SOC, TN, and TP, highlighting their scale- and location-specific dependencies on influencing factors along the southeast-northwest transect of the QTP. The insights gained from this study can support future modeling, mapping, management, and sampling strategies for SOC, TN, and TP in the alpine region.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106683"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144185304","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":"Long-term organic-inorganic fertilization promoted the microbial necromass carbon accumulation in particulate and mineral-associated organic matter fractions in paddy soil","authors":"Wenhai Mi ,&nbsp;Fang Gao ,&nbsp;Keyao Zhu ,&nbsp;Kun Cheng ,&nbsp;Jufeng Zheng ,&nbsp;Guangzhou Wang ,&nbsp;Shuotong Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106689","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106689","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Microbial-derived compounds represent a major source of soil organic carbon (SOC). However, the driving mechanisms through which long-term fertilization regulates the accumulation of microbial necromass C (MNC) at different soil depths in acidic paddy soils remain poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to explore this mechanism by examining the MNC contents within mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM) and particulate organic matter (POM) fractions in both soil depths (0 −15 cm and 15 −30 cm) of a 12-year field trial. Four treatments were implemented, including: no fertilizers input (Control), mineral fertilizers alone (NPK), NPK and cattle manure co-application (NPKM), and NPK and rice straw residue co-application (NPKS). Compared to the NPK, the NPKM and NPKS enhanced the SOC by 28.1 % and 20.6 % and POM-C contents by 85.3 % and 76.2 % in surface soil, respectively. Besides, the MNC contents in bulk soil were 26 % higher under NPKM in surface soil and 10.7 % higher under NPKS in subsoil, compared to NPK alone. Across all fertilization practices, the majority of MNC was concentrated on the MAOM fractions, with fungi serving as the primary contributors to this accumulation in both bulk soil and its POM and MAOM fractions. Furthermore, the NPKM and NPKS treatments resulted in a greater increase in bacterial necromass C, fungal necromass C, and MNC within the POM fractions (45–83 % increase) compared to the MAOM fractions (8–36 % increase) relative to the unfertilized control. Redundancy analyses and Mantel tests showed significant correlations between the composition of the SOC pool and soil nutrient levels, as well as mineral attributes (e.g. Fe_p +Al_p). The PLS-PM result showed that the MNC was notably influenced by mineral preservation in the surface soil, while in the subsoil, it was primarily impacted by soil nutrients. This study elucidates the mechanisms underlying differential accumulation of MNC across soil depths and fertilization treatments and the significance of MNC-driven carbon dynamics on SOC sequestration in paddy soil.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106689"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144185388","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 coupled temporal effects and micro-mechanism of root reinforcement and dry-wet cycles on the strength of herb-loess composite","authors":"Zhengjun Mao ,&nbsp;Munan Wang ,&nbsp;Guozheng Xu ,&nbsp;Mimi Geng ,&nbsp;Xu Ma ,&nbsp;Guangsheng Gao ,&nbsp;Yanshan Tian ,&nbsp;Lidong Wang ,&nbsp;Yu Xi","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106684","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106684","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>To investigate the coupled time effects of root reinforcement and wet-dry deterioration in herbaceous plant-loess composites, as well as their microscopic mechanisms, this study focused on alfalfa root-loess composites at different growth stages cultivated under controlled conditions. The research included measuring root morphological parameters, conducting wet-dry cycling tests, and performing triaxial compression tests and microscopic analyses (CT scanning and nuclear magnetic resonance) on both bare loess and root-loess composites under various wet-dry cycling conditions. By obtaining shear strength parameters and microstructural indices, the study analyzed the temporal evolution of the shear strength and microstructural characteristics of root-loess composites under wet-dry cycling. The findings indicated that the alfalfa root-loess composite effective cohesion was significantly higher than that of the plain soil in the same growth stage. The alfalfa root-loess composite effective cohesion increased during the growth stage in the same dry-wet cycles. The alfalfa root-loess composite effective cohesion in the same growth stage was negatively correlated with the number of dry-wet cycles. The fatigue damage of the soil’s microstructure (pore coarsening, cement hydrolysis, and crack development) increased continuously with the number of dry-wet cycles. However, due to the difference in mechanical properties between roots and the soil, the root-soil composite prevented the deterioration of the soil matrix strength by the dry-wet cycles. As the herbaceous plants grow, the time effect observed in the shear strength of the root-soil composite under the action of dry-wet cycles is the result of the interaction and dynamic coordination between the soil-stabilizing function of the herbaceous plant roots and the deterioration caused by dry-wet cycles.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106684"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144177850","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":"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}