Tillage Practices Effect on Root Distribution and Variation of Soil CO2 Emission under Different Cropping Strategies

Conservation soil management strategies, particularly no-tillage and cropping strategies, have become an effective and widely adopted practice that has a direct influence on root parameters and mitigation of greenhouse gasses. However, the effect of different tillage and cropping strategies on root growth in field conditions is rarely studied. The study aimed to quantify and characterise the relationship between root network development and CO2 emission and how these parameters are affected by different cropping and tillage strategies. Five different crop rotations were tested, with or without the inclusion of catch crops (CC), by growing them in the soil where different tillage practices were applied. Selected cropping strategies differed among themselves in terms of the frequency of CC grown per rotation. The data revealed that in NT treatments, the CO2 emission (both autotrophic and heterotrophic simultaneously) was 25% higher than in CT. The cropping strategies were identified as an important factor influencing CO2 emissions. An increase in CO2 emission varied between 30 and 35% depending on the share of legume and CC inclusion. The frequency of CC grown per rotation has had an effect on the rate of CO2 emission. The cropping strategy when CC was grown every year showed the lowest amount of CO2 (by 26%), while in other cropping strategies, when CC was grown once or twice per rotation, significantly higher CO2 emissions were observed. Root growth and their development were significantly affected (p < 0.05) by soil depth and cropping strategies concerning root length and root volume changes. The inclusion of CC into the rotations led towards a decrease in root volume (by 21%). Root length (R2 = 0.45; p < 0.05) and root volume (R2 = 0.82; p < 0.05) had a significant impact on soil CO2 emissions. The results collected from 2021 to 2023 experiments indicated that cropping strategies and CC management areas are important tools not only for the improvement of root parameters but also for understanding how they affect CO2 emissions. The main message for stakeholders is that the cropping strategies diversification with the inclusion of CC every year in a winter oil-seed rape, spring wheat and pea crop rotation (R/W/P + CC) had demonstrated the possibilities to reduce CO2 emission and improve the root network parameters as compared to the monoculture strategy.