The Assessment of Soil Quality in Contrasting Land-Use and Tillage Systems on Farm Fields with Stagnic Luvisol Soil in Estonia

Merit Sutri (), Merrit Shanskiy, Mari Ivask and Endla Reintam
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Merit Sutri: Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi Str. 5, Tartu 51006, Estonia
Merrit Shanskiy: Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi Str. 5, Tartu 51006, Estonia
Mari Ivask: Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi Str. 5, Tartu 51006, Estonia
Endla Reintam: Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi Str. 5, Tartu 51006, Estonia

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 12, 1-17

Abstract: Soil quality indicates the soil’s ability to provide ecosystem services. Reducing the tillage intensity has been suggested as an alternative to conventional tillage for sustaining soil quality. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of soil tillage systems on individual soil quality indicators in comparison to those on grassland with Stagnic Luvisol soil in Estonia. Four soil management systems were compared: no-tillage (NT), minimum tillage (MT), conventional tillage (CT) and grassland (G) as a reference. Soil quality indicators included physical (bulk density, water-stable aggregates, porosity, air-filled pores, moisture content, water-holding capacity, penetration resistance and water permeability), chemical (total N, total soil organic C, permanganate oxidisable C, pH, P, K, Ca and Mg) and biological (earthworm abundance) parameters. CT soils had a significantly lower aggregate stability compared to MT and G soils. The higher penetration resistance of CT under an arable layer suggested the presence of a plough pan. NT improved the soil’s physical quality at 5–10 cm, which was indicated by higher moisture content, water-holding capacity and porosity and a lower bulk density, whereas penetration resistance exceeded 2 MPa in the lower part of the topsoil. NT also had significantly lower total soil organic C and total N compared to MT and G. The absence of tillage in the NT and G systems may have improved the soil’s resistance to moisture loss under dry conditions, which, in turn, improved the soil habitability for earthworms a despite higher density. In general, NT or MT stabilised or increased the soil quality compared to CT.

Keywords: earthworms; minimum tillage; no-tillage; soil physical properties; water-stable aggregates (WSA) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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