Tillage System as a Practice Affecting the Quality of Soils and Its Sustainable Management

Joanna Lemanowicz, Erika Balontayová, Bożena Dębska (), Agata Bartkowiak and Piotr Wasilewski
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Joanna Lemanowicz: Department of Biogeochemistry, Soil Science and Irrigation and Drainage, Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology in Bydgoszcz, 6/8 Bernardyńska Street, 85-029 Bydgoszcz, Poland
Erika Balontayová: Institute of Agronomic Sciences, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Tr. A. Hlinku 2 St., 949 76 Nitra, Slovakia
Bożena Dębska: Department of Biogeochemistry, Soil Science and Irrigation and Drainage, Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology in Bydgoszcz, 6/8 Bernardyńska Street, 85-029 Bydgoszcz, Poland
Agata Bartkowiak: Department of Biogeochemistry, Soil Science and Irrigation and Drainage, Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology in Bydgoszcz, 6/8 Bernardyńska Street, 85-029 Bydgoszcz, Poland
Piotr Wasilewski: Department of Agronomy and Food Processing, Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology in Bydgoszcz, 7 Prof. S. Kaliskiego Street, 85-796 Bydgoszcz, Poland

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 7, 1-18

Abstract: Sustainable soil management through the use of an appropriate tillage system can positively change the edaphic parameters. The aim of the present study was to compare the effects that reduced tillage (RT) and conventional tillage (CT) systems have on changes in selected physical and chemical properties and enzymatic activity in various soil types. The study included the following soil types: Eutric Fluvisol , Mollic Fluvisol , Haplic Chernozem , Haplic Luvisol , Eutric Regosol , Eutric Gleysol , and Stagnic Planosol . Soil samples were collected in the Danubian Lowland and Eastern Slovak Lowland. The following parameters were determined in the soil samples: soil texture, pH, hydrolytic acidity and the sum of basic exchangeable cations, the contents of carbon (TOC), nitrogen (TN), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and the activities of dehydrogenases (DEH), catalase (CAT), peroxidases (PER), alkaline phosphatase (AlP), acid phosphatase (AcP), proteases, and β -glucosidase (BG). The reaction of the analysed soils, in the RT and CT cultivations alike, ranged from acidic to neutral, and the sorption properties differed between individual soil types. The TOC ranged from 16.53 to 42.07 g kg −1 for conventional cultivation and from 15.51 to 38.90 g kg −1 for reduced tillage. The values of enzymatic soil quality indices values correlated with TOC, DOC, and TN, as well as with pH, the sum of exchangeable base cations, cation exchange capacity, and degree of base saturation of the sorption complex. The tillage system determined changes in the activity of the studied enzymes, but the intensity and direction of these changes depended on the soil type. Based on the enzyme activity results, soil quality indices such as GMea and TEI were calculated. TEI proved to be a more sensitive indicator than GMea. It was shown that, of all studied soil types and regardless of the cultivation system, Eutric Gleyosols had the most variable properties. For conventional tillage, Haplic Luvisol and Eutric Regosol were characterised by the greatest uniformity. In general, the edaphic properties of soils under conventional tillage differed from those of soils under simplified tillage.

Keywords: enzyme activity; organic matter; soil types; soil quality indicators; sorption properties (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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