Pulse Brain · Growing Health Evidence Index
Peer-reviewed

Long-term reduced tillage does not enhance crop yield, soil organic carbon stocks or greenhouse gas mitigation under ambient rainfall and rainfall exclusion in a temperate Luvisol

Antonios Apostolakis, Oliver Lindunda Daka, Paulina Englert, Stefan Siebert, Ana Meijide

Soil and Tillage Research · 2025

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Summary

Reduced tillage (RT) is widely promoted as an agroecological practice to enhance soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration and mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, its long-term effects on SOC stocks, crop yields, and soil GHG fluxes remain debated, particularly under changing climatic conditions. We investigated the impacts of RT and conventional tillage (CT) in the Garte-Sued field trial established in 1970 in Goettingen, Germany on a silt loam Haplic Luvisol under a humid temperate climate. Over two years, we assessed crop yield, SOC stocks and fractions, soil mineral N, and soil CO 2 and N 2 O fluxes under ambient rainfall and 50 % rainfall exclusion (via rainout shelters). After 53 years, RT resulted in a stratification of SOC within the plough layer, but SOC stocks at 0–90

Source type
Peer-reviewed study
DOI
10.1016/j.still.2025.106985
Catalogue ID
SNmoj1xtx6-x9l9sc
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