Pulse Brain · Growing Health Evidence Index
Peer-reviewed

Soil organic carbon increases cereal yield stability regardless of tillage intensity

Ana Campos‐Cáliz, Mark A. Bradford, Sthephen A. Wood, Emily E. Oldfield, César Plaza, Enrique Valencia, Pablo García‐Palacios

Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment · 2025

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Summary

The temporal stability of yield, defined as the ratio between mean yield and standard deviation (SD) of yield across years, is a major agricultural goal under the current climate change scenario. Soil organic carbon (SOC) has a positive effect on crop yield, yet its role in buffering yield interannual variability—and whether tillage intensity modulates this effect—remains unclear. Using 54 tillage intensity comparisons (no-till vs. conventional till plots) from 26 long-term field studies across 11 countries, we applied linear mixed-effects models to assess the relationship between SOC content, yield stability and its components (mean yield and SD yield), while controlling for climate, soil, and management covariates. We specifically quantified (i) SOC relationships with mean yield, SD yiel

Source type
Peer-reviewed study
DOI
10.1016/j.agee.2026.110430
Catalogue ID
SNmojyxphq-zzndze
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