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ARS Home » Northeast Area » University Park, Pennsylvania » Pasture Systems & Watershed Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #393420
Research Project: Managing Water Resources to Foster the Sustainable Intensification of Agroecosystems in the Northeastern U.S.

Location: Pasture Systems & Watershed Management Research

Title: Soil health indicators under continuous no-till vs. integrated weed management with strategic tillage

Author
item MCPHEETER, DEVYN - Pennsylvania State University
item BRUNS, MARY ANN - Pennsylvania State University
item KARSTEN, HEATHER - Pennsylvania State University
item Dell, Curtis

Submitted to: Frontiers in Soil Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/17/2022
Publication Date: 11/2/2022
Citation: Mcpheeter, D., Bruns, M., Karsten, H., Dell, C.J. 2022. Soil health indicators under continuous no-till vs. integrated weed management with strategic tillage. Frontiers in Soil Science. 6:907590. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.907590.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.907590

Interpretive Summary: No-till crop production has been shown to improve soil health due to limited soil disturbance, but without tillage large quantities of herbicides are needed to terminate the perennial crop phase of a multi-year crop rotations. The study was conducted to determine effects on key soil health indicators of using tillage once every six years to terminate alfalfa, compared to continuous no-till with termination of the alfalfa using herbicides. Results showed soil organic matter levels and other indicators of soil health declined somewhat after tillage but were restored in the years of the crop rotation without tillage, indicating that occasional tillage may be a practical way to reduce herbicide use without long-term reduction in soil health.

Technical Abstract: Soil health refers to a soils’ ability to sustain biological life into the future while maintaining water and air quality. No-till agriculture, a strategy often used to improve soil health, has trade-offs of increased herbicide use to control weeds and terminate cover crops. Many no-till growers are reluctant to try and address these trade-offs, however, because they are concerned about the effects of any physical disturbance on the health of their soil. The hypothesis for this study was that soil health indicators, following a single inversion tillage and return to no-till using cover crops and perennials, would recover to levels similar to those of soils that were not tilled. This hypothesis was tested using three soil health indicators, aggregate stability, labile carbon, and total carbon analyzed by percent and by volume (corrected with bulk density), to determine the impacts of a once-in-six-year tillage regime. We studied a channery silt loam soil in the Pennsylvania State Dairy Cropping Systems project in Rock Springs, PA, which was initiated in 2010. The cropping system features cover crops and perennials and compares one-time tillage as the perennial termination strategy for herbicide reduction to no-till with standard herbicide application. As a full crop entry experiment, the six phases of the crop rotation were planted every year in a randomized complete block design, replicated four times. Soil was sampled in spring 2010 prior to the start of the experiment and in 2013 and 2019 at two depths: 0-5 and 5-15 cm for total carbon, 0-5 cm for labile carbon and to 15 cm for aggregate stability. Results indicate that despite a tillage event these soil health indicators can return to no-till levels if rotated to perennial forage for adequate years.