Abstract
Abstract Tillage prepares soil for planting and plays a critical role in crop productivity, soil health, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Assessing long‐term tillage is vital for expanding knowledge of these practices in semiarid environments. The experiment was conducted on the tillage plot initiated in 2007 to assess the long‐term effects of no‐tillage (NT), strip‐tillage (ST), and moldboard plow (MP) on crop yield, soil properties, and GHG emissions in irrigated maize in western Nebraska. Maize yield, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions were measured in 2023 and 2024. Postharvest soil sampled from each tillage plot in 2024 were analyzed for selected soil health properties. Mean maize yield over 2 years was higher in ST (10.70 Mg ha − 1 ) and MP (10.65 Mg ha − 1 ) than in NT (8.45 Mg ha − 1 ). Both NT and ST improved soil organic matter, organic carbon, and microbial activity relative to MP. Macroaggregate stability (>250 µm) was greater under NT and ST, whereas MP had greater microaggregate stability (<63 µm). Mean CO 2 emissions did not differ among tillage systems, but N 2 O emissions were higher under NT and ST than under MP. There was a trade‐off impact of NT on soil, GHG, and crop yield. The ST provided the benefit of localized tillage along crop rows while preserving NT conditions between rows. Understanding the trade‐offs of known conservation practices on productivity and sustainability is critical to informing our efforts toward sustainable agriculture.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 8
Claim · model-written summary
Strip-tillage gave higher two-year mean maize yield than no-tillage.
- Treatment
- STe0
- Outcome
- maize yielde0
- Direction
- highere0
- Value
- 10.70 Mg ha − 1e0
- Qualifier
- over 2 yearse0
- Comparator
- NTe0
- Setting
- western Nebraskae1
Zea maysOrganisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Mean maize yield over 2 years was higher in ST (10.70 Mg ha − 1 ) and MP (10.65 Mg ha − 1 ) than in NT (8.45 Mg ha − 1 )”
e1“in irrigated maize in western Nebraska”
Claim · model-written summary
Moldboard plow gave higher two-year mean maize yield than no-tillage.
- Treatment
- MPe0
- Outcome
- maize yielde0
- Direction
- highere0
- Value
- 10.65 Mg ha − 1e0
- Qualifier
- over 2 yearse0
- Comparator
- NTe0
- Setting
- western Nebraskae1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Mean maize yield over 2 years was higher in ST (10.70 Mg ha − 1 ) and MP (10.65 Mg ha − 1 ) than in NT (8.45 Mg ha − 1 )”
e1“in irrigated maize in western Nebraska”
Claim · model-written summary
No-tillage and strip-tillage improved soil organic matter, organic carbon and microbial activity relative to moldboard plow.
- Treatment
- NT and STe1
- Outcome
- soil organic matter, organic carbon, and microbial activitye1
- Direction
- improvede1
- Comparator
- MPe1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Mean maize yield over 2 years was higher in ST (10.70 Mg ha − 1 ) and MP (10.65 Mg ha − 1 ) than in NT (8.45 Mg ha − 1 )”
e1“Both NT and ST improved soil organic matter, organic carbon, and microbial activity relative to MP”
Claim · model-written summary
Macroaggregate stability (>250 µm) was greater under no-tillage and strip-tillage.
- Treatment
- NT and STe1
- Outcome
- Macroaggregate stability (>250 µm)e1
- Direction
- greatere1
- Qualifier
- >250 µme1
- Comparator
- MPe1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Mean maize yield over 2 years was higher in ST (10.70 Mg ha − 1 ) and MP (10.65 Mg ha − 1 ) than in NT (8.45 Mg ha − 1 )”
e1“Macroaggregate stability (>250 µm) was greater under NT and ST, whereas MP had greater microaggregate stability (<63 µm)”
Claim · model-written summary
Moldboard plow gave greater microaggregate stability (<63 µm) than no-tillage and strip-tillage.
- Treatment
- MPe1
- Outcome
- microaggregate stabilitye1
- Direction
- greatere1
- Qualifier
- <63 µme1
- Comparator
- NT and STe1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Mean maize yield over 2 years was higher in ST (10.70 Mg ha − 1 ) and MP (10.65 Mg ha − 1 ) than in NT (8.45 Mg ha − 1 )”
e1“Macroaggregate stability (>250 µm) was greater under NT and ST, whereas MP had greater microaggregate stability (<63 µm)”
Claim · model-written summary
Mean CO2 emissions did not differ among tillage systems.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Mean maize yield over 2 years was higher in ST (10.70 Mg ha − 1 ) and MP (10.65 Mg ha − 1 ) than in NT (8.45 Mg ha − 1 )”
e1“Mean CO 2 emissions did not differ among tillage systems”
Claim · model-written summary
N2O emissions were higher under no-tillage and strip-tillage than under moldboard plow.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Mean maize yield over 2 years was higher in ST (10.70 Mg ha − 1 ) and MP (10.65 Mg ha − 1 ) than in NT (8.45 Mg ha − 1 )”
e1“N 2 O emissions were higher under NT and ST than under MP”
Claim · model-written summary
Strip-tillage is recommended because it gives the benefit of localized tillage along crop rows while preserving no-tillage conditions between rows.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Mean maize yield over 2 years was higher in ST (10.70 Mg ha − 1 ) and MP (10.65 Mg ha − 1 ) than in NT (8.45 Mg ha − 1 )”
e1“The ST provided the benefit of localized tillage along crop rows while preserving NT conditions between rows”
The same questions in other papers
tillage · soil: biology · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
18 papers in the same direction as this paper · 3 in the opposite direction
- negative
- no effect
- no effect
18 papers more in this group
See all 22 papers →tillage · yield · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
811 papers in the same direction as this paper · 230 in the opposite direction · 57 reporting no difference from an alternative
- no effect
- positive
- positive
1,095 papers more in this group
See all 1,099 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.