Contrasting Long-Term Tillage Treatments and their Spatio-Temporal Effects on Soil Physicochemical Signatures in a Cropping Season Under a Temperate Climate in Central Europe

Soil tillage is mostly done to enhance parameters that improve the soil environment. As governments yield toward encouraging farmers to opt for more sustainable options, different soil management systems ought to be studied to expand the knowledge base for decisions. Location specificity of tillage effects requires more representative studies for geographical regions such as the temperate region in Czechia that was experimented with. This study sought to compare conservation tillage systems to conventional tillage to explore variabilities and similarities and, inform on alternatives. In this study, selected soil physicochemical parameters (dry bulk density, hydraulic conductivity, soil water content, soil organic matter, soil pH, and soil electrical conductivity) are analyzed under four different soil tillage practices, namely: reduced till (RT), strategic till (ST), no-till (NT), and conventional till (CT). Measurements were carried out for four experimental phases: July 2021 (summer), October 2021 (autumn), April 2022 (spring), and August 2022 (summer). This was done to capture spatial variabilities by applied tillage type, and temporal variabilities by experimental phase on the observed soil properties. The cultivation plan on the experimental plots follows a crop rotation of oil seed rape ( Brassica napus subsp. Napus ), winter wheat ( Triticum aestivum ), and peas ( Pisum sativum ). The experiments captured the period from the harvest of oilseed rape in July 2021, to the harvest of the preceding crop, winter wheat in August 2022. The results showed that temporal variability was more pronounced on the CT plot than other plots, while the CT operation affected soil organic matter. Low saturated hydraulic conductivity values observed on the NT also hinted at some compaction caused by the NT. However, coupled with residue inclusion within the top layers, RT and ST showed outcomes in saturated hydraulic conductivity comparable to those of CT. As time from tillage increased, unsaturated hydraulic conductivity (h at -5) under CT improved significantly, hinting at mesopore development from disintegrating macropores. Dry bulk density could not significantly define the variability by applied tillage, while the variability in dry bulk density could also not be directly linked to the hydraulic properties studied. Findings here suggest that natural regenerative processes and soil residue inclusion can influence sustainable soil water dynamics under conservation tillage systems in the long term.