Innovative Tillage Practices to Establish Productive and Sustainable Forage Production Systems in Degraded Alfalfa Pastures in Semiarid Regions
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21647519 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Bin Wang (0000-0002-8591-8528, College of Forestry and Prataculture Ningxia University Yinchuan China), Jianqiang Deng (College of Forestry and Prataculture Ningxia University Yinchuan China, corresponding author), Tengfei Wang (0000-0002-1585-4143, College of Forestry and Prataculture Ningxia University Yinchuan China), Haiying Hu (0000-0002-2745-7153, College of Forestry and Prataculture Ningxia University Yinchuan China), Samaila Usman (0000-0002-7947-676X, State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro‐Ecosystems Lanzhou University Lanzhou China), Jian Lan (0000-0003-4994-4814, College of Forestry and Prataculture Ningxia University Yinchuan China, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Publication date | 2024-10-21 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Land Degradation and Development (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1085-3278 • E-ISSN: 1099-145X |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/ldr.5332 |
| OpenAlex | W4403590614 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 40 |
Tillage management practices play a critical role in maintaining sustainable forage production systems in degraded alfalfa ( Medicago sativa L.) pastures. However, climate change leads to the precipitation exhibits greater variability, the impacts of tillage practices on alfalfa productivity and forage quality as well as the relationships between water consumption and soil properties remain poorly understood. The field trial conducted from 2018 to 2020 aimed to investigate the impacts of different tillage treatments (i.e., no tillage [CK], strip subsoiling tillage [ST], strip rotary tillage [RT], and strip rotary tillage after strip subsoiling [SRT]) on soil properties, water use efficiency (WUE), and forage productivity. Compared with CK, tillage practices significantly increased forage biomass and crude protein yield (CPY), particularly in the case of the SRT treatment, in which the increase was 20.8% and 25.3% higher, respectively ( p −1 ), showing a 17.0% increase compared with that in the CK treatment. The relationship of soil structure and crop water consumption became evident when tillage practices were applied in the degraded alfalfa pasture. The soil bulk density under the ST, RT, and SRT treatments decreased by 6.9%, 5.4%, and 8.6%, whereas the soil porosity increased by 8.6%, 6.7%, and 10.7% in the 0–60 cm soil layer, respectively ( p −1 mm −1 ) and precipitation use efficiency of dry matter (15.8 kg ha −1 mm −1 ). In addition, total nitrogen in the ST, RT, and SRT treatments increased significantly by 21.4%, 11.1%, and 27.0%, respectively, and soil organic carbon in the ST, RT, and SRT treatments also increased significantly by 5.5%, 3.3%, and 10.4%, respectively, compared with those in the CK treatment ( p
Agriculture · Agroforestry · Agronomy · Biology · Crop production · Economics · Forage · Geography · Sustainable production · Tillage · Agricultural Productivity and Crop Improvement · Bioenergy crop production and management · Crop Yield and Soil Fertility · Environmental Science
| Highly cited | No |
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