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Influence of
no tillage controlled traffic system on soil physical
properties in double cropping area of North China plain
Rabi G. Rasaily, Hongwen Li*, Jin He,
Qingjie Wang and Caiyun Lu
Beijing Key Laboratory of Optimized Design for Modern
Agricultural Equipment, College of Engineering,
China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
lhwen@cau.edu.cn. Tel:
86-10-62737631.
Accepted 19 October, 2011 |
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An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of
tillage on soil properties in the field of maize (Zea
mays L.) and winter wheat
(Triticum aestivum L.)
annual double cropping region in North China Plain.
Measurements were made following six years (2005 to 2010) of
three tillage treatments; no till with controlled traffic (NTCT),
no till random trafficking (NTRT) and conventional tillage
(CT) on a
silt loam according to the USDA
texture classification system
soil in Daxing district, which lies in the suburb of
Beijing. Long term no till with controlled traffic
significantly (P < 0.05) increased
macro-aggregates, infiltration rate, soil moisture, together
with reductions in soil bulk density, soil compaction in
different layers compared with the no till random traffic
and traditional mould board tillage treatment currently used
in this region. Consequently, mean winter wheat and summer
maize yields for the NTCT treatment were improved by 2.8 and
7.1% when compared with the soils under no till random
traffic, while huge improvement was found when it was
compared with conventional ploughing management (4.2 and
12.08% for wheat and maize, respectively). The long-term
experiment demonstrated that no-tillage controlled traffic
with residues retained, offers a potentially significant
improvement over the current farming systems in annual
double cropping areas of North China Plain.
Key words:
No tillage, controlled traffic, soil physical properties,
North China Plain. |
