Effects of different soil conservation tillage approaches on soil nutrients, water use and wheat-maize yield in rainfed dry-land regions of North China

• Conservation tillage improved OM, available P and available K in topsoil in rainfed dry-land regions of northern China.
• Conservation tillage increased yields and WUE of wheat, maize and annual.
• Subsoiling and ridge planting with straw mulching help for enhancing mainly soil nutrient concentration and improving grain yield and WUE in rainfed dry-land regions.

Excessive tillage compromises soil quality by causing severe water shortages that can lead to crop failure. Reports on the effects of conservation tillage on major soil nutrients, water use efficiency and gain yield in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and maize (Zea mays L.) in rainfed regions in the North China Plain are relatively scarce. In this work, four tillage approaches were tested from 2004 to 2012 in a randomized study performed in triplicate: one conventional tillage and three conservation tillage experiments with straw mulching (no tillage during wheat and maize seasons, subsoiling during the maize season but no tillage during the wheat season, and ridge planting during both wheat and maize seasons). Compared with conventional tillage, by 2012, eight years of conservation tillage treatments (no tillage, subsoiling and ridge planting) resulted in a significant increase in available phosphorus in topsoil (0–0.20 m), by 3.8%, 37.8% and 36.9%, respectively. Soil available potassium was also increased following conservation tillage, by 13.6%, 37.5% and 25.0%, and soil organic matter by 0.17%, 5.65% and 4.77%, while soil total nitrogen was altered by −2.33%, 4.21% and 1.74%, respectively. Meanwhile, all three conservation tillage approaches increased water use efficiency, by 19.1–28.4% (average 24.6%), 10.1–23.8% (average 15.9%) and 11.2–20.7% (average 15.7%) in wheat, maize and annual, respectively. Additionally, wheat yield was increased by 7.9–12.0% (average 10.3%), maize yield by 13.4–24.6% (average 17.4%) and rotation annual yield by 12.3–16.9% (average 14.1%). Overall, our findings demonstrate that subsoiling and ridge planting with straw mulching performed better than conventional tillage for enhancing major soil nutrients and improving grain yield and water use efficiency in rainfed regions in the North China Plain.