Tillage and drainage impact on soil quality: I. Aggregate stability, carbon and nitrogen pools

Effects of two tillage treatments, tillage (T) with chisel plough and no-till (NT), were studied under un-drained and drained soil conditions. Soil physical properties measured were bulk density (ρb), total porosity (ƒt), water stable aggregates (WSA), geometric mean diameter (GMD), mean weight diameter (MWD), organic carbon (OC) and total N concentrations in different aggregate size fractions, and total OC and N pools. The experiment was established in 1994 on a poorly drained Crosby silt loam soil (fine mixed, mesic, Aeric Ochraqualf) near Columbus, Ohio. In 2007, soil samples were collected (0–10, 10–20, and 20–30 cm) from all treatments and separated into six aggregate size classes for assessing proportions of macro (5–8, 2–5, 1–2, 0.5–1, 0.25–0.5) and micro (<0.25 mm) aggregates by wet sieving. Tillage treatments significantly (P ≤ 0.05) influenced WSA, MWD, and GMD. Higher total WSA (78.53 vs. 58.27%), GMD (0.99 vs. 0.68 mm), and MWD (2.23 vs. 0.99 mm) were observed for 0–10 cm depth for NT than T treatments. Relative proportion of macro-aggregates (>0.25-mm) was also more in NT than T treatment for un-drained plots. Conversely, micro-aggregates (<0.25-mm) were more in T plots for both drained and un-drained treatments. The WSA, MWD and GMD decreased with increase in soil depth. The OC concentration was significantly higher (P ≤ 0.05) in NT for un-drained (P ≤ 0.01) treatment for all soil depths. Within macro-aggregates, the maximum OC concentrations of 1.91 and 1.75 g kg−1 in 1–2 mm size fraction were observed in NT for un-drained and drained treatments, respectively. Tillage treatments significantly (P < 0.01) affected bulk density (ρb), and total porosity (ft) for all soil depths, whereas tillage × drainage interaction was significant (P < 0.01) for 10–20 and 20–30 cm depths. Soil ρb was negatively correlated (r = −0.47; n = 12) with OC concentration. Tillage treatments significantly affected (P ≤ 0.05) OC pools at 10–20 cm depth; whereas drainage, and tillage × drainage significantly (P ≤ 0.05) influenced OC pools for 0–10 cm soil layer. The OC pool in 0–10 cm layer was 31.8 Mg ha−1 for NT compared with 25.9 Mg kg−1 for T for un-drained treatment. In comparison, the OC pool was 23.1 Mg ha−1 for NT compared with 25.2 Mg ha−1 for T for the drained plots. In general, the OC pool was higher in NT system, coupled with un-drained treatment than in drained T plots. The data indicate the importance of NT in improving the OC pool.