Declines in soil carbon storage under no tillage can be alleviated in the long run

• Published in: Geoderma Vol. 425; p. 116028
• Main Authors: Cai, Andong, Han, Tianfu, Ren, Tianjing, Sanderman, Jonathan, Rui, Yichao, Wang, Bin, Smith, Pete, Xu, Minggang, Li, Yu'e
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.11.2022
• Subjects: carbon dioxide; carbon sequestration; climate change; Conventional tillage; meta-analysis; No-tillage; Soil carbon; soil organic carbon; Soil profile; soil profiles; subsurface soil layers; Time series; No-tillage; Soil profile; Conventional tillage; Time series; Soil carbon
• ISSN: 0016-7061; 1872-6259
• DOI: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2022.116028

•In the early years of adoption, no-tillage (NT) increased surface SOC and reduced it in deeper layers.•NT-driven SOC losses diminished over time and the net change was approaching zero at 14 years.•Annual precipitation and initial SOC were the most influential variables on the effect of NT on SOC. Improved management of agricultural soils plays a critical role in mitigating climate change. We studied the temporal effects of the adoption of no-tillage (NT) management, often touted as an important carbon sequestration strategy, on soil organic carbon (SOC) storage in surface and subsurface soil layers by performing a meta-analysis of 1061 pairs of published experimental data comparing NT and conventional tillage (CT). In the early years of adoption, NT increased surface (0–10 cm) SOC storage compared to CT but reduced it in deeper layers leading to a decrease of SOC in the entire soil profile. These NT-driven SOC losses diminished over time and the net change was approaching zero at 14 years. Our findings demonstrate that NT is not a simple guaranteed solution for drawing down atmospheric CO2 and regenerating the lost SOC in cropping soils globally and highlight the importance of long-term NT for the recovery of initial SOC losses.