Effects of conservation tillage on soil enzyme activities of global cultivated land: A meta-analysis

• Published in: Journal of environmental management Vol. 345; p. 118904
• Main Authors: Wen, Linsheng, Peng, Yun, Zhou, Yunrui, Cai, Guo, Lin, Yuying, Li, Baoyin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.11.2023
• Subjects: Agricultural management; Conservation tillage; Meta-analysis; Soil enzyme; Straw returning; Tillage measure; Agricultural management; Straw returning; Conservation tillage; Tillage measure; Soil enzyme; Meta-analysis
• ISSN: 0301-4797; 1095-8630
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118904

The negative impacts of conventional agriculture and the imperative to adopt conservation tillage garnered significant attention. However, the effects of conservation tillage on soil enzyme activities still lack comprehensive cognition. Here, we collected 14,308 pairwise observations from 369 publications worldwide to systematically evaluate the effects of different conservation tillage practices (reduced tillage (T), reduced tillage with straw return (TS), reduced tillage with straw mulch return (TSO), no-tillage (NT), no-tillage with straw return (NTS), and no-tillage with straw mulch return (NTSO)) on the activities of 35 enzymes in soil. The results showed that: (1) the effect of conservation tillage on soil enzyme activity varied by enzyme type, except for peroxidase (−12.34%), which showed an overall significant positive effect (10.28–89.76%); (2) the NTS and TS demonstrated strong potential to improve soil enzyme activities by increasing a wide variety of soil enzyme activities (12–15) and efficacy (9.76–75.56%) than other conservation tillage (8.60–68.68%); (3) in addition, the effect of conservation tillage on soil enzyme activity was regulated by soil depth, crop type, years of conservation tillage, climate (mean annual precipitation and temperature), and soil physicochemical properties (e.g., pH, bulk density, electrical conductivity, organic matter, ammonium nitrogen, total phosphorus, available phosphorus, total potassium, available potassium, etc.). Overall, our quantitative analysis clearly suggests that conservation tillage is an effective measure for improving soil enzyme activity on global croplands, where combination of reduced tillage or no-till with straw return are considered to have great potential and promise. The results contribute to better comprehend the effects of conservation tillage on soil activity and provide a valuable insight for agricultural management. •Conservation tillage could improve most soil enzyme activity but not all.•Reduced tillage or no-tillage combined with straw return is more effective in increasing soil enzyme activity.•Temperature and edaphic factors modulate the response of soil enzymes to conservation tillage.•Conservation tillage is an effective measure to improve soil activity on global cropland.