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Soil biochemical response after 23 years of direct drilling under a dryland agriculture system in southwest Spain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2008

S. MELERO ,
K. VANDERLINDEN ,
J. CARLOS RUIZ  and
E. MADEJÓN
S. MELERO*
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigación y Formación Agroalimentaria y Pesquera (IFAPA), Centro ‘Las Torres-Tomejil’, Sevilla, Spain
K. VANDERLINDEN
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigación y Formación Agroalimentaria y Pesquera (IFAPA), Centro ‘Las Torres-Tomejil’, Sevilla, Spain
J. CARLOS RUIZ
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigación y Formación Agroalimentaria y Pesquera (IFAPA), Centro ‘Las Torres-Tomejil’, Sevilla, Spain
E. MADEJÓN
Affiliation:
Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (IRNAS-CSIC), Avenida Reina Mercedes 10, PO Box 1052, 41080 Sevilla, Spain
*
*To whom all correspondence should be addressed. Email: sebastiana.melero.ext@juntadeandalucia.es
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Summary

Soil enzyme activities are widely utilized as rapid and sensitive indicators in discriminating among soil management effects. The objective of the present study was to compare the influence of conservation tillage, i.e. direct drilling (DD) (residue cover is left on the soil surface) v. conventional tillage (CT), on soil chemical and biochemical properties in a crop rotation (cereals–sunflower–legumes) under dryland production in a semi-arid Mediterranean Vertisol after 23 years. A randomized experimental design was established. Soil biological status was evaluated by measuring of enzymatic activities (dehydrogenase, β-glucosidase, alkaline phosphatase and protease). Total organic carbon (TOC) contents were greater in soils managed by DD than those found by CT. Except for protease activity, enzymatic activity values were approximately 2-fold higher in soils under DD than in soils under CT. The β-glucosidase, alkaline phosphatase and dehydrogenase values showed a high correlation (from r=0·481 to r=0·886, P⩽0·01) with TOC contents and they were correlated with each other (from r=0·664 to r=0·923, P⩽0·01). The coefficient of variation of biochemical properties was higher than those of chemical properties in both treatments. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that two principal components explained 58% and 20% of the total variability. The first principal component was influenced mostly by β-glucosidase, dehydrogenase and TOC, whereas the second was influenced by pH. The first component effectively differentiated managed soil under both agriculture practices. In general, long-term soil conservation management by DD in a dryland farming system improved the quality of this Vertisol by enhancing its organic matter content and biochemical activity.

Type
Crops and Soils
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 147 , Issue 1 , February 2009 , pp. 9 - 15
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Cambridge University Press

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