Abstract:
Soil pore structure plays an important role in the process of soil water and mass transport, and research on soil pore structure under different tillage and organic material return may provide a theoretical basis for optimizing tillage methods. We conducted a field experiment starting in 2018 in a region of northeastern China with Hapli-Udic Cambisol using four treatments: conventional tillage (0 − 15 cm) without or with maize straw return (T15 and T15+S), inversion tillage (0 − 35 cm) with straw return (T35+S), inversion tillage (0 − 35 cm) with cattle manure plus maize straw (T35+SM). Synchrotron radiation CT scanning and digital image analysis technology were used to analyze undisturbed soil columns in 0 − 15 cm and 15 − 35 cm soil layers after maize harvest to quantify soil pore parameters, including pore distribution characteristics, total >31 μm pore number, >31 μm porosity, circularity, Euler number, anisotropy and fractal dimension. The field water capacity was significantly higher in T35+S and T35+SM than that in T15. Compared with T15, the total number of >31 μm pores in 0 − 15 cm soil layer decreased by 15.2%, 54.4% and 60.5%, respectively (
P<0.05), and >31 μm porosity decreased by 26.9%, 39.7% and 55.1%, respectively (
P<0.05). The number of pores of different particle sizes also decreased significantly in T15+S, T35+S and T35+SM than in T15 in 0 − 15 cm soil layer. But the opposite trends were observed in T35+S and T35+SM in the 15 − 35 cm soil layer. Inversion tillage with organic materials incorporation improved topsoil and subsoil pore connectivity and promoted the regularity of pore shape. The anisotropy and Euler number in 0 − 15 cm and 15 − 35 cm soil layer decreased significantly in T35+S and T35+SM than T15+S and T15. The maize yield in T15+S, T35+S and T35+SM was significantly higher than that in T15, with T35+SM being the highest. Total >31 μm pore number, >31 μm porosity and 500 − 1000 μm pore number in the 0 − 15 cm soil layer were the most correlated with yield with 28.0%, 32.2% and 27.1%, respectively, while <500 μm pore number in the 15 − 35 cm soil layer was the most correlated with yield with 29.0% (
P<0.05). Therefore, inversion tillage with organic materials is a more effective way to improve soil fertility, which may enhance agricultural productivity by improving soil pore structure.