Interaction between soil chemical, physical and biological properties in sustainable faba bean cultivation

Abstract

Reduced soil tillage technologies become the most widespread worldwide, however the impact of tillage intensity on interaction between soil properties in faba bean cultivation in cold climate conditions is not established so much. For this reason, in 2016-2018, the investigations on the basis of a long-term stationary field experiment (since 1988) was carried out at the Experimental Station of the Aleksandras Stulginskis University (formally Vytautas Magnus University, 54°52' N, 23°49' E). Five different tillage systems were tested: 1) conventional (22–25 cm) ploughing with a mouldboard plough (control), 2) shallow (12–15 cm) ploughing with a mouldboard plough, 3) deep (22–25 cm) chiselling, 4) shallow (10–12 cm) disking and 5) no-tillage. Investigations showed strong relations between disposition of pre-crop residues, soil chemical composition, soil structural stability and penetration resistance, soil enzymatic activity and earthworm’s biomass. Cultivation of faba bean in reduced tillage conditions caused annual increase of nitrogen, potassium and magnesium proportion in the soil.