Soil physical and chemical quality as influenced by soil tillage managements under double cropping rice system of southern China

This study aimed to determine short-term effects of soil tillage and crop residues on soil quality and grain yield of rice in a double-cropping paddy field of southern China. The experiment included four soil tillage treatments: conventional tillage with crop residues incorporation (CT), rotary tillage with crop residues incorporation (RT), no-tillage with crop residues retention (NT), and rotary tillage with crop residues removed as control (RTO). The results showed that the soil bulk density with RTO treatment were higher than with CT and RT treatments. And the soil EC, aggregate mean weight diameter in both wet and dry sieving with NT and RT treatments were higher than that of RTO treatment. CT and RT treatments had the best soil quality and produced the highest rice yield of average 2016–2018. Removing the crop residues gave the lowest yield and less favourable soil physical and chemical characteristics compared to the application of crop residues treatments. It was found that conventional tillage and rotary tillage with crop residues retention is a feasible management technology for farmers producing rice in the double-cropping paddy field of southern China, resulting in a better soil quality and higher yield than with the conventional farmer practice.