Can conservation tillage practices improve soil characteristics in cornfields during a short‐term period?

Abstract The use of conventional tillage practices in crop production systems has led to a significant soil loss in many regions of Iran. Conservation tillage practices can help restore the degraded soils. A 2‐year experiment was conducted in an irrigated corn ( Zea mays L.) cropping system during the 2014–2016 growing seasons on a silty clay soil with a Mediterranean climatic condition. The experiment was carried out as a split plot based on a randomized complete block design with three replications. The main factor was the tillage system in three levels (conventional tillage, reduced tillage, and no tillage), and the sub‐factor was the corn hybrid including KSC704, AS71, BC678, and Simon. Results showed that the surface layer of the soil (0‐ to 20‐cm depth) was more affected by tillage systems, so that conservation tillage systems (reduced and no tillage) improved physical (including soil moisture contents at field capacity and permanent wilting points, the amount of water‐dispersible clay, and mean weight diameter of the soil aggregates), chemical (including the amount of soil organic carbon, cation exchange capacity, total nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and iron), and biological (including microbial biomass carbon, basal and substrate‐induced respiration, metabolic quotient, and the activity of soil extracellular enzymes) properties of the soil. For example, soil organic carbon under no and reduced tillage systems was higher by 28% and 22%, respectively, compared to conventional tillage. In general, the results revealed that tillage practices even in a relatively short‐term period can notably affect soil characteristics.