Tillage and rotation effects on crop yield and profitability on a Black soil in northeast China

Fan, R., Zhang, X., Liang, A., Shi, X., Chen, X., Bao, K., Yang, X. and Jia, S. 2012. Tillage and rotation effects on crop yield and profitability on a Black soil in northeast China. Can. J. Soil Sci. 92: 463-470. To evaluate the feasibility of no-tillage (NT) practices for Black soils (Mollisols) in northeast China, knowledge of the effects of different tillage and rotation combinations on crop yield and profitability is required. An 8-yr field experiment was conducted to investigate variation of corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) yields and economic returns under NT, moldboard plow (MP) and ridge tillage (RT) combined with continuous corn (C-C-C), corn-soybean (C-S), and corn-corn-soybean (C-C-S) rotations. Under C-S rotation, corn and soybean yields were similar to or slightly higher in NT than in MP and RT; NT corn profitability was 15.9% higher than MP, and NT soybean profitability was even higher, 62.9 and 22.4% higher than MP and RT, respectively. There were no differences in crop yield and profitability between the C-C-S and C-CC rotations. The C-S under NT produced better yield and profitability, particularly in dry years, than the C-C-C and C-C-S rotations. Accordingly, NT combined with C-S would be a good practice to increase crop yields and profitability for the Black soils in northeast China.