Table 2.
Influence of cover crops and tillage management on the soil biochemical properties before planting maize.
| Plots | pH | NO3-N | Available P | ACP activity | ALP activity | β-glucosidase activity | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (H2O) | (mg/kg) | (mg P/kg) | (mU/g) | (mU/g) | (mU/g) | |||||
| RT + Fallowa | 5.4 ± 0.03b | 30.5 ± 2.0 | 67.7 ± 22.4 | 13.9 ± 0.8 | 29.5 ± 0.5 | 3.7 ± 0.1 | cd | |||
| RT + Brown mustard | 5.3 ± 0.09 | 51.0 ± 6.5 | 53.3 ± 10.1 | 20.7 ± 0.6 | 32.5 ± 1.9 | 8.2 ± 0.7 | bc | |||
| RT + Hairy vetch | 5.2 ± 0.06 | 67.8 ± 11.3 | 52.0 ± 19.5 | 23.7 ± 2.4 | 36.0 ± 1.2 | 11.3 ± 1.1 | b | |||
| NT + Fallow | 5.4 ± 0.09 | 35.4 ± 3.3 | 15.4 ± 3.1 | 14.2 ± 0.4 | 28.4 ± 1.4 | 3.2 ± 0.1 | c | |||
| NT + Brown mustard | 5.2 ± 0.03 | 43.1 ± 12.3 | 20.3 ± 4.3 | 19.1 ± 1.3 | 37.1 ± 1.7 | 7.4 ± 1.0 | bc | |||
| NT + Hairy vetch | 5.4 ± 0.11 | 64.0 ± 1.9 | 36.1 ± 4.5 | 19.4 ± 1.2 | 38.0 ± 1.9 | 18.9 ± 3.5 | a | |||
| Rotary tillage | 5.3 ± 0.04 | 59.8 ± 13.5 | 57.7 ± 9.4 | 19.4 ± 1.6 | 32.7 ± 1.2 | 7.7 ± 1.2 | ||||
| No tillage | 5.3 ± 0.05 | 47.5 ± 5.7 | 24.0 ± 3.7 | 17.6 ± 1.0 | 34.5 ± 1.7 | 9.8 ± 2.6 | ||||
| Fallow | 5.4 ± 0.05 | 33.0 ± 2.1 | Bc | 41.6 ± 15.5 | 14.1 ± 0.4 | B | 29.0 ± 0.7 | B | 3.4 ± 0.1 | B |
| Brown mustard | 5.3 ± 0.04 | 47.1 ± 6.5 | B | 36.8 ± 8.9 | 19.9 ± 0.7 | A | 34.8 ± 1.6 | A | 7.8 ± 0.6 | B |
| Hairy vetch | 5.3 ± 0.08 | 65.0 ± 2.7 | A | 44.1 ± 9.6 | 21.5 ± 1.6 | A | 37.0 ± 1.1 | A | 15.1 ± 2.4 | A |
| Two-way ANOVAe | ||||||||||
| Tillage (A) | n.s. | n.s. | P < 0.01 | n.s. | n.s. | n.s. | ||||
| Cover cropping (B) | n.s. | P < 0.01 | n.s. | P < 0.001 | P < 0.001 | P < 0.001 | ||||
| A × B | n.s. | n.s. | n.s. | n.s. | n.s. | P < 0.05 | ||||
aRT: rotary tillage. NT: no tillage.
bMeans ± standard errors.
cDifferent capital letters within the same column for NO3-N content, activities of acid, alkali phosphatase and β-glucosidase among mean values of three cover crop types indicate significant differences at the 5% level by the Tukey test.
dDifferent lower letters within the same column for β-glucosidase activity among each treatment indicate significant differences at the 5% level by the Tukey test.
eA significant difference at the 5%, 1% and 0.1% levels by cover cropping and tillage practices were explained by two-way analysis of variance. All analyses were run in the software environment RStudio (Version 1.2.1335 – © 2009–2019 RStudio, Inc.) (http://www.rstudio.com).