Is least limiting water range a useful indicator of the impact of tillage management on maize yield?

peer reviewedTillage management is a key factor driving changes in soil physical properties (SPP) and crop yield around the world. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the relationships between SPP and crop yield. The dynamic of SPP during the growth period is also seldom taken into account to understand suitable soil physical environment for crop growth. Moreover, the crop growth process cannot be explained by an individual SPP substantially. The least limiting water range (LLWR), which integrates soil penetration resistance, air porosity, and soil water potential, may provide a better understanding of soil-crop relationship, especially in regions with limited precipitation. Our objective was to explain how dynamic SPP affected grain yield during the growth period. A long-term field experiment was established in 2003, with continuous spring maize, on sandy loam soil. Seasonal changes of SPP (i.e. bulk density, penetration resistance, porosity, mean weight diameter, LLWR, and plant available water) were determined under reduced tillage with residue incorporated (RT-RI), conventional tillage with residue removal (CT), and no-tillage with residue mulch (NT-RM). The results showed that these SPP were affected by both tillage management and growth stage. Bulk density, porosity, S index, and mean weight diameter were not effective indicators to explain the changes of grain yield under the three tillage managements. The range of LLWR was narrower than plant available water (PAW) during the growth period and more sensitive to assess soil water availability under RT-RI, CT, and NT-RM. NT-RM significantly increased the lower limit of LLWR, which made it more difficult for root water uptake. Hence, RT-RI presented higher corn yield compared to NT-RM, even if the water content remained lower. Redundancy analysis further indicated that maize yield was mainly driven by lower limit of LLWR and penetration resistance. Overall, LLWR was an aggregative indicator including not only soil penetration resistance but also air porosity and soil water potential, which can better explain the change of grain yield under the long-term tillage management in semi-arid region