Interactive Effects of Tillage, Nitrogen Fertilisation, and Herbicide Management: Impacts on Soil CO2 Emissions and Agroecosystem Dynamics in a Maize Production
Publication Name: Soil Systems
Publication Date: 2026-02-01
Volume: 10
Issue: 2
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
Agriculture must balance productivity with greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity, and resource concerns. This study examined how tillage (conventional, CT; minimum, MT), nitrogen fertilisation (0–221 kg N ha−1), and herbicide rates (0–100%) interactively affected soil CO2 emissions, vegetation vigour, and weed diversity in maize production during 2022. A factorial experiment was conducted on a 1 ha with 40 plots monitored soil temperature, moisture, penetration resistance, normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), weed diversity (Simpson’s Index), and CO2 emissions (closed-chamber method). Minimum tillage increased soil water retention (9.3 ± 6.5% vs. 5.4 ± 4.3%), soil temperature (28.0 ± 1.5), and compaction (0.6 ± 0.3 vs. 0.1 ± 0.0 MPa), while enhancing weed diversity (0.53–0.80 vs. 0.38–0.67). MT produced higher CO2 emissions than CT, especially at 147 kg N ha−1 (49.9 ± 15.7 vs. 29.1 ± 11.6 μmol m−2 s−1), peaking under MT-147 kg N ha−1-H75 (79.4 ± 1.2 μmol m−2 s−1). NDVI responses varied between tillage systems; under CT, vegetation vigour peaked at 75% herbicide application, while under MT vegetation was more responsive to nitrogen and more sensitive to herbicide, highlighting nitrogen × herbicide interaction trade-offs. Overall, MT enhanced water conservation and weed diversity but increased short-term CO2 emissions. This study reports first-year, site-specific results from an ongoing multi-year field experiment; therefore, the findings were interpreted as short-term, season-specific responses. This highlights the need for site-specific, climate-smart management that integrates emissions, soil health, biodiversity, and productivity.
Open Access: Yes
Authors - 14
Viktoria Vona
51061645200
Gyula Pinke
56002295100
István Mihály Kulmány
57225075602
László Bede
57463776600
Sándor Zsebő
58955527900
Dávid Stencinger
58956276800
Bálint Horváth
59387764900
Agampodi Gihan Shyamal Dharmendra De Silva
59387823200
Jabir Ali Abdinoor
60013375500
Gergő Hegedüs
60013824200
Zainulabdeen Khalaf Hashim
60075126800
Bahar Makbule Temeltürk
60423184400
Emőke Ruzsics
60423184500
Áron Licskai
60424120900