IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v13y2023i3p683-d1097430.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of Tillage Systems on the Physical Properties of Soils in a Semi-Arid Region of Morocco

Author

Listed:
  • Abdelali El Mekkaoui

    (Research Unit on Environment and Conservation of Natural Resources, Regional Center of Agricultural Research of Rabat, National Institute of Agricultural Research, Avenue Ennasr, P.O. Box 415 Rabat Principale, Rabat 10090, Morocco
    Laboratory of Geosciences, Faculty of Sciences, University Ibn Tofaïl, BP 133, Kenitra 14000, Morocco)

  • Rachid Moussadek

    (Research Unit on Environment and Conservation of Natural Resources, Regional Center of Agricultural Research of Rabat, National Institute of Agricultural Research, Avenue Ennasr, P.O. Box 415 Rabat Principale, Rabat 10090, Morocco
    International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Av. Mohamed Belarbi Alaoui P.O. Box 6299-Rabat Institutes, Rabat 10112, Morocco)

  • Rachid Mrabet

    (Research Unit on Environment and Conservation of Natural Resources, Regional Center of Agricultural Research of Rabat, National Institute of Agricultural Research, Avenue Ennasr, P.O. Box 415 Rabat Principale, Rabat 10090, Morocco)

  • Ahmed Douaik

    (Research Unit on Environment and Conservation of Natural Resources, Regional Center of Agricultural Research of Rabat, National Institute of Agricultural Research, Avenue Ennasr, P.O. Box 415 Rabat Principale, Rabat 10090, Morocco)

  • Rachid El Haddadi

    (Laboratory of Geosciences, Faculty of Sciences, University Ibn Tofaïl, BP 133, Kenitra 14000, Morocco)

  • Outmane Bouhlal

    (Team of Anthropogenetics and Biotechnologies, Faculty of Sciences, Chouaib Doukkali University, P.O. Box 20, El-Jadida 24000, Morocco)

  • Mariyam Elomari

    (Laboratory of Geosciences, Faculty of Sciences, University Ibn Tofaïl, BP 133, Kenitra 14000, Morocco)

  • Matike Ganoudi

    (Research Unit on Environment and Conservation of Natural Resources, Regional Center of Agricultural Research of Rabat, National Institute of Agricultural Research, Avenue Ennasr, P.O. Box 415 Rabat Principale, Rabat 10090, Morocco)

  • Abdelmjid Zouahri

    (Research Unit on Environment and Conservation of Natural Resources, Regional Center of Agricultural Research of Rabat, National Institute of Agricultural Research, Avenue Ennasr, P.O. Box 415 Rabat Principale, Rabat 10090, Morocco)

  • Said Chakiri

    (Laboratory of Geosciences, Faculty of Sciences, University Ibn Tofaïl, BP 133, Kenitra 14000, Morocco)

Abstract

Climate change, drought, erosion, water contamination resources, desertification, and loss of soil quality represent major environmental risks worldwide. Facing these risks is the most important issue for sustainable development. Conventional tillage (CT) practices seem to expose the soils of semi-arid regions, which are initially fragile, to degradation that is accentuated by the overuse of the environment. The benefits of conservation agriculture (CA) could mitigate the degradation of natural resources, particularly soils. The adaptation and transfer of the no-till (NT) system with mulch open new perspectives for the development of agriculture in semi-arid regions. The main objective of this study is to assess the impact of conservation agriculture, especially no-till (NT) system, on the physical properties of soil (structural stability (SS), bulk density (BD), gravimetric water content ( θg ), and soil organic matter (SOM)) compared to conventional tillage (CT). The main changes associated with the transition from a CT system to an NT system were evaluated at the experimental site, Merchouch (M13), which is typified by vertisol soil, and at the Ain Sbit (AS7) site, which is characterized by isohumic soil. Under a no-till system, most of the physical properties of the soil were improved in both sites, with a clear difference in the M13 site. Structural stability under NT showed a significant increase in both sites (fast wetting (FW), slow wetting (SW), and wet stirring (WS) improved by 88, 43, and 83% at the M13 site, respectively, against, 16, 23, and 7%, respectively, at the AS7 site). On the other hand, the SOM increased from 2.0 to 2.6% (an improvement of 28%) at AS7 and from 1.2% to 1.9% (an improvement of 52%) at M13. This research demonstrated that conservation agriculture, especially NT, improves the soil physical quality in both medium and long terms, confirming its suitability for the climatic and edaphic constraints of semi-arid areas in Morocco as well as in other parts of the world.

Suggested Citation

  • Abdelali El Mekkaoui & Rachid Moussadek & Rachid Mrabet & Ahmed Douaik & Rachid El Haddadi & Outmane Bouhlal & Mariyam Elomari & Matike Ganoudi & Abdelmjid Zouahri & Said Chakiri, 2023. "Effects of Tillage Systems on the Physical Properties of Soils in a Semi-Arid Region of Morocco," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-14, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:13:y:2023:i:3:p:683-:d:1097430
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/13/3/683/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/13/3/683/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Devkota, Mina & Devkota, Krishna Prasad & Kumar, Shiv, 2022. "Conservation agriculture improves agronomic, economic, and soil fertility indicators for a clay soil in a rainfed Mediterranean climate in Morocco," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hope Mwanake & Bano Mehdi-Schulz & Karsten Schulz & Nzula Kitaka & Luke O. Olang & Jakob Lederer & Mathew Herrnegger, 2023. "Agricultural Practices and Soil and Water Conservation in the Transboundary Region of Kenya and Uganda: Farmers’ Perspectives of Current Soil Erosion," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-32, July.
    2. Wang, Junkai & Sun, Caixia & Zhang, Yulan & Xiao, Junyao & Ma, Yueping & Jiang, Jialin & Jiang, Zhengde & Zhang, Lili, 2024. "Straw return rearranges soil pore structure improving soil moisture memory in a maize field experiment under rainfed conditions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bacar Abdallah Abderemane & Malika Fakiri & Omar Idrissi & Aziz Baidani & Abdelmonim Zeroual & Elisabetta Mazzucotelli & Hakan Özkan & Ilaria Marcotuli & Agata Gadaleta & Chafika Houasli, 2023. "Evaluation of the Productive Potential of a World Collection of Chickpeas ( Cicer arietinum L.) for the Initiation of Breeding Programs for Adaptation to Conservation Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-24, August.
    2. Majda Oueld Lhaj & Rachid Moussadek & Abdelmjid Zouahri & Hatim Sanad & Laila Saafadi & Meriem Mdarhri Alaoui & Latifa Mouhir, 2024. "Sustainable Agriculture Through Agricultural Waste Management: A Comprehensive Review of Composting’s Impact on Soil Health in Moroccan Agricultural Ecosystems," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-20, December.
    3. Emmeline Topp & Mohamed El Azhari & Harun Cicek & Hatem Cheikh M’Hamed & Mohamed Zied Dhraief & Oussama El Gharras & Jordi Puig Roca & Cristina Quintas-Soriano & Laura Rueda Iáñez & Abderrahmane Sakou, 2024. "Perceptions and sociocultural factors underlying adoption of conservation agriculture in the Mediterranean," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 41(2), pages 491-508, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:13:y:2023:i:3:p:683-:d:1097430. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.