Low-disturbance farming regenerates healthy critical zone towards sustainable agriculture

Intensive conventional farming has degraded soil quality in farmlands and other ecosystems globally. Although low-disturbance practices have been widely adapted to restore soil health and save energy, the underlying mechanisms associated with farm sustainability are still unclear. Here, we compared soil microbiome, physiochemical parameters along 3-m deep soil profiles, and crop yield in Northeast China subjected to ten years of farming practices at 3 levels of disturbance, including conventional tillage (CT), no-tillage without stover mulching (NTNS), and no-tillage with stover mulching (NTSM). We found that low-disturbance practices (NTNS and NTSM) promoted the ability of the soil to retain water and nitrogen, regenerated whole-soil microbial diversity and function, and significantly improved corn yield at the drought year. This study implies that the NTSM practice could cut fertilizer-N input by 281.6 kg/ha to corn farmland in, at least, Northeast China and may potentially reduce China’s total greenhouse gas emissions by 1.6% and save about 6.7% households energy while without reducing corn production.