Conservation agriculture (CA), which could contribute to sustainable agriculture, maintains or improves soil nitrogen fertility by eliminating tillage (no-tillage). Quantitative assessment of soil constituents is enhanced by stable isotope techniques such as ¹⁵N, which are used to better understand nitrogen dynamics. This study was therefore carried out to assess the impact of tillage type and fertilizer application on soil and plant nitrogen fractionation. The trial consisted of two tillage types: no-tillage (NT) and conventional tillage (CT). Three nitrogen doses (82, 115, and 149 kg ha⁻¹) were applied. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with three replications. The Louiza variety of durum wheat was used in this study. Soil nitrogen sequestration was assessed using the stable nitrogen isotope (¹⁵N) method. The statistical analysis (ANOVA) showed that, overall, there was no significant difference between tillage types and nitrogen doses for grain and straw yields and grain total nitrogen. In contrast, the effect of both factors and their interaction were significant for straw total nitrogen. There was no difference between tillage types for grain nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), even though NT was superior to CT by 3.5%, but nitrogen doses had a significant effect and a significant interaction with tillage type. When comparing nitrogen doses for each tillage type separately, results showed that the average NUE for grain was 20.5, 8.4, and 16.5%, respectively, for the three nitrogen doses for CT compared with 26.8, 19.0, and 30.6% for NT, indicating clearly the better performance of NT compared to CT. Regarding straw, the NUE is 3.2, 3.5, and 5.4% for CT compared with 3.4, 4.9, and 9.2% for NT. NUE in grain and straw under no-tillage was higher than under conventional tillage in all three nitrogen doses. These results show that soil conservation techniques such as no-tillage and the integrated application of nitrogen fertilizer can be good strategies for reducing soil nitrogen losses.

The aim of this work is to assess the impact of no-till based cropping system on soil erosion using two indicators. The experiment plot was under no-tillage (NT) for four years, adjacent to a plot under conventional tillage (CT) with same other management practices. The two used indicators are Le...

For better soil management in terms of salinization to ensure sustainable agriculture, a soil salinity mapping and prediction study based on the measurement of apparent electrical conductivity using an electromagnetic instrument (EM38) combined with geostatistical interpolation (kriging) is proposed herein for the soil of the semi-arid region of Beni Amir (2060 ha), Tadla, Morocco. This solution is efficient and quick to use, with the ability to provide reliable information for assessing the spatial distribution of soil salinity. The results of measurements through a spatial analysis offered us the possibility of identifying several classes of salinity that can be used for the sustainable management of land and water.

This study analyzes map irrigation water quality in the region of Skhirat, Morocco. This study involves the evaluation of the physico-chemical quality of the irrigation water using Piper and ULSS diagrams and spatial mapping using GIS. The results showed significant salinization power, and demonstrated that the salinity and alkalinity classes of irrigation water dominating in the region are C3-S1 (i.e., average to poor quality; ‘use with caution’), C4-S1 (i.e., poor quality; ‘exclude sensitive plants and heavy soils’), and C4-S2 (i.e., poor quality; ‘to be used with great care, only in light soils’). The evaluation of the Piper diagram determines two hydrochemical facies. The bathymetric map indicates a shallow level downstream and South-West. The salinity map shows high salinity downstream and upstream. In conclusion, a very alarming degradation of water in terms of salinity is noted in the region.