Basic soil chemical properties were assessed in a long-term tillage and crop rotation experiment 15 years after its establishment on a Chernozem in Raasdorf (Austria) with four tillage treatments – mouldboard ploughing, no-till, deep conservation tillage and shallow conservation tillage – and...

The status of macronutrients phosphorus (P), potassium (K), sulphur (S), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) was assessed 15 years after the establishment of a long-term crop rotation and soil tillage trial with mouldboard ploughing (MP), no-till (NT), deep conservation tillage (CTd) and shallow conservation tillage (CTs). The mobile proportions of macronutrients in an Austrian Chernozem soil were determined to a depth of 50 cm with the single reagent extractant acetic acid (AA) and Mehlich 3 (M3), which uses several reagents as extractants. AA revealed less P and K, but more Ca and Mg compared to M3. Both extractants could capture the distribution pattern of the nutrients in the soil profile, but M3 showed higher differences among the soil layers. In the first 5 cm in NT, the P concentration was higher than in MP, CTd and CTs. The concentration of K was higher in NT, CTd and CTs than in MP in the first 10 cm of the soil. Phosphorus and K concentrations did not differ between tillage treatments below these soil layers, and S, Ca and Mg were similar in all soil layers. As none of the analysed elements except for Ca were fertilized and no accumulation of S, Ca and Mg was observed in the upper soil layer, the higher concentrations are attributed to accumulation through crop residues and then less leaching of P and K. Crop rotation did not affect the distribution of the analysed macronutrients in the soil but affected the nutrient uptake by winter wheat mostly due to the yield differences of winter wheat in the two crop rotations.

Cover cropping is mainly used to prevent soil erosion, but the effects of individual cover crops on the subsequent soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] are hardly known. Therefore, two annual field trials with 15 cover crop species and bare fallow as control were conducted in semi‐arid East Austria in 2016 and 2017. Cover crops were sown in July in 3‐ × 10‐m plots in a randomized block design with three replicates and were incorporated in mid‐April before soybean were seeded. Cover crop biomass differed between plant species and year (2016, 626 ± 390; 2017, 84 ± 86.1 g m⁻²). Aboveground cover crop biomass did not affect soybean establishment, but single cover crop species such as ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam. var. westerwoldicum Wittm.), kidney vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria L.), and corn cockle (Agrostemma githago L.) impeded soybean seeding due to high root densities and prevented germination or fostered outbreak of two‐spotted spider mites (Tetranychus urticae Koch). These three cover crops reduced soybean grain yield by 12–84%. Grain yield was a function of grain density m⁻² in a three‐way interaction with year and cover crop treatment, but not by plant or pod density. Protein, oil, and sucrose content of soybean were unaffected by cover crop treatments. Overall, with the exception of ryegrass, kidney vetch, and corn cockle, cover crops can be grown ahead of soybean without any yield loss and can be used for their versatile ecosystem services.