Moussadek Rachid, PhD ICARDA/INRA

GLOBAL SYMPOSIUM ON SOIL BIODIVERSITY | 19-22 April 2021 Soil Organic Carbon and Enzymatic Activity under Conservation Agriculture in Moroccan Dry land Moussadek R.,1,2, Laghrour M. 2,3 Thami A.I.2, Elouadihi N. 4 1International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, , Moroccoe-mail: 2 National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA), Morocco 3 Mohammed V University, Faculty of Science of Rabat, Morocco, 4 IbnTofail University, Faculty of Science, Kenitra, Morocco

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Legumes Others Cash Fodder 4% 1% crops 5% 3%

Fruit trees 15% Cereals 52% Fallow 20%

Source: MAPMEFDR

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Fahs-AnjraM'Diq-

Tanger-Assilah Tétouan

Larache Chefchaouen Driouch Nador Ouezzane Berkane Kénitra Oujda-Angad Sidi Kacem

Sidi Slimane Guercif Taourirt Meknès Jerada RabatSalé Fès

Skhirate- Témara Khémisset CasablancaMohammadia MédiounaBenslimane

El Jadida Khénifra Figuig

Fquih Ben Salah Béni Mellal Safi Rehamna El Kelâa des Sraghna Youssoufia Azilal

Marrakech

Errachidia Chichaoua Al Haouz Tinghir

Ouarzazate

Agadir-Ida -Ou-Tanane Zagora Taroudannt

Inezgane- Ait Melloul Tata Chtouka-

[email protected] Will soil remain productive?

• Soil organic carbon pool of most soils has been depleted by soil erosion and widespread use of subsistence and intensive farming systems.

• Soil Organic Carbon ranges between 0.5 and 1 percent and rarely exceeds 2.0 percent.

[email protected] Does Conservation Agri. enhance the SOC quantity and quality to shift the negative effect of soil degradation and climatic change?

6 [email protected] Long term NT trial vs CT • The experiment was established since autumn 2004. • the trial consists of two tillage systems: no-tillage system (NT) and conventional tillage system (CT), performed on two adjacent plots of 200 m long and 100 m wide each. • The CT plots were ploughed, according to farmers’ practice in the region, • The soil was not disturbed in the plots under NT which were maintained covered with flat and stubble residues at 30% levels at least. • Wheat- food legume rotation was adopted and the crop management was similar in CT and NT treatments. Méthodologie

Haplic Vertisol

Rainfall & Temperature (10 Y average)

25 °C 120 mm

20 °C 100 mm 80 mm 15 °C 60 mm Mediterranean Climate 10 °C 40 mm 5 °C 20 mm 0 °C 0 mm

P-Rabat (10 ans) T-Rabat (10 ans) 20/04/2021 Méthodologie Methods Soil organic Carbon (SOC) Walkley et Black Soil organic Carbon Stock Bulk Density x SOC x Depth

Humic acides Method IHSS

Soil enzymatic properties Three soil enzymatic activities involved in soil Carbon, Nitrogen and Phosphor were analyzed using leucine-amminopeptidase, alkaline phosphatase and arylsulfatase (Tabatabai, 1982).. Double strand DNA (ds DNA) was extracted Results SOC stock

Depth (cm) NT CT 5.39a 4.14b 0–5 5.83a 4.62b 5–10 11.32a 10.77b 10–20 9.34a 9.26a 20–30 31.89a 28.79b Total (0–30 cm) [email protected] Humic Substances

SOC under NT was composed of significantly higher amounts of humic acids (HA) and humin (HU) and lower amounts of fulvic acids (FA) compared to CT in Vertisol.

Additional HA serve to bond particles together and reduce soil erosion .In fact, in the studied Vertisol, positive effects of NT on aggregate stability and soil water content have been reported in a previous study by Moussadek et al. (2011,2014). Double strand DNA

dsDNA was significantly higher (35 unite) 1 - under NT soil compared to CT (12 unite)

(3 X).

1 dry soil 1 soil dry h

-

MUF g

- nanomoles nanomoles of 4

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Alkaline phosphatase was significantly

higher (133 unite) under NT soil 1

- compared to CT (93 unite).

1 dry soil 1 soil dry h

-

MUF g

- nanomoles nanomoles of 4

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AryS was significantly higher under NT soil

1 compared to CT

-

1 dry soil 1 soil dry h

-

MUF g

- nanomoles nanomoles of 4

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Leucin-Amminopeptidase

1

-

1 dry soil 1 soil dry h

-

MUF g

- nanomoles nanomoles of 4

[email protected] Conclusion • This study attests of the effectiveness of the conservation agriculture as Sustainable Soil Management for enhancing soil organic carbon quantity and quality. • This study showed also a positive effect of adopting NT on soil biological enzymatic activities in Semi-arid Mediterranean zone • More research is needed to monitor the effect of crop management on soil biological properties in semi-arid zones

Acknowledgements This study was held within the support of MGCP -INRA-ICARDA project. The team is thankful for the technical and financial support. Dr. Rachid Moussadek [email protected]

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