Significant effects on soil microbial communities were not detected after strategic tillage following 44 years of conventional or no-tillage management

Strategic tillage (ST) has been proposed to help control weeds that germinate during fallow-periods in continuous no till (NT) farming systems, but its effects on soil biological properties are unclear. ST is a type of reduced tillage (RT) that places particular emphasis during the decision-making process on agro-climatic conditions, and the frequency, timing and implements used to till. Here, we assessed the impacts of one-time ST following 44 years of continuous NT or conventional tillage (CT) on soil microbial diversity, biomass, enzymatic activity and substrate utilisation potential at two depths. The composition of bacterial and archaeal communities differed significantly between contrasting land management (CT vs NT); albeit albeit no differences were observed after ST. Meanwhile, fungal community composition was not affected by contrasting land management or ST. Biological indicators for catabolic diversity, microbial biomass and enzymatic activity showed no significant changes after ST operation. Our results suggest that, in the short-term (13 months), ST exerts only minor impacts on a range of biological properties, as well as, bacterial, archaeal and fungal diversity. Hence, ST has the potential to be used as a strategy to control weeds and diseases without compromising soil health.