A long-term positioning experiment was conducted from 2014 to 2021 to determine the appropriate tillage method for rapidly improving soil quality in reclaimed land. Four tillage methods were arranged before winter wheat sowing: deep tillage (DT), shallow tillage (ST), DT-ST alternate rotation (DST) and no tillage (NT). The results showed that: (1) with increasing reclamation years, ST, DT and DST had lower soil bulk density (SBD) and higher soil total porosity (STP) and soil capillary porosity (SCP) compared to NT. In the early stage of reclamation, ST had the lowest SBD and the highest STP and soil non-capillary porosity (NCP) in 0–20 cm soil layer, DT had the highest SCP and lowest NCP. In the 20–40 cm soil layer, DT has the lowest SBD and highest STP and SCP, followed by DST. In the late stage, SBD of each soil layer was NT > ST > DT > DST, while STP and SCP were NT < ST < DT < DST. (2) Different tillage methods influenced soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation by affecting carbon sequestration rate (CSR). As opposed to NT, DT rapidly increased SOC of 0–40 cm soil layer in the early stages of reclamation, whereas DST facilitates maintaining higher SOC in the later stages. As compared to DT and DST, ST contributed more to SOC accumulation in surface soil, but less to SOC accumulation in deep soil. (3) Different tillage methods had various influences on SOC stratification ratio (SR). During the initial reclamation stage, NT had the lowest SR. Nevertheless, NT and ST maintained their high SR in the subsequent stage, whereas the SR of DT and DST experienced a notable decline due to the increase in SOC in deep soil. (4) It was observed that ST, DT and DST had higher grain yields compared with NT. The correlation analysis showed that DT improved soil properties by promoting SOC accumulation, increasing SCP and reducing NCP, thus increasing grain yield in the early stage of reclamation, while in the later stage of reclamation, DST can maintain better soil quality by reducing SBD and maintaining higher STP, SCP and SOC, and balanced the reasonable distribution of soil nutrients between the upper and lower soil layers by reducing SR of SOC, which helps the crop to maintain higher grain yields over time.
Wang et al. (2026) studied this question.