{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,28]],"date-time":"2026-09-28T15:33:07Z","timestamp":1790609587019,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":78,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"23","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,25]],"date-time":"2025-11-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1764028800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Shanxi Province","award":["2025CYJSTX18"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2025CYJSTX18"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100013805","name":"Shanxi Agricultural University","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["2021BQ128"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2021BQ128"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100013805","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"name":"Department of Finance of Shanxi Province","award":["SXBYKY2022081"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SXBYKY2022081"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100013318","name":"Department of Science and Technology of Shanxi Province","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["202203021221165"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["202203021221165"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100013318","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Plants"],"abstract":"<jats:p>To address soil degradation from long-term monoculture, rotary tillage, and excessive chemical fertilization in semi-arid regions of China, we conducted a three-year field experiment. We assessed the synergy of integrated management practices combined with both continuous and rotational tillage methods (including ploughing, rotary, moldboard ploughing) at varying tillage depths (10\u201315, 15\u201325, 25\u201335 cm) with different fertilization regimes (chemical vs. organic\u2013inorganic). Among all treatments, the rotational tillage practice that integrates moldboard ploughing at 25\u201335 cm depth with organic\u2013inorganic fertilization [1200 kg ha\u22121 mature compost + 375 kg ha\u22121 compound fertilizer (N:P2O5:K2O = 15:15:15)] significantly reduces bulk density by 11.8% and increases total porosity by 17.9% in the 15\u201325 cm soil layer. This practice optimizes nutrient stratification, elevating available nitrogen and potassium in the shallow layer (10\u201315 cm) to 126.13 and 372.45 mg kg\u22121, respectively, while boosting available phosphorus in the subsoil (25\u201335 cm) by 247.8%. Furthermore, it significantly enhances soil microbial activity, increasing populations of bacteria, actinomycetes, and fungi by 3.42 \u00d7 105, 0.65 \u00d7 105, and 2.40 \u00d7 103 CFU g\u22121, respectively, alongside a 49.4% rise in soil respiration. These synergistic improvements collectively promote stable maize yields (increasing by 1731.4 kg ha\u22121) and high economic returns (net income increasing by 3301.6 CNY ha\u22121). These findings support the promotion of integrated tillage\u2013fertilization strategies to enhance maize productivity and soil ecological function in semi-arid regions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/plants14233594","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,25]],"date-time":"2025-11-25T10:46:18Z","timestamp":1764067578000},"page":"3594","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Integrated Moldboard Ploughing and Organic\u2013Inorganic Fertilization Enhances Maize Yield and Soil Fertility in a Semi-Arid Region of North China"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Min","family":"Gao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanxi Academy of Organic Dryland Agriculture, Shanxi Agriculture University, Taiyuan 030031, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Sustainable Dryland Agriculture (Co-Construction by Ministry and Province), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Taiyuan 030031, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qingmiao","family":"Zhen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanxi Academy of Organic Dryland Agriculture, Shanxi Agriculture University, Taiyuan 030031, China"},{"name":"College of Agronomy, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong 030801, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yafeng","family":"Duan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanxi Academy of Organic Dryland Agriculture, Shanxi Agriculture University, Taiyuan 030031, China"},{"name":"College of Resources and Environment, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong 030801, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chao","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanxi Academy of Organic Dryland Agriculture, Shanxi Agriculture University, Taiyuan 030031, China"},{"name":"College of Resources and Environment, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong 030801, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jing","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanxi Academy of Organic Dryland Agriculture, Shanxi Agriculture University, Taiyuan 030031, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Sustainable Dryland Agriculture (Co-Construction by Ministry and Province), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Taiyuan 030031, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yongping","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanxi Academy of Organic Dryland Agriculture, Shanxi Agriculture University, Taiyuan 030031, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Sustainable Dryland Agriculture (Co-Construction by Ministry and Province), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Taiyuan 030031, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaochen","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanxi Academy of Organic Dryland Agriculture, Shanxi Agriculture University, Taiyuan 030031, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Sustainable Dryland Agriculture (Co-Construction by Ministry and Province), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Taiyuan 030031, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiuhong","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanxi Academy of Organic Dryland Agriculture, Shanxi Agriculture University, Taiyuan 030031, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Sustainable Dryland Agriculture (Co-Construction by Ministry and Province), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Taiyuan 030031, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiangyuan","family":"Shi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Sustainable Dryland Agriculture (Co-Construction by Ministry and Province), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Taiyuan 030031, China"},{"name":"Institute of High Latitude Crops, Shanxi Agricultural University, Datong 037008, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"20260","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1116437108","article-title":"Global food demand and the sustainable intensification of agriculture","volume":"108","author":"Tilman","year":"2011","journal-title":"Proc. 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