Reducing tillage intensity and plant residue retention have the potential to mitigate climate change by reducing soil greenhouse gas emissions. Few comparative studies have explored the effects of different tillage practices and plant residue retention on the net balance of GHG emissions in the short term (1–2 years). We hypothesised that reducing tillage and plant residue retention decreases GHG emissions compared to conventional ploughing and residue removal. We estimated the effects of different tillage practices; no-tillage, minimum-tillage and traditional ploughing as well as plant residue retention on; 1) bare-soil GHG emissions, 2) the net ecosystem exchange (NEE), and ultimately, 3) the potential for climate change mitigation, CO₂ equivalent. GHG fluxes were measured using the static chamber method and soil physical properties were assessed using X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) and a range of traditional methods. No-tillage increased bulk density and shear strength compared to minimum-tillage and ploughed soil. Soil moisture content and organic matter content at 0−5 cm depth were higher in no-tillage and minimum-tillage compared to ploughed soil. No-tillage increased soil−CO₂ emissions and CH₄ uptake but reduced NEE−CO₂ emissions and increased NEE−CH₄ uptake. No and minimum-tillage resulted in 56 % and 40 % reduction in CO₂ equivalent emissions respectively compared to ploughing for the combined crop-soil measurements. Changes in the CH₄ and CO₂ were interlinked to changes in soil pore architecture and physical properties. Taken together our data demonstrate that no-tillage and minimum-tillage have potential to contribute to climate change mitigation through reducing GHG emissions.

减少耕种强度和植物残渣保留量有可能通过减少土壤温室气体排放来缓解气候变化。很少有比较研究探讨短期（1-2年）内不同耕作方式和植物残渣保留量对温室气体净排放平衡的影响。我们假设与传统的耕作和清除残留物相比，减少耕作和减少植物残留物减少温室气体排放。我们估算了不同耕作方式的影响；免耕，最低耕种和传统耕作以及保留植物残渣；1）裸露的温室气体排放，2）生态系统净交换（NEE），最终3）缓解气候变化的潜力，CO ₂当量。使用静态室法测量温室气体通量，并使用X射线计算机断层扫描（CT）和一系列传统方法评估土壤物理性质。与免耕和耕作土壤相比，免耕增加了堆密度和抗剪强度。与耕作土壤相比，在免耕和最小耕作条件下，0-5 cm深度的土壤水分和有机质含量更高。免耕增加了土壤CO ₂排放量和CH ₄吸收，但减少了NEE-CO ₂排放量并增加了NEE-CH ₄吸收。少耕少耕可减少56％和40％的CO ₂耕作与土壤测量相结合时的平均排放量。CH ₄和CO _2的变化与土壤孔隙结构和物理性质的变化相互关联。总体而言，我们的数据表明，免耕和最低耕作有潜力通过减少温室气体排放来缓解气候变化。