Intensive arable cropping depletes soil organic carbon and earthworms, leading to loss of macropores, and impaired hydrological functioning, constraining crop yields and exacerbating impacts of droughts and floods that are increasing with climate change. Grass and legume mixes traditionally grown in arable rotations (leys), are widely considered to regenerate soil functions, but there is surprisingly limited evidence of their effects on soil properties, resilience to rainfall extremes, and crop yields. Using topsoil monoliths taken from four intensively cropped arable fields, 19 month-old grass-clover ley strips in these fields, and from 3 adjacent permanent grasslands, effects on soil properties, and wheat yield in response to four-weeks of flood, drought, or ambient rain, during the stem elongation period were evaluated. Compared to arable soil, leys increased earthworm numbers, infiltration rates, macropore flow and saturated hydraulic conductivity, and reduced compaction (bulk density) resulting in improved wheat yields by 42–95 % under flood and ambient conditions. The leys showed incomplete recovery compared to permanent grassland soil, with modest gains in soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, water-holding capacity, and grain yield under drought, that were not significantly different (P > 0.05) to the arable controls. Overall, grass-clover leys regenerate earthworm populations and reverse structural degradation of intensively cultivated arable soil, facilitating adoption of no-tillage cropping to break out of the cycle of tillage-driven soil degradation. The substantial improvements in hydrological functioning by leys will help to deliver reduced flood and water pollution risks, potentially justifying payments for these ecosystem services, especially as over longer periods, leys increase soil carbon sequestration.

集约化耕种会耗尽土壤中的有机碳和worm，导致大孔隙丧失，水文功能受损，限制作物产量，并加剧干旱和洪水的影响，干旱和洪水的影响随着气候变化而增加。传统上以可耕轮作（leys）种植的草和豆类混合物通常被认为可再生土壤功能，但是令人惊讶的是，有限的证据显示了它们对土壤特性，极端降雨的抵抗力和农作物产量的影响。使用从四个集约耕作的耕地，这些土地上的19个月大的草-三叶草地带以及三个相邻的永久草地中获得的表土整料，对土壤特性和小麦产量的影响，以应对四周的洪水，干旱，或环境降雨，对茎伸长期间进行了评估。与耕地相比 莱增加increased的数量，渗透率，大孔流量和饱和水力传导率，并降低压实度（堆积密度），从而在洪水和环境条件下小麦产量提高42％至95％。与永久的草地土壤相比，这些旱田显示出不完全的恢复，干旱条件下土壤有机碳，总氮，持水量和谷物产量的增幅不大，但差异不显着（P > 0.05）。总体而言，草三叶草可重生worm种群并逆转集约耕作耕作土壤的结构退化，从而有利于采用免耕种植，从而摆脱了耕作驱动的土壤退化循环。棚屋在水文功能方面的显着改善将有助于减少洪水和水污染的风险，从而有可能为这些生态系统服务付款，特别是在较长时期内，棚屋增加了土壤碳固存。