Conservation agriculture (CA) is one strategy with which both sustainability and productivity can be achieved by improving soil health. However, linkages between practices, soil health and cropping system performance remain poorly disentangled. We assessed the relationships between soil health and cropping system performance for three maize-based cropping systems in New Caledonia. Two CA systems, one with direct seeding into a mixed species dead mulch (CA-DM) and one into a stylo living mulch (CA-LM), were compared to a conventional tillage (CT) system. CA vs. CT experiment started in 2011, whereas the differentiation between CA-DM and CA-LM was initiated in 2017 only. In 2018, soil health was evaluated using Biofunctool®, a set of ten in-field tools that assess soil carbon transformation, structure maintenance and nutrient cycling functions. The performance of the three cropping systems were assessed by monitoring weeds, maize growth and yield components. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to disentangle the links between agricultural management, soil health and cropping system performance. Soil structure maintenance and nutrient cycling functions were higher under CA-DM and CA-LM than under CT, and carbon transformation function was higher under CA-DM than under CT and CA-LM. Overall, the soil health index (SHI) was 1.3-fold higher under CA systems than under CT. Cropping system management had both direct and indirect effects on soil functioning and crop productivity leading to a 1.3-fold higher yield under CA than under CT. The direct and indirect effects of CA systems on soil health had positive impacts on ecosystem services (i.e., productivity, weed regulation and soil ecosystem services). Such integrative approaches that account for the relationships and possible trade-offs between cropping system components enable a better understanding of the effects and the performance of practices, and support adaptive agricultural management.

保护性农业（CA）是一种可以通过改善土壤健康实现可持续性和生产力的战略。但是，实践，土壤健康和耕作制度绩效之间的联系仍然难以解决。我们评估了新喀里多尼亚基于玉米的三种种植系统的土壤健康状况与种植系统性能之间的关系。将两种CA系统与常规耕作（CT）系统进行了比较，一种是直接播种到混合物种死地覆盖物（CA-DM）中，另一种是直接种植到stylo live mulch（CA-LM）中。CA与CT实验始于2011年，而CA-DM和CA-LM之间的区别仅在2017年才开始。2018年，使用Biofunctool®对土壤健康进行了评估，这是一套十种现场工具，用于评估土壤碳转化，结构维持和养分循环功能。通过监测杂草，玉米生长和产量成分，评估了三种作物系统的性能。使用结构方程模型（SEM）来理清农业管理，土壤健康与耕作系统性能之间的联系。在CA-DM和CA-LM下，土壤结构维持和养分循环功能要比CT高；在CA-DM下，碳转化功能要比CT和CA-LM高。总体而言，CA系统下的土壤健康指数（SHI）比CT下高1.3倍。种植系统管理对土壤功能和农作物生产力都有直接和间接的影响，因此在CA条件下的产量比在CT条件下高1.3倍。CA系统对土壤健康的直接和间接影响对生态系统服务产生了积极影响（例如生产力，杂草调节和土壤生态系统服务）。这样的综合方法考虑了耕作系统各组成部分之间的关​​系和可能的取舍，使人们能够更好地了解耕作的效果和表现，并支持适应性农业管理。