Role of soil to meet global food security, sustainable intensification and food nutritional quality has got renewed attention with a larger focus on soil physical condition. No-tillage (NT) practice can essentially contribute to develop a sustainable, low carbon and resource efficient agriculture, and encourage the use of crop residues for added soil benefits. Soil aggregation and pore size distribution, two most important soil physical factors controlling the mass and energy transport processes within the soil and between soil and environment, were evaluated under the NT through a global meta-analysis of 5065 pairs of data points from 419 peer-reviewed studies. Compared to conventional tillage (CT), NT increased mean weight diameter of aggregates, water stable aggregates, and macroaggregates by averages (0–30 cm) of 25, 10 and 22%, respectively, although predominantly in 0–10 and/or 10–20 cm layers, with an accompanying reduction in microaggregates. A small but significant 3% decrease in total porosity, a large reduction (20–32%) in macroporosity and a moderate increase (4–7%) in microporosity were realized under NT up to 20 cm soil depth. Bulk density remained stable, although a very large decrease (70% change over CT) in saturated hydraulic conductivity was recorded in 10–20 and >30 cm soil layers. Years of adoption of NT had an additive effect on mean weight diameter and macroaggregates, and the total and macroporosity. Increase in latitudes favoured soil aggregation and micropore volume under NT, while clay content was unfavourable to macro- and water stable aggregate contents. Improvement in structure and water retention properties relate to long-term sustainable development of soils by following no-till practice, which has far-reaching implications beyond the boundaries of agronomy.

土壤在满足全球粮食安全、可持续集约化和粮食营养质量方面的作用重新受到关注，更加关注土壤物理条件。免耕 (NT) 实践可以在本质上有助于发展可持续、低碳和资源高效的农业，并鼓励使用作物残留物来增加土壤效益。土壤聚集和孔径分布是控制土壤内以及土壤与环境之间质量和能量传输过程的两个最重要的土壤物理因素，通过对来自 419 个同行的 5065 对数据点的全球荟萃分析在 NT 下进行了评估。审查的研究。与传统耕作 (CT) 相比，NT 使团聚体、水稳性团聚体和大团聚体的平均重量直径分别增加了 25%、10% 和 22%（0-30 厘米），虽然主要在 0-10 和/或 10-20 厘米的层中，伴随着微团聚体的减少。在 NT 至 20 cm 的土壤深度下，总孔隙度下降了 3%，但大孔隙度大幅下降（20-32%），微孔隙度适度增加（4-7%）。尽管在 10-20 和 >30 cm 的土壤层中记录到饱和导水率有非常大的下降（CT 变化 70%），但体积密度保持稳定。采用 NT 的年数对平均重量直径和大聚集体以及总孔隙率和大孔隙率产生了累加效应。纬度的增加有利于 NT 下土壤团聚和微孔体积，而粘土含量不利于宏观和水稳定团聚体含量。