The improvement of soil quality in agro-ecosystems is one of the major objectives of conservation agriculture (CA) strategies. The objective of this study was to evaluate, quantify and compare the effects of two tillage practices, four crop rotation sequences, two residue management systems and their interactions on the soil quality of a Haplic Plinthosol in South Africa using the Soil Management Assessment Framework (SMAF). The evaluation was done on a CA field trial established in 2012 in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The trial was laid out in a split-split-plot design with tillage: conventional tillage (CT) and no-till (NT) as main plot treatments. Sub-treatments were crop rotations: maize-fallow-maize (MFM); maize-fallow-soybean (MFS); maize-wheat-maize (MWM); maize-wheat-soybean (MWS). Residue management treatments: removal (R_-) and retention (R₊) were in the sub-sub plots. Soils from the CA trial were sampled at 0 – 5 and 5 – 10 cm depths after five cropping seasons (2012–2015). Thirteen soil quality indicators were determined to assess soil quality. The SMAF soil quality index (SMAF-SQI) was used as an indicator of overall soil quality. The study results demonstrated the dominance of tillage practices in significantly affecting soil biological, chemical and physical properties in the short term than crop rotation sequences and residue management systems. The soil biological indicators viz. SOC, MBC and BG activity were more sensitive to CA strategies, which confirmed their effectiveness as tools for soil quality assessments in the short-term. The study also revealed the short-term significant effects of tillage on the overall SMAF-SQI while crop rotation and residue management had no significant effects. Overall soil quality assessment using the SMAF technique provided a sound basis for distinguishing the short-term impacts of CA strategies on the function of the Haplic Plinthosol in Eastern Cape, South Africa.

改善农业生态系统中的土壤质量是保护性农业 (CA) 战略的主要目标之一。本研究的目的是评估、量化和比较两种耕作方式、四种作物轮作顺序、两种残留物管理系统及其相互作用对Haplic Plinthosol土壤质量的影响在南非使用土壤管理评估框架 (SMAF)。该评估是在 2012 年在南非东开普省建立的 CA 现场试验中进行的。该试验采用耕作的劈裂区设计：常规耕作 (CT) 和免耕 (NT) 作为主要地块处理。子处理是轮作：玉米-休耕-玉米（MFM）；玉米休耕大豆（MFS）；玉米-小麦-玉米（MWM）；玉米-小麦-大豆（MWS）。残留物管理处理：去除 (R _- ) 和保留 (R ₊) 在子子图中。来自 CA 试验的土壤在五个种植季节（2012-2015 年）后在 0-5 和 5-10 厘米深度取样。确定了十三个土壤质量指标来评估土壤质量。SMAF土壤质量指数（SMAF-SQI）被用作整体土壤质量的指标。研究结果表明，与作物轮作顺序和残留物管理系统相比，耕作方式在短期内显着影响土壤生物、化学和物理特性方面的主导地位。土壤生物指标即。SOC、MBC 和 BG 活动对 CA 策略更敏感，这证实了它们作为短期土壤质量评估工具的有效性。该研究还揭示了耕作对整体 SMAF-SQI 的短期显着影响，而轮作和残留物管理没有显着影响。使用 SMAF 技术进行的整体土壤质量评估为区分 CA 策略对土壤功能的短期影响提供了良好的基础。南非东开普省的Haplic Plinthosol。