CSIRO Harden Long-Term Tillage Experiment

The data comprises soil, plant, climatic and management data arising from a 30-year (1990-2019) on-farm field experiment comparing a range of tillage and stubble management treatments in a continuous annual winter-cropping sequence. The crops include wheat, canola, narrow-leafed lupin and fieldpea as a winter cover crop. The tillage and stubble treatments included a factorial combination of stubble burning in autumn, or stubble retention with cultivation (once pre-sowing with tyned implement), and / or no-till. In addition, a stubble incorporate treatment was included involving disc ploughing to incorporate the residue on the first rain after harvest each year, and further cultivation for weed control where necessary. These 5 treatments spanned the entire 30 years. This stubble incorporated treatment was split for + or - supplementary nutrients applied to the stubble prior to cultivation as a strategy to increase carbon sequestration from the residue between 2007 and 2014. Regular measurements included plant population, biomass, yield and yield components, grain quality, soil mineral N and soil water pre-sowing and at harvest. Several publications have been published from the experiment on crop productivity, soil biology, soil carbon and constraints to the productivity of no-till systems.