Regenerative agriculture effects on biomass, drought resilience and 14C-photosynthate allocation in wheat drilled into ley compared to disc or ploughed arable soil

Regenerative agriculture practices including leys and no-tillage facilitate biological reassembly of soil aggregates, increasing water, carbon and nutrient storage, but how this effects crop biomass, photosynthate partitioning, and drought resilience is unclear. To address this, we took monoliths growing semi-dwarf and taller wheat genotypes from 3-year plots that were ploughed or disc cultivated, or direct-drilled into a grass-clover ley and applied 35 kg N ha −1 . Half the monoliths received a spring drought, then all were watered and the wheat 14 CO 2 pulse-labelled at stem elongation. The ley soil had lower bulk density, stored more water, and the taller wheat genotype maintained 8-fold higher proportion of water-stable macroaggregates despite unexpectedly having the smaller root biomass. Yields on the ley soil (3.74 t ha −1 ) were 77 % −123 % higher than on ploughed and disc cultivated soils, and unaffected by genotype or drought, despite its > 70 % reduction in root biomass. Of the 14 C initially retained in wheat, 72 % was in shoots, with root allocation decreasing by 75–90 % in droughted ley soil, and at harvest soil retained < 1 % of the 14 C, with significantly lower values for taller wheat, and ley. We conclude that soil health regeneration in the ley enhanced wheat yields, but reduced photosynthate allocation to root biomass under drought. Although taller wheat maintained better macroaggregation in ley soil, this was not explained by root biomass or photosynthate allocation and unexpectedly failed to increase soil 14 C sequestration. We find no evidence that ley regeneration of macroaggregation enhances soil C sequestration under wheat, despite higher yields. • Wheat yields almost doubled with direct drilling into ley versus tilled arable soil mesocosms • Direct drilling into ley maintained more soil water-stable macroaggregates • Wheat genotypes differed in effects on soil aggregation. • Over 70 % of 14 C in wheat was in shoots, and drought reduced root 14 C by up to 90 % • Regenerative agriculture improved several key components of soil health, but not C sequestration under wheat