Herein, we report a 6-year-long investigation on the CO2 emission (soil respiration) of a chernozem soil under conventional moldboard plowing (MP) and two conservation tillage techniques, namely shallow cultivation (SC) and no-tillage (NT). This study aims to compare soil respiration data among SC, and MP or NT treatments and investigate the underlying processes influencing the magnitude of soil-derived emissions. CO2 fluxes were measured using static and dynamic chamber methods in seven replicates weekly during and biweekly to monthly outside growing seasons. We investigated postharvest yield and root biomass, post-tillage mulch thickness, soil water content (SWC) and temperature (Ts) via a monitoring system and portable instruments, soil chemical parameters via wet chemical analyses, and community-level physiological profiles of the soil microbial community using the MicroRespTM technique. The 6-year average soil respiration under SC (0.093 mgCO2 m-2 s-1) was the same as the mean emission in NT. Both of these conservation treatments showed significantly elevated CO2 emissions compared with the mean soil respiration under conventional MP (0.081 mgCO2 m-2 s-1). We found that vegetation biomass via root respiration and denser straw residue cover could be major factors of higher CO2 emission under SC. Additionally, the higher soil respiration in SC compared with MP could result from the high soil organic carbon (SOC) content. Similarly, elevated soil respiration in NT can occur because of the highest mean SOC and SWC as well as the densest straw residue layer among the three treatments. Micro-RespTM measurements revealed differences in the substrate use efficiency of the microbial community under the three treatments, therefore suggesting that the treatment effect on CO2 emission is caused by differences in microbial communities. Following crop production and soil respiration together, the CO2 emission to yield ratio was the lowest under SC, similar to MP, and highest under NT treatment. The CO2 emissions of the treatments exhibited variability over the years. Therefore, longer experimental time is essential to find more established