scholarly journals Organic mulching promotes soil organic carbon accumulation to deep soil layer in an urban plantation forest

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaodan Sun ◽  
Gang Wang ◽  
Qingxu Ma ◽  
Jiahui Liao ◽  
Dong Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Soil organic carbon (SOC) is important for soil quality and fertility in forest ecosystems. Labile SOC fractions are sensitive to environmental changes, which reflect the impact of short-term internal and external management measures on the soil carbon pool. Organic mulching (OM) alters the soil environment and promotes plant growth. However, little is known about the responses of SOC fractions in rhizosphere or bulk soil to OM in urban forests and its correlation with carbon composition in plants. Methods A one-year field experiment with four treatments (OM at 0, 5, 10, and 20 cm thicknesses) was conducted in a 15-year-old Ligustrum lucidum plantation. Changes in the SOC fractions in the rhizosphere and bulk soil; the carbon content in the plant fine roots, leaves, and organic mulch; and several soil physicochemical properties were measured. The relationships between SOC fractions and the measured variables were analysed. Results The OM treatments had no significant effect on the SOC fractions, except for the dissolved organic carbon (DOC). OM promoted the movement of SOC to deeper soil because of the increased carbon content in fine roots of subsoil. There were significant correlations between DOC and microbial biomass carbon and SOC and easily oxidised organic carbon. The OM had a greater effect on organic carbon fractions in the bulk soil than in the rhizosphere. The thinnest (5 cm) mulching layers showed the most rapid carbon decomposition over time. The time after OM had the greatest effect on the SOC fractions, followed by soil layer. Conclusions The frequent addition of small amounts of organic mulch increased SOC accumulation in the present study. OM is a potential management model to enhance soil organic matter storage for maintaining urban forest productivity.

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. e1102
Author(s):  
Maroua Dachraoui ◽  
Aurora Sombrero

Aim of study: To evaluate the effects of conventional tillage (CT) and no tillage (NT) systems on the soil organic carbon (SOC) changes, CO2 emissions and their relation with soil temperature and grain yield in a monoculture of irrigated maize during six years.Area of study: In Zamadueñas experimental field in the Spanish province of Valladolid, from 2011 to 2017.Material and methods: The SOC content was determined by collecting soil samples up to 30 cm in November at two years interval. Short-term CO2 emissions were measured simultaneously with soil temperature using a respiration chamber and a hand-held probe immediately before, after every tillage operation and during the maize cycle.Main results: The SOC stock of the top 30 cm soil layers was 13% greater under NT than CT. Short-term CO2 emissions were significantly higher under CT ranging from 0.8 to 3.4 g CO2 m-2 h-1 immediately after tillage while under NT system, soil CO2 fluxes were low and stable during this study period. During the first 48 h following tillage, cumulative CO2 emissions ranged from 0.6 to 2.4 Mg CO2 ha-1 and from 0.2 to 0.3 Mg CO2 ha-1 under CT and NT systems, respectively. Soil temperature did not show significant correlation with CO2 emissions; however, it depended mostly on the time of measurement.Research highlights: No tillage increased the SOC accumulation in the topsoil layer, reduced CO2 emissions without decreasing maize grain yield and minimized the impact on climate change compared to CT system.


Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1871 ◽  
Author(s):  
Porntip Puttaso ◽  
Weravart Namanusart ◽  
Kanjana Thumanu ◽  
Bhanudacha Kamolmanit ◽  
Alain Brauman ◽  
...  

Leaf litter plays a major role in carbon and nutrient cycling, as well as in fueling food webs. The chemical composition of a leaf may directly and indirectly influence decomposition rates by influencing rates of biological reactions and by influencing the accumulation of soil organic carbon content, respectively. This study aimed to assess the impact of the chemical composition of rubber (Hevea brasiliensis (Willd. ex A. Juss.) Muell. Arg.) leaves on various soil properties of different ages of rubber (4–5, 11–12, and 22–23 year-old). Synchrotron-based Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy (Sr-FTIR) was utilized for analyzing the chemical composition of plant leaves. The Sr-FTIR bands illustrated that the epidermis of rubber leaves from 4–5-year-old trees was found to contain a high quantity of polysaccharides while mesophyll from 22–23-year-old trees had a large number of polysaccharides. The change in soil properties in the older rubber plantation could be attributed to its chemical composition. The change in soil properties across all tree ages, i.e., increased litter and organic carbon content, was a relatively strong driver of soil biota evolution. The aliphatic of C-H in the leaves showed high correlation with soil organic carbon (SOC) and permanganate-oxidizable C (POXC) from 22–23 year-old trees. This study shows the differences in the organic chemical composition of leaves that are consequential to soil organic carbon.


2014 ◽  
Vol 60 (No. 11) ◽  
pp. 507-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Pikuła ◽  
A. Rutkowska

The paper presents the results of over 30-years of field experiment on soil organic carbon accumulation under different crop rotation, manure and mineral N fertilization. The experiment was conducted with two crop rotations: A – recognized as soil exhausting from humus (potatoes, winter wheat, spring barley and corn) and B enriching soil with humus (potatoes, winter wheat, spring barley, and clover with grass mixture). In each crop rotation, five rates of manure – 0, 20, 40, 60 and 80 t/ha and four rates of mineral fertilizers N1, N2, N3 and N4 were applied. At the beginning of the experiment in 1979, the initial organic carbon content amounted to 0.74%, and after 33 years dropped to 0.61% in crop rotation without legumes. On the contrary, in crop rotation with clover – grass mixture, the tendency to stabilization of organic carbon quantity in soil was observed with the highest value 0.79% and the lowest one 0.72%. It was found that crop rotation enriching soil with humus produced organic matter ever more than those depleting the soil with humus, regardless of the manure fertilization. Mineral fertilization has modified soil organic carbon content.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7901
Author(s):  
Jifeng Du ◽  
Mengxiao Yu ◽  
Junhua Yan

Empirical evidence shows that the expansion of impervious surface threatens soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration in urbanized areas. However, the understanding of deep soil excavation due to the vertical expansion of impervious surface remains limited. According to the average soil excavation depth, we divided impervious surface into pavement (IS20), low-rise building (IS100) and high-rise building (IS300). Based on remote-sensing images and published SOC density data, we estimated the SOC storage and its response to the impervious surface expansion in the 0–300 cm soil depth in Guangzhou city, China. The results showed that the total SOC storage of the study area was 8.31 Tg, of which the top 100 cm layer contributed 44%. The impervious surface expansion to date (539.87 km2) resulted in 4.16 Tg SOC loss, of which the IS20, IS100 and IS300 contributed 26%, 58% and 16%, respectively. The excavation-induced SOC loss (kg/m2) of IS300 was 1.8 times that of IS100. However, at the residential scale, renovating an IS100 plot into an IS300 plot can substantially reduce SOC loss compared with farmland urbanization. The gains of organic carbon accumulation in more greenspace coverage may be offset by the loss in deep soil excavation for the construction of underground parking lots, suggesting a need to control the exploitation intensity of underground space and promote residential greening.


2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (16) ◽  
pp. 4045-4050 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongcun Zhao ◽  
Meiyan Wang ◽  
Shuijin Hu ◽  
Xudong Zhang ◽  
Zhu Ouyang ◽  
...  

China’s croplands have experienced drastic changes in management practices, such as fertilization, tillage, and residue treatments, since the 1980s. There is an ongoing debate about the impact of these changes on soil organic carbon (SOC) and its implications. Here we report results from an extensive study that provided direct evidence of cropland SOC sequestration in China. Based on the soil sampling locations recorded by the Second National Soil Survey of China in 1980, we collected 4,060 soil samples in 2011 from 58 counties that represent the typical cropping systems across China. Our results showed that across the country, the average SOC stock in the topsoil (0–20 cm) increased from 28.6 Mg C ha−1 in 1980 to 32.9 Mg C ha−1 in 2011, representing a net increase of 140 kg C ha−1 year−1. However, the SOC change differed among the major agricultural regions: SOC increased in all major agronomic regions except in Northeast China. The SOC sequestration was largely attributed to increased organic inputs driven by economics and policy: while higher root biomass resulting from enhanced crop productivity by chemical fertilizers predominated before 2000, higher residue inputs following the large-scale implementation of crop straw/stover return policy took over thereafter. The SOC change was negatively related to N inputs in East China, suggesting that the excessive N inputs, plus the shallowness of plow layers, may constrain the future C sequestration in Chinese croplands. Our results indicate that cropland SOC sequestration can be achieved through effectively manipulating economic and policy incentives to farmers.


2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 20-25
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Szyszko-Podgórska ◽  
Marek Kondras ◽  
Izabel Dymitryszyn ◽  
Anita Matracka ◽  
Mirosław Cimoch ◽  
...  

Abstract Macrofauna plays a very important role in the functioning of the natural environment. It plays an important role in the decomposition of organic matter by mixing and crushing organic matter in soil. Invertebrate faeces influence the development of microorganisms and their dead bodies stimulate mineralization in the soil. They also influence the humification processes. The aim of the study was to determine the influence of macrofauna and litter distribution and the accumulation of organic carbon in soil. The study showed a significant influence of this thick animal on the processes taking place in the soil. Significant correlations were observed between the organic carbon content in the litter and the organic carbon content in the soil, macrofauna activity with litter decomposition and its influence on the organic carbon accumulation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuo Zhang ◽  
Qi Deng ◽  
Ying-Ping Wang ◽  
Ji Chen ◽  
Mengxiao Yu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Forest restoration has been considered an effective method to increase soil organic carbon (SOC), whereas it remains unclear whether long-term forest restoration will continuously increase SOC. Such large uncertainties may be mainly due to the limited knowledge on how soil microorganisms will contribute to SOC accumulation over time. Methods We simultaneously documented SOC, total phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs), and amino sugars (AS) content across a forest restoration gradient with average stand ages of 14, 49, 70, and > 90 years in southern China. Results The SOC and AS continuously increased with stand age. The ratio of fungal PLFAs to bacterial PLFAs showed no change with stand age, while the ratio of fungal AS to bacterial AS significantly increased. The total microbial residue-carbon (AS-C) accounted for 0.95–1.66 % in SOC across all forest restoration stages, with significantly higher in fungal residue-C (0.68–1.19 %) than bacterial residue-C (0.05–0.11 %). Furthermore, the contribution of total AS-C to SOC was positively correlated with clay content at 0–10 cm soil layer but negatively related to clay content at 10–20 cm soil layer. Conclusions These findings highlight the significant contribution of AS-C to SOC accumulation along forest restoration stages, with divergent contributions from fungal residues and bacterial residues. Soil clay content with stand age significantly affects the divergent contributions of AS-C to SOC at two different soil layers.


2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (No. 1) ◽  
pp. 20-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muršec Mateja ◽  
Leveque Jean ◽  
Chaussod Remi ◽  
Curmi Pierre

The impact of drip irrigation on structural stability of soil aggregates was studied in soils of an apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) orchard, developed on marl. The field study was carried out in a sloping (20%) terrain in the north-eastern Slovenia at three slope positions (upslope, mid-slope and downslope), involving a comparison of irrigated versus non-irrigated situations after 6 years of drip irrigation practice. Structural stability was studied in three soil layers (0–5, 5–15 and 15–30 cm) at the end of the irrigation season (in September). In the same samples, soil organic carbon, total carbonates and soil moisture contents were determined. Drip irrigation significantly reduced structural stability and soil organic carbon in the surface soil layer (0–5 cm), while total carbonates increased. Based on the whole set of data, structural stability was strongly positively correlated with total carbonates and negatively correlated with soil organic carbon. This means that the effect of higher level of organic matter mineralisation on structural stability, due to irrigation, is counterbalanced by the increase of total carbonates content in the fine textured calcareous soils. Thus, a negative effect of irrigation on soil organic carbon had less destructive consequences on structural stability than expected.


2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-300
Author(s):  
Ján Novák ◽  
Kazimierz Jankowski ◽  
Jacek Sosnowski ◽  
Elżbieta Malinowska ◽  
Beata Wiśniewska-Kadżajan

AbstractSoil carbon sequestration plays an important role in mitigating the anthropogenic increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Pastures and meadows are the significant localities for the deposition of soil organic carbon (SOC). The objective was the comparison of the impact of plant species and their quality on the deposition of SOC under the grasslands in 18 variants of meadows and pastures at the original unfertilized soils, the overfertilized soils by organic fertilizers in the form of excrements and the soils after the ecological regeneration by regrassing. The plots 5, 8, 9 and 10 were used on a long-term basis as old semi-natural sheep pastures from the 15 century. We took into consideration the deposits of SOC and Nt in soil. The old semi-natural pasture proved the most intensive transformation and accumulation of SOC (even 5.60%) and the highest values were measured in the depth I (0–100 mm) soil layer, the concentrations decreased along with the depth in all treatments. At these plots, there was the lowest yield of dry matter and quality (EGQ). The yield of dry matter in t.ha−1, the number of species, EGQ and C:N in the depth I with the significant impact on the species variability, which were selected by Monte-Carlo permutation test explain up to 47% of the total variability. According to the result of “forward selection” in RDA analysis, out of all significant factors, the number of species has the biggest impact on the total species variability, which represents 17% of the total variability. The total evaluation indicates that from the agricultural aspect of utilization, a more favourable quite high content of SOC was deposited at the ecologically regenerated grasslands by the additional sowing of the valuable autochthonous plant species.


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