scholarly journals Aggregate Stability in Soils of Twelve Argo-ecological Zones of Bangladesh Based on Organic Carbon and Basic Cations

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-36
Author(s):  
S Arofi ◽  
MM Rahman ◽  
HK Shiragi ◽  
MA Alam ◽  
MM Islam ◽  
...  

Soil aggregate is one of the vital indicators of soil health that depends on organic carbon (OC), texture and basic cations. A total of 206 soil samples were collected from 12 agro-ecological zones (AEZs) of Bangladesh to study the effects of organic carbon (OC), basic cations (Ca, Mg, K and Na) and different sized soil particles on soil aggregate stability. Soil samples were analyzed for bulk density, pH, OC, texture, basic cations and water stable soil aggregates (WSA) following standard protocols. Data revealed that OC positively increased WSA, while monovalent basic cations Na+ and K+ showed negative effects. Water stable soil aggregates and C stock of 0.25 mm sized soil fraction were found higher than that of larger sized soil fractions of 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mm. The roles of divalent basic cations Ca2+ and Mg2+ on WSA were found to be indistinct and need to be studied further. Ann. Bangladesh Agric. (2019) 23(2) : 27-36

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1541
Author(s):  
Xiaolin Shen ◽  
Lili Wang ◽  
Qichen Yang ◽  
Weiming Xiu ◽  
Gang Li ◽  
...  

Our study aimed to provide a scientific basis for an appropriate tillage management of wheat-maize rotation system, which is beneficial to the sustainable development of agriculture in the fluvo-aquic soil areas in China. Four tillage treatments were investigated after maize harvest, including rotary tillage with straw returning (RT), deep ploughing with straw returning (DP), subsoiling with straw returning (SS), and no tillage with straw mulching (NT). We evaluated soil organic carbon (SOC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), permanganate oxidizable carbon (POXC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC), and particulate organic carbon (POC) in bulk soil and soil aggregates with five particle sizes (>5 mm, 5–2 mm, 2–1 mm, 1–0.25 mm, and <0.25 mm) under different tillage managements. Results showed that compared with RT treatment, NT treatment not only increased soil aggregate stability, but also enhanced SOC, DOC, and POC contents, especially those in large size macroaggregates. DP treatment also showed positive effects on soil aggregate stability and labile carbon fractions (DOC and POXC). Consequently, we suggest that no tillage or deep ploughing, rather than rotary tillage, could be better tillage management considering carbon storage. Meanwhile, we implied that mass fractal dimension (Dm) and POXC could be effective indicators of soil quality, as affected by tillage managements.


2021 ◽  
Vol 67 (No. 3) ◽  
pp. 173-181
Author(s):  
Yufei Liu ◽  
Xiaoxu Fan ◽  
Tong Zhang ◽  
Xin Sui ◽  
Fuqiang Song

Atrazine is still widely used in China. Atrazine residue (1.86–1 100 mg/kg) in the soil has exceeded the allowable limit (1.0 mg/kg), affecting soil structure and soil aggregate composition. To understand the long-term application of atrazine on soil aggregates and the binding agent, four treatments were established in cornfield planted since 1998, including without atrazine applied (AT<sub>0</sub>), atrazine applied (28% atrazine, 1 200–1 350 mL/ha/year) once a year from 2012 to 2018 (AT<sub>6</sub>, 167 mg/kg), from 2008 to 2018 (AT<sub>10</sub>, 127.64 mg/kg) as well as from 2002 to 2018 (AT<sub>16</sub>, 102 mg/kg) with three replications. Along with the increase of atrazine application time, the mass fraction of soil aggregates &gt; 5 mm and 2–5 mm decreased significantly while the mass fraction of soil aggregates 0.5–2 mm and &lt; 0.5 mm increased gradually, and the change of aggregate binding agents contents were the same as that of aggregates. The contents of soil organic carbon (SOC) and glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP) in the aggregates &gt; 5 mm and 2–5 mm were significantly negatively correlated with the years of atrazine application. Our results show that although atrazine residue in the soil does not increase with the increased yearly application, its concentration is still markedly higher than the permitted limit value and seriously affected the content of SOC and GRSP of aggregates &gt; 2 mm, which can lead to a decrease of soil aggregate stability and soil quality.  


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinxin He ◽  
Yongzhen Huang ◽  
Qianchun Zhang ◽  
Shaoming Ye ◽  
Shengqiang Wang

Abstract Background Revealing the variations in soil aggregate-related organic carbon (OC) and labile organic carbon (LOC) fractions in a chronosequence of Chinese fir plantations plays an important role in better understanding the impact of soil carbon sink or source on the Chinese fir plantation ecosystem. In this study, soil samples in a depth of 0–20 cm were collected from Chinese fir plantations at different stand ages (0, 9, 17, and 26 years old) in Guangxi, China. With the optimal moisture sieving method adopted, the soil aggregates of 4 different sizes were obtained, including > 2-mm, 2–1-mm, 1–0.25-mm, and < 0.25-mm aggregates. Soil OC and LOC fractions were measured in the aggregates of different sizes. The LOC fractions included readily oxidizable carbon (ROC), particulate organic carbon (POC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC), water-soluble organic carbon (WOC), and mineralized organic carbon (MOC). Results Soil aggregate stability, as indicated by the mean weight diameter (MWD), was the highest in the 17-year-old Chinese fir plantations and was significantly positively related (p < 0.05) to the concentrations of OC and LOC fractions (except for the ROC and MOC), with the POC in particular. As for all stand ages of Chinese fir plantations, the concentrations of soil OC and LOC fractions were significantly increased as the aggregate size decreased. Consequently, there were more OC and LOC fractions distributed in the < 0.25-mm aggregates. During the stand development, the concentrations of soil OC and LOC fractions first increased and then decreased, with the highest levels detected in the 17-year-old Chinese fir plantations, indicating that the 17-year-old Chinese fir plantations were conducive to the accumulation of soil OC and LOC fractions. Conclusion After 17 years of planting, promoted soil carbon (especially for the POC) accumulation contributes significantly to enhancing soil aggregate stability for the Chinese fir plantations in Guangxi, China.


Soil Research ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 153 ◽  
Author(s):  
AJ Gijsman ◽  
RJ Thomas

This study evaluated soil aggregate size distribution and stability of an Oxisol under improved grass-only or grass-legume pastures, established in previously native savanna. Three grass-legume combinations were included at various stocking rates. In all treatments and soil layers, soils were well aggregated, having more than 90% of their weight in macroaggregates (>250 �m). The addition of legumes to pastures did not affect the soil aggregate size distribution, although aggregates showed somewhat more stability against slaking. An increase in stocking rate negatively affected both average aggregate size and aggregate stability. Aggregates showed little or no dispersion of clay particles in any treatment. A positive correlation was found between wet aggregate stability and hot-water extractable carbohydrate concentration, supporting the hypothesis that these carbohydrates equate with plant-derived or microbial polysaccharides which glue soil aggregates together. It is suggested that determination of hot-water extractable carbohydrates may serve as a useful indicator of small differences in aggregate stability, even when these differences are not evident in the stability measurement itself.


Soil Research ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 975 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Golchin ◽  
P Clarke ◽  
JM Oades ◽  
JO Skjemstad

Soil samples were obtained from the surface horizons of five untilled sites and adjacent sites under short- and long-term cultivation. The soil samples were fractionated based on density and organic materials were concentrated in various fractions which enabled comparative chemical composition of the organic materials in cultivated and uncultivated sites by solid-state C-13 CP/MAS NMR spectroscopy. Changes in the nature of organic carbon with cultivation were different in different soils and resulted from variations in the chemistry of carbon inputs to the soils and a greater extent of decomposition of organic materials in cultivated soils. Differences in the chemical composition of organic carbon between cultivated and uncultivated soils resided mostly in organic materials occluded within aggregates, whereas the chemistry of organic matter associated with clay particles showed only small changes. The results indicate a faster decomposition of O-alkyl C in the cultivated soils. Wet aggregate stability, mechanically dispersible clay and modulus of rupture tests were used to assess the effects of cultivation on structural stability of soils. In four of five soils, the virgin sites and sites which had been under long-term pasture had a greater aggregate stability than the cultivated sites. Neither total organic matter nor total O-alkyl C content was closely correlated with aggregate stability, suggesting that only a part of soil carbon or carbohydrate is involved in aggregate stability. The fractions of carbon and O-alkyl C present in the form of particulate organic matter occluded within aggregates were better correlated with aggregate stability (r = 0.86** and 0.88**, respectively). Cultivation was not the dominant factor influencing water-dispersible clay across the range of soil types used in this study. The amount of dispersible clay was a function of total clay content and the percentage of clay dispersed was controlled by factors such as clay mineralogy, CaCO3 and organic matter content of soils. The tendency of different soils for hard-setting and crusting, as a result of structural collapse, was reflected in the modulus of rupture (MOR). The cultivated sites had significantly higher MOR than their non-tilled counterparts. The soils studied had different MOR due to differences in their physical and chemical properties.


Weed Science ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario R. Pareja ◽  
David W. Staniforth ◽  
Gilda P. Pareja

The depth distribution of weed seed, their location in relation to soil aggregates, and the size distribution of soil aggregates were determined in fields that had been under continual conventional or reduced tillage for more than 12 years. Soil samples were taken at three depths in the spring and fall of 1982, and soil aggregates were classified into seven size classes by dry, rotary sieving. Subsamples were deflocculated and washed through sieves to recover weed seed. In the spring, 85% of all seed in the reduced-tillage and 28% of those in the conventional-tillage soil were in the 0- to 5-cm-depth layer. Conventional tillage incorporated weed seed uniformly into various soil aggregate classes, whereas with reduced tillage more seed accumulated in the unaggregated fraction of the soil. In the fall, weed seed distribution in relation to soil depth and among soil aggregate classes was similar for both tillage regimes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marisângela Viana Barbosa ◽  
Daniela de Fátima Pedroso ◽  
Nilton Curi ◽  
Marco Aurélio Carbone Carneiro

ABSTRACT Soil structure, which is defined by the arrangement of the particles and the porous space forming aggregates, is one of the most important properties of the soil. Among the biological factors that influence the formation and stabilization of soil aggregates, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are distinguished due to extrarradicular hyphae and glomalin production. In this context, the objective of this study was to evaluate different AMF (Acaulospora colombiana, Acaulospora longula, Acaulospora morrowiae, Paraglomus occultum and Gigaspora margarita) associated with Urochloa brizantha (A. Rich.) Stapf on soil aggregate stability. The study was conducted in a completely randomized design, using an Oxisol and autoclaved sand 2:1 (v/v), with seven treatments: five AMF; and treatments with plants without inoculation and with only the soil, with 5 replicates. The experiment was conducted during 180 days and the following variables were evaluated: mycelium total length (TML); production of easily extractable glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP) in the soil and aggregate classes; stability of the dry and immersed in water aggregates through the mean geometric diameter (MGD) and the mean weighted diameter (MWD) of aggregates; and the soil aggregate stability index (ASI). It was observed that the inoculation favored soil aggregation, with a high incidence of A. colombiana, which presented the highest MGD, TML and GRSP production in the aggregates with Ø>2.0mm and for A. colombiana and A. morrowiae in the aggregates with Ø<0.105 mm, when compared to the treatment without inoculation. These results show that there is a distinction between the effects of different AMF on the formation and stability of soil aggregates.


Soil Systems ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael V. Schaefer ◽  
Nathaniel A. Bogie ◽  
Daniel Rath ◽  
Alison R. Marklein ◽  
Abdi Garniwan ◽  
...  

Increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in agricultural soils can contribute to stabilizing or even lowering atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations. Cover crop rotation has been shown to increase SOC and provide productivity benefits for agriculture. Here we used a split field design to evaluate the short-term effect of cover crop on SOC distribution and chemistry using a combination of bulk, isotopic, and spectroscopic analyses of size-and density-separated soil aggregates. Macroaggregates (>250 µm) incorporated additional plant material with cover crop as evidenced by more negative δ13C values (−25.4‰ with cover crop compared to −25.1‰ without cover crop) and increased phenolic (plant-like) resonance in carbon NEXAFS spectra. Iron EXAFS data showed that the Fe pool was composed of 17–21% Fe oxide with the remainder a mix of primary and secondary minerals. Comparison of oxalate and dithionite extractions suggests that cover crop may also increase Fe oxide crystallinity, especially in the dense (>2.4 g cm−3) soil fraction. Cover crop δ13C values were more negative across density fractions of bulk soil, indicating the presence of less processed organic carbon. Although no significant difference was observed in bulk SOC on a mass per mass basis between cover and no cover crop fields after one season, isotopic and spectroscopic data reveal enhanced carbon movement between aggregates in cover crop soil.


2014 ◽  
Vol 955-959 ◽  
pp. 3566-3571 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Wang ◽  
Zhuang Xiong ◽  
Wu Xian Yan ◽  
Yue Qun Qiu

The objective of this study was to investigate soil aggregate stability within landscape on hillslopes by intensive tillage. Traditional tillage by consecutive hoeing was performed 5 and 20 times on steeply sloping land of the Sichuan Basin, China, by using the methods of simulated tillage to analyze the impact of long-term tillage on soil aggregates at different slope positions. The dry-sieved method was used to determine distribution of aggregate size in the different landscape positions, and mean weight diameter (MWD) and geometric mean diameter (GMD) as indices of soil aggregate stability. The different times of tillage resulted in different soil aggregate distributions. The results showed that the MWD and GMD values of aggregates were significantly decreased (p< 0.05) after 20-tillage operation, compared with pre-tillage operation. The differences in distributions of MWD and GMD demonstrate that the choice of the tillage times can be an important factor in changing soil aggregate stability and productivity in steeply sloping fields.


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