Carbon and Nitrogen Mineralization in Dark Grey Calcareous Floodplain Soil Is Influenced by Tillage Practices and Residue Retention

Very little is known about the changes that occur in soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) under an intensive rice-based cropping system following the change to minimal tillage and increased crop residue retention in the Gangetic Plains of South Asia. The field experiment was conducted for 3 years at Rajbari, Bangladesh to examine the impact of tillage practices and crop residue retention on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling. The experiment comprised four tillage practices—conventional tillage (CT), zero tillage (ZT), strip-tillage (ST), and bed planting (BP) in combination with two residue retention levels—increased residue (R50%) and low residue (R20%—the current practice). The TN, SOC, and mineral N (NH4+-N and NO3−-N) were measured in the soil at different crop growth stages. After 3 years, ZT, ST, and BP sequestered 12, 11, and 6% more SOC, and 18, 13, and 10% more TN, respectively than the conventional crop establishment practice at 0–5 cm soil depth. The accumulation of SOC and TN was also higher compared to the initial SOC and TN in soil. Among the tillage practices, the maximum SOC and TN sequestration were recorded with ST and with R50% that might be attributed to reduced mineralization of C and N in soil particularly with increased residue retention, since decay rates of potentially mineralizable C was lower in the ST with both the residue retention practices. Increased residue retention and minimum tillage practices after nine consecutive crops has altered the C and N cycling by slowing the in-season turnover of C and N, reducing the level of nitrate-N available to plants in the growing season and increasing retained soil levels of SOC and TN.

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Impact of crop residue retention and tillage on water infiltration into a water-repellent soil

Biologia ◽

10.1515/biolog-2015-0170 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 70 (11) ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Philip R. Ward ◽

Margaret M. Roper ◽

Ramona Jongepier ◽

Shayne F. Micin

Keyword(s):

Crop Residue ◽

Water Repellency ◽

Water Infiltration ◽

Soil Tillage ◽

Water Repellent ◽

Residue Removal ◽

Growing Seasons ◽

Water Repellence ◽

The Impact ◽

Residue Retention

AbstractWater repellence is a condition in which soils become hydrophobic and do not readily absorb water. The condition causes problems in agricultural production relating to water availability for seed germination and plant growth. In this research we assess the impact of disturbing the soil by a single annual soil tillage (compared with no-till) and crop residue retention (compared with residue removal by burning) on the severity of water repellency, and on water infiltration during and immediately after rainfall, for 5 discrete rainfall events over an 18-month period covering two crop growing seasons. Soil tillage and crop residue removal were associated with decreased severity of water repellency. Despite this, soil tillage resulted in less infiltration of rain water, especially in the crop inter-row spaces, one hour after the commencement of rainfall, and 6 hours after the conclusion of rainfall. Where a single soil tillage was performed, soil in the inter-row spaces absorbed 19-30% of incident rainfall, compared with 58-78% in undisturbed soils. This was observed for a rainfall event 11 months after soil tillage, indicating that soil tillage has a long-lasting impact on pathways of water entry into the soil.

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Decelerated carbon cycling by ectomycorrhizal fungi is controlled by substrate quality and community composition

10.1101/716555 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Christopher W. Fernandez ◽

Craig R. See ◽

Peter G. Kennedy

Keyword(s):

Leaf Litter ◽

Community Composition ◽

Litter Decomposition ◽

Fungal Community ◽

Decay Rates ◽

N Cycling ◽

Substrate Quality ◽

Litter Decay ◽

C And N ◽

C And N Cycling

AbstractInteractions between symbiotic ectomycorrhizal (EM) and free-living saprotrophs can result in significant deceleration of leaf litter decomposition. While this phenomenon is widely cited, its generality remains unclear, as both the direction and magnitude of EM fungal effects on leaf litter decomposition have been shown to vary among studies. Here we explicitly examine how contrasting leaf litter types and EM fungal communities may lead to differential effects on C and N cycling. Specifically, we measured the response of soil nutrient cycling, litter decay rates, litter chemistry and fungal community structure to the reduction of EM fungi (via trenching) with a reciprocal litter transplant experiment in adjacent Pinus- or Quercus-dominated sites. We found clear evidence of EM fungal suppression of C and N cycling in the Pinus-dominated site, but no suppression in the Quercus-dominated site. Additionally, in the Pinus-dominated site, only the Pinus litter decay rates were decelerated by EM fungi and were associated with decoupling of litter C and N cycling. Our results support the hypothesis that EM fungi can decelerate C cycling via N competition, but strongly suggest that the ‘Gadgil effect’ is dependent on both substrate quality and EM fungal community composition. We argue that understanding tree host traits as well as EM fungal functional diversity is critical to a more mechanistic understanding of how EM fungi mediate forest soil biogeochemical cycling.

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Residue retention promotes soil carbon accumulation in minimum tillage systems: Implications for conservation tillage

10.1101/746354 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Yuan Li ◽

Zhou Li ◽

Scott X. Chang ◽

Song Cui ◽

Sindhu Jagadamma ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soil Texture ◽

Crop Residue ◽

Management Practices ◽

Conservation Tillage ◽

Carbon Accumulation ◽

Minimum Tillage ◽

Tillage Practices ◽

Double Cropping ◽

Soc Stock ◽

Residue Retention

AbstractCrop residue retention and minimum tillage (including no-tillage, NT, and reduced tillage, RT) are common conservation tillage practices that have been extensively practised for improving soil health and reducing the negative environmental impact caused by intensive farming. However, the complex effect of conservation tillage practices on soil organic carbon (SOC) storage has not been systematically analyzed, and particularly, the synergistic effect of crop residue retention and minimum tillage on SOC storage remains nonexistent. We conducted a global meta-analysis using a dataset consisting of 823 pairs of data points from 164 studies. We analyzed the effect of crop residue retention and minimum tillage on SOC storage and how the above effects were influenced by various soil/environmental (soil sampling depth, soil texture, and climate) and management conditions (cropping intensity and treatment duration). We found that either residue retention or minimum tillage alone increased SOC stock, while the former increased SOC more. The NT and RT increased SOC stock by 10 and 6%, respectively, in comparison to conventional tillage (CT). The NT plus residue retention (NTS) and RT plus residue retention (RTS) resulted in 20 and 26% more increase in SOC than NT and RT, respectively. Compared with CT, NTS and RTS further increased SOC stock by 29 and 27%, respectively. The above effects were greater in the topsoil than in the subsoil. Availability of initial soil nutrient played a greater role in affecting SOC stock than climatic conditions and management practices. Both residue retention and NT increased SOC rapidly in the first 6 years regardless of soil texture or climate condition, followed by a period of slower sequestration phase before reaching a slow steady rate. Double cropping generally increased SOC stock across all conservation tillage practices as compared to single or multiple cropping. Therefore, we conclude that minimum tillage coupled with residue retention in a double cropping system is the most beneficial management system for increasing cropland SOC storage, which can inform sustainable soil management practices aimed at increasing global C sequestration.

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Soil Chemical Property Variation under Different Conservation Agriculture Practices, in Bako Tibe District, West Shoa, Ethiopia

International Journal of Plant & Soil Science ◽

10.9734/ijpss/2019/v29i330143 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 1-8

Author(s):

Regassa Terefe ◽

Bekele Lemma

Keyword(s):

Crop Residue ◽

Soil Depth ◽

Block Design ◽

Chemical Properties ◽

Conservation Agriculture ◽

Soil Chemical Properties ◽

Available Phosphorus ◽

Grazing Land ◽

Total N ◽

The Impact

Conservation agriculture is claimed to be one of the solutions for the problems of poor agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan countries. The impact of conservation agriculture depends on environmental factors such as slope, vegetation, soil type, rain fall pattern and intended crops. This study was conducted from 2013 to 2014 with the objective of assessing the impact of conservation agriculture practices on soil chemical properties. Five main treatments were selected for the study: Monocropping (maize) without crop residue, Monocropping (maize) with crop residue, Crop rotation (maize and haricot bean) with crop residue, Intercropping (Haricot bean with maize) with crop residue and a grazing land as a control. A Randomized complete block design with four replications was used. A total of 40 composite soil samples (4 replication * 5 treatments * 2 soil depth) were collected and analysed for selected soil chemical properties. Results showed that soils in the study area were moderately acidic, and contained medium level of available phosphorus (AP) (7.33±0.58 mg/kg), but low concentration of total N (0.176±0.02%). Soil pH, soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), C/N, and AP did not significantly differ (p=0.958, p=0.998, p=0.219, p=0.140 and 0.568) respectively, among the treatments following the four year of conservation agricutural practices. Thus, conservation agriculture has little effect on soil properties in short term, but it may take longer time to influence on different soil chemical properties in the study area.

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Effect of Conservation Tillage on Soil Chemical Properties in Rice-Maize Cropping System

The Agriculturists ◽

10.3329/agric.v13i2.26589 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 62-73 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

A K M Saiful Islam ◽

M A Saleque ◽

M M Hossain ◽

A K M Aminul Islam

Keyword(s):

Organic Matter ◽

Soil Organic Matter ◽

Soil Depth ◽

Chemical Properties ◽

Cropping System ◽

Soil Chemical Properties ◽

Zero Tillage ◽

Tillage Practices ◽

Strip Tillage ◽

Residue Retention

Soil organic matter, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) nutrition of rice-maize cropping systems are important for sustaining crop productivity and food security. An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of tillage practices and residue retention on soil chemical properties in rice-maize cropping system. Conventional tillage, single pass wet tillage in rice (rotated with zero tillage in maize), bed planting (unpuddled rice transplanting) and strip tillage (unpuddled rice transplanting) in vertical plots and residue retention (0, 50 and 100%) in horizontal plot were tested for three consecutive years (2009-12). Rice was grown as transplanted irrigated crop and maize as upland crop. After third crop, strip tillage increased soil organic matter compared to bed and zero tillage at 07.5 cm soil depth. After three years, retention of crop residues, irrespective of tillage treatments, increased soil organic matter (SOM) at 7.515.0 cm soil depth. Tillage practices (puddled or unpudled) showed no significant changes in SOM. Neither tillage nor residue management had any significant effect on soil pH, total nitrogen, available phosphorus and exchangeable potassium.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/agric.v13i2.26589The Agriculturists 2015; 13(2) 62-73

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Contribution of land use practices to GHGs in the Canadian Prairies crop sector

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0260946 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (12) ◽

pp. e0260946

Author(s):

Lana Awada ◽

Cecil Nagy ◽

Peter W. B. Phillips

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Conventional Tillage ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Canadian Prairies ◽

Tillage Practices ◽

Continuous Use ◽

The Impact ◽

Soil Climate ◽

Residue Retention

The global crop sector is estimated to contribute about 10.4% of global GHGs annually. The Canadian crop sector is assessed as adding about 6.5% to total national emissions. These estimates over report the impact of farming as they ignore the complex interaction of cropping with the environment and the role land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) play in sequestering carbon. This study quantifies the contribution of land use to GHG emissions and removals in the Canadian Prairies crop sector between 1985 and 2016. The modeling effort explores how different farming practices (i.e., conventional tillage (CT), minimum tillage (MT), zero tillage (ZT), summerfallow, crop rotations, and residue retention) and input usage rates (i.e., fertilizer and fuel) affect GHG emissions in different soil climate zones and provinces in the Prairies region. The adoption of sustainable practices led to an 80% decline in GHG emissions in the crop sector between 1985 and 2016. Since 2005, the baseline for Canada’s Paris commitment, sectoral emissions dropped 53%, more than is required to meet the 2030 target. Most promising, the crop sector was a net GHG sink between 2013 and 2016 in Alberta and between 2006 and 2016 in Saskatchewan. As positive as these developments have been, more can be done by directing research to identify options for reducing GHGs in Manitoba (which made only minimal improvements as farmers there faced conditions requiring continuous use of conventional tillage practices), to explore better nitrogen management (a major continuing source of GHG from cropping) and by searching for low carbon transport options.

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Response of T. Aman and Boro Rice to Residue Retention Under Strip Tillage

Bangladesh Agronomy Journal ◽

10.3329/baj.v18i2.28902 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 39-44

Author(s):

MM Hossain ◽

M Begum ◽

MM Rahman ◽

A Hashem

Keyword(s):

Grain Yield ◽

Crop Residue ◽

Block Design ◽

Conventional Tillage ◽

Tillage Practices ◽

Randomized Complete Block Design ◽

Strip Tillage ◽

On Farm ◽

Boro Rice ◽

Residue Retention

An on-farm research was conducted at Gouripur upazila under Mymensingh district of Bangladesh during aman and boro season in 2013-14 to evaluate the performance of unpuddled rice cultivation. The rice var. Hybrid Krishan2 in aman and BRRI dhan28 in boro season were transplanted by two tillage practices viz., conventional tillage (CT) and strip tillage (ST) and two levels of crop residue i.e, no residue (R0) and 50% residue (R50). The experiment was designed in a randomized complete block design with four replications. ST yielded higher grains in aman season (5.67 t ha-1) and also in boro season (4.70 t ha-1) which were 9 and 13% higher compared to CT. Higher grain yield in ST leading to 26% higher BCR in aman and 23% higher in boro compared to CT. Retention of 50% residue increased by 5% yield in aman and by 4% yield in boro compared to no residue which contributed to 9% higher BCR in both aman and boro. ST combine with 50% residue retention yielded the highest grain yield in both of aman (5.97 t ha-1) and boro season (4.81t ha-1) which attributed to obtain the highest BCR in aman (3.08) and boro (2.78).Bangladesh Agron. J. 2015, 18(2): 39-44

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Assessing the impact of fluvial dynamics on floodplain soil contamination and microbiota in the transboundary Drava River Floodplain

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-18996 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Péter Szabó ◽

Gyozo Jordan ◽

Tamás Kocsis ◽

Robert Šajn ◽

Jasminka Alijagić

Keyword(s):

Cross Sections ◽

Soil Depth ◽

Cell Number ◽

Floodplain Soil ◽

River Terraces ◽

Fluvial Dynamics ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Microbiological Parameters ◽

Drava River ◽

The Impact

Floodplains have received significant attention recently because they are densely populated areas, covered by fertile agricultural lands and act as diverse riverine habitats. At the same time, these important areas are sensitive receptors of PTE (Potentially Toxic Elements) contamination originating from upstream mining and industrial areas endangering food safety and the ecosystems. The large Drava River catchment has been impacted by industrial activities since historic times. Previous studies have shown that the alluvial sediments record the contamination from upstream mines and smelters (e.g. Bleiberg-Kreuth in Austria, Cave del Predil in Italy and Me&#382;ica in Slovenia).Floodplain topsoil (depth: 0-10cm) and subsoil (depth: 50-60cm) samples in the actively flooded alluvial plains and river terraces were collected along 10 cross-sections all along the Hungarian-Croatian border river Drava. In order to study the impact of contamination on soil microbiota, the samples were analysed with ICP-MS for chemical composition, FDA (Fluorescein Diacetate) tests were made for the bulk microbial activity assessment, &#946;-glucosidase content was measured for the rate of catabolic activities, furthermore Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) content for describing the anabolic processes, and phosphatase enzyme for assessing the mobility of phosphorus. Total cell number was counted on Tryptone Glucose Yeast Extract and the number of fungi on Rose Bengal Agar with Chloramphenicol.Data was modelled with data analysis methods including descriptive statistics, regression models and homogeneity tests, complemented by spatial visualisation with GIS based softwares. Results show that there is a significant difference between alluvial plain and river terrace sediment contamination, while soil depth (topsoil vs subsoil) seems to be an important factor for soil microbiological parameters.This research contributes to a Slovenian-Hungarian OTKA project (SNN OTKA 118101). The project was co-funded by European Union Fund, ERDF, IPA, ENI (DTP2-093-2.1 SIMONA).

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Effect of period of sugarcane cultivation on the abundance and distribution of weed seeds in the soil profile

Planta Daninha ◽

10.1590/s0100-83582014000300006 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 32 (3) ◽

pp. 507-513

Author(s):

R.O. Adereti ◽

F.O Takim ◽

Y.A. Abayomi

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Soil Depth ◽

Seed Banks ◽

Soil Samples ◽

Soil Tillage ◽

Fallow Period ◽

Tillage Practices ◽

Weed Seeds ◽

Seed Distribution ◽

Screen House

An experiment was laid down in a screen house to determine the distribution of weed seeds at different soil depths and periods of cultivation of sugarcane in Ilorin, Nigeria. Soil samples from different depth levels (0-10 cm, 11-20 cm and 21-30 cm) were collected after harvesting of canes from three different land use fields (continuous sugarcane cultivation for > 20 years, continuous sugarcane cultivation for < 10 years after long fallow period and continuous sugarcane cultivation for < 5 years after long fallow period) in November, 2012. One kilogram of the sieved composite soil samples was arranged in the screen house and watered at alternate days. Germinating weed seedlings were identified, counted and then pulled out for the period of 8 months. Land use and soil depth had a highly significant (p £ 0.05) effect on the total number of weeds that emerged from the soil samples. The 010 cm of the soil depth had the highest weed seedlings that emerged. There was an equal weed seed distribution at the 11-20 cm and 21-30 cm depths of the soil. Sugarcane fields which have been continuously cultivated for a long period of time with highly disturbing soil tillage practices tend to have larger seed banks in deeper soil layers (11-20 cm and 21-30 cm) while recently opened fields had significantly larger seed banks at the 0-10 cm soil sampling depth.

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Coastal Mangrove Response to Marine Erosion: Evaluating the Impacts of Spatial Distribution and Vegetation Growth in Bangkok Bay from 1987 to 2017

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs12020220 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 220 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Han Xiao ◽

Fenzhen Su ◽

Dongjie Fu ◽

Qi Wang ◽

Chong Huang

Keyword(s):

Spatial Distribution ◽

Vegetation Index ◽

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽

Mangrove Ecosystem ◽

Early Growth ◽

Growth Stages ◽

Human Disturbances ◽

Vegetation Growth ◽

Two Parameters ◽

The Impact

Long time-series monitoring of mangroves to marine erosion in the Bay of Bangkok, using Landsat data from 1987 to 2017, shows responses including landward retreat and seaward extension. Quantitative assessment of these responses with respect to spatial distribution and vegetation growth shows differing relationships depending on mangrove growth stage. Using transects perpendicular to the shoreline, we calculated the cross-shore mangrove extent (width) to represent spatial distribution, and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was used to represent vegetation growth. Correlations were then compared between mangrove seaside changes and the two parameters—mangrove width and NDVI—at yearly and 10-year scales. Both spatial distribution and vegetation growth display positive impacts on mangrove ecosystem stability: At early growth stages, mangrove stability is positively related to spatial distribution, whereas at mature growth the impact of vegetation growth is greater. Thus, we conclude that at early growth stages, planting width and area are more critical for stability, whereas for mature mangroves, management activities should focus on sustaining vegetation health and density. This study provides new rapid insights into monitoring and managing mangroves, based on analyses of parameters from historical satellite-derived information, which succinctly capture the net effect of complex environmental and human disturbances.

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