scholarly journals Profile distribution of soil organic carbon fractions under different landforms in the Meghalaya plateau of India

2021 ◽  
pp. 9-16
Author(s):  
K. K. Mourya ◽  
R. K. Jena ◽  
P. Ray ◽  
S. Ramachandran ◽  
G. K. Sharma ◽  
...  

Assessment of organic carbon fractions in soil provides the basis to ascertain vulnerability of an ecosystem to climate change. In the present study, we assessed SOC fractions in four pedons under contrasting landforms i.e., denudational low hill, upper plateau, lower plateau and valley in the Meghalaya plateau, India. Results indicated that soils of the studied pedons were acidic in nature, low in cation exchange capacity and base saturation. Further, surface (0-30 cm) soils were high in Walkley Black C (WBC) content (0.83-1.13%) in the studied pedons located under different landforms. The density of very labile carbon (VLC) fraction up to a depth of 150 cm was highest (49.22 Mg ha?1) in pedon 2 (P2) located in the upper plateau under shifting cultivation while that of less labile carbon (LLC) was highest (50.25 Mg ha?1) in pedon 4 (P4) in the valley under paddy cultivation. Higher densities of WBC and LLC in the valley (P4) as compared to other landforms in the study area indicate higher carbon sequestration potential of valley soil.

Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 1431
Author(s):  
Ming-Hsi Lee ◽  
Ed-Haun Chang ◽  
Chia-Hsing Lee ◽  
Jyun-Yuan Chen ◽  
Shih-Hao Jien

Soil aggregates are among crucial factors for determining both the quality and erosion resistance of soils. Biochar is a soil amendment that has seen increasing use to improve specific soil properties, mainly the physical structure and the preserving capacity of water and nutrients, as well as sequestration of soil organic carbon. In this study, we applied the rice husk biochar (RHB) and cattle manure compost (COM) in a sandy loam rural soil, which is widely distributed in southern Taiwan, to investigate the combined effects of the biochar and compost on soil aggregation and dynamic change of organic carbon fractions. Through our incubation experiment, both biochar and compost could promote the soil aggregation after eight weeks incubation. The total amounts of macroaggregates (MaAs, >2.0 mm) and mesoaggregates (MeAs, 0.25–2.0 mm) increased by 1.3–9%. During aggregation processes, a considerably greater amount of the soil organic carbon was found to enrich mainly in MaAs and MeAs in all treatments. The COM addition in the soil further promotes organic carbon enrichment in microaggregates (MiAs, <0.25 mm) + fine particles and MeAs after incubation. Increasing labile organic C (LOC) fractions were significantly found in MaAs and MeAs during aggregation processes, whereas decreasing LOC fractions were found in MiAs. The input of fresh organic matter (RHB and COM) initial acts as binding agents in MiAs, and then further enhances the formation of MeAs and MaAs gradually. In conclusion, RHB promotes the physical protection of organic C by increasing soil aggregation and is hence a management option to enhance the C sequestration potential.


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.


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