scholarly journals Irrigated sugarcane crops improve the quality of soil organic carbon over time

2022 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 283-296
Author(s):  
Verônica Aparecida Santos Ferreira Soares ◽  
◽  
Leidivan Almeida Frazão ◽  
Rodinei Facco Pegoraro ◽  
Regynaldo Arruda Sampaio ◽  
...  

The substitution of native vegetation in agricultural systems can cause several changes in the chemical and physical soil attributes, and in the dynamics of soil organic carbon. This study aimed to evaluate changes in soil physical attributes and carbon stock in soil organic matter fractions in irrigated sugarcane crops, as a function of land use and straw management practices over time, in the North of Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Four sugarcane fields with different ages and management systems were studied: Cane 6, Cane 7, Cane 8, and Cane 10. The data obtained were compared with a native vegetation area located near the sugarcane fields, and used as reference for unmanaged soil. In each system, soil samples were collected in the 0-10, 10-20, and 20-30 cm depth layers, to determine the physical attributes, the total organic carbon, and the physical fractions of the soil organic matter. We found that the sugarcane management with the maintenance of a part of the straw on the soil surface contributes to the preservation of the soil structure and the most stable fractions of organic carbon over time. However, in the regions with high annual mean temperature and in the irrigated systems, the soil tillage for the renewal of the sugarcane fields significantly decreases the total soil organic carbon.

Soil Research ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 346
Author(s):  
K. L. Page ◽  
R. C. Dalal ◽  
S. H. Reeves ◽  
W. J. Wang ◽  
Somasundaram Jayaraman ◽  
...  

No-till (NT) farming has been widely adopted to assist in reducing erosion, lowering fuel costs, conserving soil moisture and improving soil physical, chemical and biological characteristics. Improvements in soil characteristics are often driven by the greater soil organic matter accumulation (as measured by soil organic carbon (SOC)) in NT compared to conventional tillage (CT) farming systems. However, to fully understand the effect of NT it is important to understand temporal changes in SOC by monitoring over an extended period. We investigated the long-term effect of NT and stubble retention (SR) on changes in SOC and total soil nitrogen (STN) using results from an experiment that has been running for 50 years in a semi-arid subtropical region of north-eastern Australia. In this experiment, the effects of tillage (CT vs NT), residue management (stubble burning (SB) vs SR), and nitrogen (N) fertiliser (0 and 90 kg-N ha–1) were measured in a balanced factorial experiment on a Vertisol (Ustic Pellusert). The use of NT, SR and N fertiliser generally improved SOC (by up to 12.8%) and STN stocks (by up to 31.7%) in the 0–0.1 m layer relative to CT, SB and no N fertiliser, with the greatest stocks observed where all three treatments were used in combination. However, declines in SOC (up to 20%) and STN (up to 25%) occurred in all treatments over the course of the experiment, indicating that changes in management practices were unable to prevent a loss of soil organic matter over time in this farming system. However, the NT and SR treatments did lose less SOC than CT and SB treatments, and SR also reduced STN loss. The δ13C analysis of samples collected in 2008 and 2015 highlighted that crop residues have significantly contributed to SOC stocks at the site and that their contribution is increasing over time.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodora Angelopoulou ◽  
Athanasios Balafoutis ◽  
George Zalidis ◽  
Dionysis Bochtis

Rapid and cost-effective soil properties estimations are considered imperative for the monitoring and recording of agricultural soil condition for the implementation of site-specific management practices. Conventional laboratory measurements are costly and time-consuming, and, therefore, cannot be considered appropriate for large datasets. This article reviews laboratory and proximal sensing spectroscopy in the visible and near infrared (VNIR)–short wave infrared (SWIR) wavelength region for soil organic carbon and soil organic matter estimation as an alternative to analytical chemistry measurements. The aim of this work is to report the progress made in the last decade on data preprocessing, calibration approaches, and system configurations used for VNIR-SWIR spectroscopy of soil organic carbon and soil organic matter estimation. We present and compare the results of over fifty selective studies and discuss the factors that affect the accuracy of spectroscopic measurements for both laboratory and in situ applications.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Bunjirtluk Jintaridth

Soil quality is a concept that integrates physical, chemical, and biological components and processes of soil across landscapes. Identifying and developing appropriate methods to quantify and assess changes in soil quality are necessary for evaluating soil degradation and improving management practices. Many parameters that are associated with soil quality depend on soil organic matter (SOM) levels and composition. The objectives of this research were to: 1) conduct a literature review of soil quality assessment techniques to evaluate soil quality across a wide-range of environments and agricultural practices; 2) determine if some standard soil sampling and analytical protocols could be identified or developed to enhance soil quality comparisons across a wide range of environments around the world; and 3) assess the efficacy of spectroscopic-based (i.e. near-infrared, mid-infrared, and visible range) analytical methods to evaluate soil organic matter fractions and soil quality. To assess soil quality for sustainable agricultural systems in hillslope soils using spectroscopic methods, surface soil samples (0-20 cm) were collected from hillslope agricultural sites in Bolivia, the Philippines and Indonesia which had differences in length of fallow, levels of soil degradation, and cultivation by landscape position. To determine the efficacy of spectroscopic-based on visible range, the use of the potassium permanganate test (MnOxC) for active organic carbon was studied. The MnOxC test was generally responsive to a range of fallow lengths among different agricultural fields and communities in Umala Municipality in Bolivia. A major objective of fallowing agricultural fields in this region is to restore soil fertility in the field after cropping. This general increase in MnOxC with increased length fallowing may be due to inputs of residue and roots from regrowth of native vegetation after cropping in fallowed areas and possible manure inputs from sheep that generally graze these fallow areas. In addition, higher concentrations of MnOxC were generally observed in non-degraded soil compared to that of degraded soil in all sampled communities in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Comparisons of soil quality among agroforestry and nonagroforestry sites were studied near Bogor, Indonesia. Both agroforestry and nonagroforestry sites had been managed with different types and rates (low, medium, and high) of amendments including manure, compost and chemical fertilizer. Soil MnOxC was generally higher with increasing amounts of added animal manure and in agroforestry areas compared to that of non-agroforestry areas. A set of soil samples was collected along a hill-slope transect from the top to the bottom of agricultural valley on Mindanao Island in the Philippines. The transect across the landscape was divided into summit, shoulder, backslope, footslope and toeslope landscape positions. Soil MnOxC from cultivated fields areas at each landscape position were generally lower than noncultivated areas at similar landscape positions. Among the non-cultivated sites, soil MnOxC was the highest at the summit position and the lowest at the backslope positions while soil MnOxC among cultivated sites were relatively similar across the hill-slope transect. This comparison of the use of the soil MnOxC test to determine changes in active C among a wide range of environmental conditions, cropping systems and soil management practices among agroecosystems with hillslopes in tropical countries around the world indicates that the soil MnOxC test is a sensitive indicator to assess changes in active C with changes in crop and soil management. Several advantages to using this procedure include its ease of use that requires a minimal of training for the field method, its low relative cost and growing research results that facilitate interpretation of the test results. Therefore, this method has potential for supporting management decisions, and sustainable management of agricultural systems in tropical hillslope ecosystems. The ability of visible/near-infrared (VNIR) spectroscopy to estimate soil organic carbon and carbon fractions from diverse soils in tropical hillslope agroecosystems around the world that were under different soil management and cropping systems was evaluated in this research. It was shown that VNIR spectroscopy could be an effective technique to estimate SOC and soil organic carbon fractions for a wide range of soils from tropical hillslope agroecosystems around the world. Several potential advantages of use of VNIR compared to conventional soil testing methods in developing countries are that it may allow for simultaneous evaluation of several soil properties and it can be done rapidly and possibly in the field. Diffuse Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (DRIFT) is considered to be one of the most sensitive infrared techniques for analyzing the structural composition of soil organic matter. The benefit of the DRIFT technique is the ability to characterize the functional group composition of heterogeneous materials with minimal sample preparation. Results showed that this method can be used to characterize the functional groups of heterogeneous soil organic materials and it may be a more direct method to determine changes in soil organic matter and soil quality caused by soil management practices than several other chemical and spectral techniques. The high resolution of the spectra and quantitative estimations of functional groups can be used to analyze soil organic carbon composition. Therefore, in future work this technique has great potential to be an accurate and simple method for helping to understand the changes in the composition of soil organic carbon due to soil organic management practices and to estimate changes in soil quality resulting from those practices in these hillslope agroecosystems.


2008 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silmara R. Bianchi ◽  
Mario Miyazawa ◽  
Edson L. de Oliveira ◽  
Marcos Antonio Pavan

The quantity of soil organic matter (SOM) was estimated through the determination of soil organic carbon (SOC) times a factor, which assumes that 58% of the SOM was formed by carbon. A number of soil samples with wide range of SOC content collected in the state of Paraná, Brazil were evaluated in the laboratory. SOC was measured by Walkley-Black method and the total SOM by loss on ignition. The SOC was positively correlated with SOM. The SOM/SOC ratio varied from 1.91 to 5.08 for the soils. It shows that Brazilian SOM has greater oxidation degree. Although, the SOM and SOC decreased with soil depth the SOM/SOC ratio increased. It showed that SOM in the subsoil contained more oxygen but less carbon than the SOM in the upper soil surface. The CEC/SOC also increased with depth indicating that the functional groups of the SOM increased per unity of carbon.


2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Majid Mahmoodabadi ◽  
Elina Heydarpour

Abstract Soil organic carbon is one of the most important soil components, which acts as a sink for atmospheric CO2. This study focuses on the effect of different methods of organic matter application on the soil organic carbon sequestration in a 4-month experiment under controlled greenhouse conditions. Three rates of straw residue and farmyard manure were added to uncultivated and cropland soils. Two treatments of straw residue and farmyard manure incorporation were used into: a soil surface layer and 0-20 cm soil depth. The result showed that the application of organic matter, especially the farmyard manure incorporation led to a significant increase in the final soil organic carbon content. Higher amounts of soil organic carbon were stored in the cropland soil than in the uncultivated soil. On average, the soil surface layer treatment caused a higher sequestration of soil organic carbon compared to the whole soil depth treatment. If higher rates of organic matter were added to the soils, lower carbon sequestration was observed and vice versa. The result indicated that the carbon sequestration ranged farmyardmanure > strawresidue and cropland soil > uncultivated soil. The findings of this research revealed the necessity of paying more attention to the role of organic residue management in carbon sequestration and prevention of increasing global warming.


2009 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 571-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geraldo Erli Faria ◽  
Nairam Félix de Barros ◽  
Roberto Ferreira Novais ◽  
Ivo Ribeiro Silva

Knowledge on variations in vertical, horizontal and temporal characteristics of the soil chemical properties under eucalyptus stumps left in the soil is of fundamental importance for the management of subsequent crops. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of eucalyptus stumps (ES) left after cutting on the spatial variability of chemical characteristics in a dystrophic Yellow Argisol in the eastern coastal plain region of Brazil. For this purpose, ES left for 31 and 54 months were selected in two experimental areas with similar characteristics, to assess the decomposition effects of the stumps on soil chemical attributes. Soil samples were collected directly around these ES, and at distances of 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 cm away from them, in the layers 0-10, 10-20 and 20-40 cm along the row of ES, which is in-between the rows of eucalyptus trees of a new plantation, grown at a spacing of 3 x 3 m. The soil was sampled in five replications in plots of 900 m² each and the samples analyzed for pH, available P and K (Mehlich-1), exchangeable Al, Ca and Mg, total organic carbon (TOC) and C content in humic substances (HS) and in the free light fraction. The pH values and P, K, Ca2+, Mg2+ and Al3+ contents varied between the soil layers with increasing distance from the 31 and 54-monthold stumps. The highest pH, P, K, Ca2+ and Mg2+ values and the lowest Al3+ content were found in the surface soil layer. The TOC of the various fractions of soil organic matter decreased with increasing distance from the 31 and 54-month-old ES in the 0-10 and 10-20 cm layers, indicating that the root (and stump) cycling and rhizodeposition contribute to maintain soil organic matter. The C contents of the free light fraction, of the HS and TOC fractions were higher in the topsoil layer under the ES left for 31 months due to the higher clay levels of this layer, than in those found under the 54-month-old stumps. However, highest C levels of the different fractions of soil organic matter in the topsoil layer reflect the deposition and maintenance of forest residues on the soil surface, mainly after forest harvest.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerardo Ojeda ◽  
Hernando García ◽  
Susanne Woche ◽  
Jorg Bachmann ◽  
Georg Guggenberger ◽  
...  

<p><strong>Contextualization</strong>: In 2011, it was published a curious conundrum, which forms the basis of the present study: why, when organic matter is thermodynamically unstable, does it persist in soils, sometimes for thousands of years? The question challenges the idea that the recalcitrant or labile character of soil organic matter (SOM) is a sufficient argument to ensure SOM persistence. Temperature could play an important role in SOM decomposition, especially in tropics. Particularly, tropical dry forest (TDF) represents an important ecosystem with unique biodiversity and fertile soils in Colombia. At present, the increase in population density and consequently, in the demands of energy and arable land, have led to its degradation.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Knowledge gap</strong>: Although the mentioned question was formulated several years ago, it has still to be answered, hence limiting the development of new soil organic carbon (SOC) models or the quantification of its ecosystem services. A key point, in terms of soil carbon storage, is to determine the maximum rate of CO<sub>2</sub> emissions from soils (Rmax). Traditionally, it is considered that Rmax occurs at the 50% of field capacity. Unfortunately, information about the environmental conditions under which this maximum occurs is scarce.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Purpose</strong>: The main objectives of this study were: (a) determine the maximum rate of soil respiration or CO<sub>2</sub> emissions from soil in TDF soils and (b) to estimate the main environmental drivers of maximum SOM decomposition along a temperature gradient (20°, 30°, 40°C) in incubated soils.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Methodology</strong>: Soils pertained to permanent plots were sampled in six different TDF of Colombia. The evolution of CO<sub>2</sub> emissions (monitored by an infrared gas analyser), relative humidity and soil temperature were recorded in time on incubated soils samples. Temperature was maintained constant at 20°C, 30°C and 40°C during soil incubations under soil drying conditions. Additionally, elemental composition (Fe, Ca, O, Al, Si, K, Mg, Na) of SOM and chemical composition of soil organic carbon (SOC: aromatic-C, O-alkyl-C, Aliphatic-C, Phenolic and Ketonic-C) were determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Results and conclusions</strong>: The majority of TDF soil samples (90.7%) presented that its peak of CO<sub>2</sub> emissions occurs at soil-water contents higher than saturation (0 MPa), at 20°, 30° and 40°C. Clearly, to consider that the maximum soil respiration rate could be observed at the 50% of field capacity, underestimated the real maximum value of carbon mineralization (48-68%.) Globally, increases in the Rmax values corresponded to increases in electrical conductivity, soil desorption rates, total carbon and nitrogen contents, and decreases in bulk density (BD) and aggregate stability. Taking into account the temperature gradient, increments in calcium and aromatic carbon contents corresponded to decrements in Rmax values but only at 30°C and 40°C, respectively. Some authors indicated that at high soil moisture contents, iron reduction could be release protected carbon. However, no significant relation between Fe and Rmax was observed. Consequently, physical and chemical properties related to SOM accessibility and decomposability by microbial activity, were the main drivers and controls of maximum SOM decomposition rates.</p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Jarvis ◽  
Elsa Coucheney ◽  
Claire Chenu ◽  
Anke Herrmann ◽  
Thomas Keller ◽  
...  

<p>The aggregated structure of soil is known to reduce rates of soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition and therefore influence the potential for long-term carbon sequestration. In turn, the storage and turnover of SOM strongly determines soil aggregation and thus the physical properties of soil. The two-way nature of these interactions has not yet been explicitly considered in soil organic matter models. In this study, we present and describe a new model of these dynamic feedbacks between SOM storage, soil pore structure and soil physical properties. We show the results of a test of the model against measurements made during 61 years in a field trial located near Uppsala (Sweden) in two treatments with different OM inputs (bare fallow, animal manure). The model was able to successfully reproduce long-term trends in soil bulk density and organic carbon content (SOC), as well as match limited data on soil pore size distribution and surface elevation. The results suggest that the model approach presented here could prove useful in analyses of the effects of soil and crop management practices and climate change on the long-term potential for soil organic carbon sequestration.</p>


CERNE ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caio Batista Müller ◽  
Oscarlina Lúcia dos Santos Weber ◽  
José Fernando Scaramuzza

The objective of this study was to evaluate carbon input in labile and stable fractions in an ARGISOL of northwestern Brazil under different land use systems. Use systems being evaluated include: forest - MA (reference), agrosilvopasture - TCP (teak, cocoa and pasture); agroforest - TC (teak and cocoa); teak forest at 8 and 5 years - T8 and T5, and pasture - PA. In each system three furrows were made at depths of 0-5 cm, 5-10 cm and 10-20 cm. An area consisting of native vegetation (forest) adjacent to the experiment was sampled and used as control treatment. The use systems MA, T8 and T5 had higher levels of total organic carbon (COT) and the MA system had higher levels of labile carbon (CL) than the other systems, with the exception of TC at a depth of 10-20 cm. In the MA system, COT levels were higher in comparison to use systems TCP, TC and PA while CL levels were higher than the levels observed in use systems TCP and TC. In most cases being analyzed, CL levels were lower than COT levels, therefore this trait can be used as an indicator to assess anthropogenic changes relating to the maintenance or condition of soil organic matter.


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