Abstract:

Up to end of last century, studies on SOC were mainly concentrated in identifying chemical structures of different organic materials in soil, such as structural characteristics of humic or fulvic acids and their related functions for soil quality. In recent years, focus on SOC has been laid on SOC transformation characteristics in soil, trying to establish the relationship between SOC functions and the grouping according to SOC transformation characteristics. According to the transformation properties, SOC can be divided into two groups, including the stable SOC and the active SOC. The first one refers mainly to the SOC closely combined with clay or fine silt and it is difficult to be decomposed and mineralized by soil microorganisms. Stable SOC belongs to passive and inert SOC pool in soil. The second one refers to SOC, which mainly consists of crop residues and roots after harvesting, crop straws returned to farmland and organic manures applied. The active SOC belongs to nutritive and labile SOC pool in soil. This part of SOC is of great importance to soil fertility. SOC concentration is actually the expression of dynamic equilibrium of two processes. One is the input of organic materials to soil and the other one is the decomposition and mineralization of SOC. When the amount of organic material input is less than the mineralized amount, the SOC concentration and soil fertility will decrease. When the annual input of organic carbon is greater than the annual mineralization amount, the SOC concentration will keep rising until the annual input is equal to the annual mineralized amount. At this moment, SOC concentration will no longer increase and reaches the equilibrium point. Under normal agricultural production conditions, the duration for reaching equilibrium point needs 20 to 30 years. If the active SOC input is in very high level, the dynamic equilibrium system will also lead to a high amount of SOC mineralization annually. In such case, it might lead to a loss of mineral nutrients from soil into water and atmospheric environments, especially mineral nitrogen loss. For the purposes of soil fertility improvement and environmental protection, the active SOC input for farmland should be controlled to the level equal to the annual SOC mineralization amount, sustaining the so-called balance with positive zero. New research shows that the active SOC, after entering soil, is decomposed into a series of short-chain chemical compounds by soil organisms. These short-chain chemical compounds combine with soil mineral particles and form soil organic-mineral aggregates through bioturbation. A lot of soil fertility properties are positively affected by formation of these aggregates. Influenced by humification, decomposition and other processes of SOC, aggregation and disaggregation in soil occur simultaneously and consistently. In order to maintain stability of the total aggregates in soil and to increase soil fertility, sustained and abundant active SOC should be inputted to soil. Variation of SOC concentration depends mainly on climate, soil texture and land use forms. Among the artificial influences, land use form changing has the greatest impact on SOC concentration. In comparison, farming managements, such as fertilization, straw returning, tillage and crop rotation, have much less impacts on SOC concentration. In arable land, crops with different growth periods, tillage and harvesting managements will produce different amounts of above ground residues and root residues after harvesting. Depending on residue quantity and quality, different crops are of different capacity for SOC reproduction. According to the differentiated SOC reproduction capacities, field crops can be divided into two types: SOC increasing crops and SOC consuming crops. For farmland with SOC consuming crops, it is very important to introduce SOC increasing crops in rotation or to apply organic manure or organic materials to field, in order to sustain soil fertility.

Key words: SOC, active SOC, soil fertility, SOC transformation mechanisms, crop rotation