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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2014, Vol. 13 Issue (10): 2276-2285    DOI: 10.1016/S2095-3119(14)60823-6
Soil & Fertilization · Irrigation · Agro-Ecology & Environment Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
Long-Term Manure Amendments Enhance Soil Aggregation and Carbon Saturation of Stable Pools in North China Plain
 DU Zhang-liu, WU Wen-liang, ZHANG Qing-zhong, GUO Yan-bin , MENG Fan-qiao
1、Key Laboratory of Agricultural Environment, Ministry of Agriculture/Agricultural Clear Watershed Group, Institute of Environment and
Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, P.R.China
2、College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, P.R.China
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摘要  Organic amendment is considered as an effective way to increase soil organic carbon (SOC) stock in croplands. To better understand its potential for SOC sequestration, whether SOC saturation could be observed in an intensive agricultural ecosystem receiving long-term composted manure were examined. Different SOC pools were isolated by physical fractionation techniques of a Cambisol soil under a long-term manure experiment with wheat-maize cropping in North China Plain. A field experiment was initiated in 1993, with 6 treatments including control (i.e., without fertilization), chemical fertilizer only, low rate of traditional composted manure (7.5 t ha-1), high rate of traditional composted manure (15 t ha-1), low rate of bio-composted manure (7.5 t ha-1) and high rate of bio-composted manure (15 t ha-1). The results showed that consecutive (for up to 20 years) composted manure amendments significantly improved soil macro-aggregation, aggregate associated SOC concentration, and soil structure stability. In detail, SOC concentration in the sand-sized fraction (>53 μm) continued to increase with manure application rate, while the silt (2-53 μm) and clay (<2 μm) particles showed no further increase with greater C inputs, exhibiting the C saturation. Further physical separation of small macro-aggregates (250-2 000 μm) into subpools showed that the non-protected coarse particulate organic matter (cPOM, >250 μm) was the fraction in which SOC continued to increase with increasing manure application rate. In contrast, the chemical and physical protected C pools (i.e., micro-aggregates and silt-clay occluded in the small macroaggregates) exhibited no additional C sequestration when the manure application rate was increased. It can be concluded that repeated manure amendments can increase soil macro-aggregation and lead to the increase in relatively stable C pools, showing hierarchical saturation behavior in the intensive cropping system of North China Plain.

Abstract  Organic amendment is considered as an effective way to increase soil organic carbon (SOC) stock in croplands. To better understand its potential for SOC sequestration, whether SOC saturation could be observed in an intensive agricultural ecosystem receiving long-term composted manure were examined. Different SOC pools were isolated by physical fractionation techniques of a Cambisol soil under a long-term manure experiment with wheat-maize cropping in North China Plain. A field experiment was initiated in 1993, with 6 treatments including control (i.e., without fertilization), chemical fertilizer only, low rate of traditional composted manure (7.5 t ha-1), high rate of traditional composted manure (15 t ha-1), low rate of bio-composted manure (7.5 t ha-1) and high rate of bio-composted manure (15 t ha-1). The results showed that consecutive (for up to 20 years) composted manure amendments significantly improved soil macro-aggregation, aggregate associated SOC concentration, and soil structure stability. In detail, SOC concentration in the sand-sized fraction (>53 μm) continued to increase with manure application rate, while the silt (2-53 μm) and clay (<2 μm) particles showed no further increase with greater C inputs, exhibiting the C saturation. Further physical separation of small macro-aggregates (250-2 000 μm) into subpools showed that the non-protected coarse particulate organic matter (cPOM, >250 μm) was the fraction in which SOC continued to increase with increasing manure application rate. In contrast, the chemical and physical protected C pools (i.e., micro-aggregates and silt-clay occluded in the small macroaggregates) exhibited no additional C sequestration when the manure application rate was increased. It can be concluded that repeated manure amendments can increase soil macro-aggregation and lead to the increase in relatively stable C pools, showing hierarchical saturation behavior in the intensive cropping system of North China Plain.
Keywords:  composted manure       soil aggregates       soil organic carbon       carbon saturation  
Received: 27 February 2014   Accepted:
Fund: 

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31261140367, 31170489 and 30870414), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (201104164 and 20100470408) and the S&T Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. We also thank anonymous referees for their helpful comments and suggestions that greatly improved the manuscript.

Corresponding Authors:  MENG Fan-qiao, Tel: +86-10-6273153, E-mail: mengfq@cau.edu.cn     E-mail:  mengfq@cau.edu.cn
About author:  DU Zhang-liu, Tel: +86-10-82108544, E-mail: duzhangliu@caas.cn

Cite this article: 

DU Zhang-liu, WU Wen-liang, ZHANG Qing-zhong, GUO Yan-bin , MENG Fan-qiao. 2014. Long-Term Manure Amendments Enhance Soil Aggregation and Carbon Saturation of Stable Pools in North China Plain. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 13(10): 2276-2285.

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