Abstract
The present paper summarizes the results from a long-term experiment setup in 1980 in the Taihu Lake region, China, to address the yield sustainability, the dynamic changes of soil organic carbon (SOC) storage, and soil fertility in the rice–wheat ecosystem. Treatments in three replicates comprising manure-treated and chemical fertilizer-treated groups (two factors), each having seven sub-treatments of different combinations of inorganic nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and rice straw, were randomly distributed. Results showed that the treatments of manure (pig manure from 1980 to 1996 and oil rape cake thereafter) + N + P + K (MNPK) and chemical fertilizer + N + P + K (CNPK) produced the highest and the most stable yields for both rice and wheat within the respective fertilizer treatment group. Potassium fertilization was necessary for yield sustainability in the ecosystem. Treatments of straw (as rice straw) + N (CRN) and manure + straw + N (MRN) produced more stable yield of rice but less stable of wheat. It was therefore recommended that straw should be only incorporated during the rice season. SOC contents in all treatments showed increasing trends over the period, even in the control treatment. Predicted SOC in chemical fertilizer-treated plots (mostly yet attainable) ranged from 16 to 18 g C kg−1, indicating the high carbon (C) sequestration potential of the soil as compared to the initial SOC. SOC in manure- or straw-treated plots ranged from 17 to 19 g C kg−1, which had been attained roughly 10 years after the experiment was initiated. Nutrient balance sheet showed that there was P surplus in all P-treated plots and a steady increase in Olsen-P over a 24-year period in 0–15 cm soil, which contributed little to crop yield increases. It was therefore suggested that P fertilization rate should be decreased to 30–40 kg P ha−1 year−1. Comparison of yields among the treatments showed that wheat was more responsive to P fertilizer than rice. Thus P fertilizer should be preferably applied to wheat. Soil pH decrease was significant over the 24-year period and was not correlated with fertilizer treatments. The overall recommendation is to incorporate straw at 4,500 kg ha−1 year−1 during the rice season only, with additional 190 kg N ha−1 year−1, 30–40 kg P ha−1 year−1 mainly during the rice season, and 150–160 kg K ha−1 year−1. Further research on the unusual P supply capacity of the soil is needed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aref S, Wander MM (1998) Long-term trends of corn yield and soil organic matter in different crop sequences and soil fertility treatments on the morrow plots. Adv Agron 62:153–161
Bremner JM (1996) Nitrogen-total. In: Sparks DL, Page AL, Helmke PA, Leoppert RH, Soltanpour PN, Tabatabai MA, Johnston CT, Sumner ME (eds) Methods of soil analysis. Part 3. Chemical methods. Soil Science Society of America, Madison, WI, pp 1085–1121
Cai Z (1996) Effect of land use on organic carbon storage in soils in eastern China. Water Air Soil Pollut 91:383–393
Cao ZH, Ding JL, Hu ZY, Knicker H, Kogel-Knabner I, Yang LZ, Yin R, Lin XG, Dong YH (2006) Ancient paddy soils from the neolithic age in China’s Yangtze River Delta. Naturwissenschaften 93:232–236
Cassman KG, Gines GC, Dizon MA, Samson MI, Alcantara JM (1996) Nitrogen-use efficiency in tropical lowland rice systems: contributions from indigenous and applied nitrogen. Field Crops Res 47:1–12
Chang SC, Jackson ML (1957) Fractionations of soil phosphorus. Soil Sci 84:133–144
Cornfield AH (1960) Ammonia released on treating soils with N sodium hydroxide as a possible means of predicting the nitrogen-supplying power of soils. Nature 187:260–261
Dawe D, Dobermann A, Moya P, Abdulrachman S, Bijay S, Lal P, Li SY, Lin B, Panaullah G, Sariam O, Singh Y, Swarup A, Tan PS, Zhen QX (2000) How widespread are yield declines in long-term rice experiments in Asia? Field Crops Res 66:175–193
Ellis EC, Wang SM (1997) Sustainable traditional agriculture in the Taihu Lake region of China. Agric Ecosyst Environ 61:177–193
Erda L, Yunfen L, Yue L (1997) Agricultural carbon cycle and greenhouse gas emissions in China. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 49:295–299
Gami SK, Ladha JK, Pathak H, Shah MP, Pasuquin E, Pandey SP, Hobbs PR, Joshy D, Mishra R (2001) Long-term changes in yield and soil fertility in a twenty-year rice–wheat experiment in Nepal. Biol Fertil Soils 34:73–78
Hedley MJ, Stewart JWB, Chanhan BS (1982) Changes in inorganic and organic soil phosphorus fraction induced by cultivation practices and by laboratory incubations. Soil Sci Soc Am J 46:970–976
Jenkinson DS (1991) The Rothamsted long-term experiments: are they still of use?. Agron J 83:2–10
Ladha JK, Pathak H, Padre AT, Dawe D, Gupta RK (2003a) Productivity trends in intensive rice–wheat cropping systems in Asia. In: Ladha JK, Hill JE, Duxbury JM, Gupta RK, Buresh RJ (eds) Improving the productivity and sustainability of rice–wheat systems: issues and impacts. ASA special publication 65, ASA-CSSA-SSSA, Madison, USA, pp 45–76
Ladha JK, Dawe D, Pathak H, Padre AT, Yadav RL, Singh B, Singh Y, Singh P, Kundu AL, Sakal R, Ram N, Regmi AP, Gami SK, Bhandari AL, Amin R, Yadav CR, Bhattarai EM, Das S, Aggarwal HP, Gupta RK, Hobbs PR (2003b) How extensive are yield declines in long-term rice–wheat experiments in Asia?. Field Crops Res 81:159–180
Lal R (2004a) Soil carbon sequestration to mitigate climate change. Geoderma 123:1–22
Lal R (2004b) Offsetting China’s CO2 emission by soil carbon sequestration. Clim Change 65:263–275
Manna MC, Swarup A, Wanjari RH, Ravankar HN, Mishra B, Saha MN, Singh YV, Sahi DK, Sarap PA (2005) Long-term effect of fertilizer and manure application on soil organic carbon storage, soil quality and yield sustainability under sub-humid and semi-arid tropical India. Field Crops Res 93:264–280
Nel PC, Barnard RO, Steynberg RE, de Beer JM, Groeneveld HT (1996) Trends in maize grain yields in a long-term fertilizer trial. Field Crops Res 47:53–64
Nelson DW, Sommers LE (1996) Total carbon, organic carbon and organic matter. In: Sparks DL, Page AL, Helmke PA, Loeppert RH, Soltanpour PN, Tabatabai MA, Johnston CT, Sumner ME (eds) Methods of soil analysis. Part 3. Chemical methods. Soil Science Society of America, Madison,WI, pp 961–1010
Olsen RS, Cole VC, Watanabey FS, Dean LA (1954) Estimation of available phosphorus in soils by extraction with sodium bicarbonate. US Department of Agricultural Circulation, p 939
Pan GX, Li LQ, Wu LS, Zhang XH (2003) Storage and sequestration potential of topsoil organic carbon in China’s paddy soils. Global Change Biol 10:79–92
Peretyazhko T, Sposito G (2005) Iron (III) reduction and phosphorous solubilization in humid tropical forest soils. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 69:3643–3652
Prabhu AS, Filippi MC, Zimmermann FJP (2003) Cultivar response to fungicide application in relation to rice blast control, productivity and sustainability. Pesq Agropec Bras 38:11–17
Reeves D (1997) The role of soil organic matter in maintaining soil quality in continuous cropping systems. Soil Tillage Res 43:131–167
Saleque MA, Abedin MJ, Bhuiyan NI, Zaman SK, Panaullah GM (2004) Long-term effects of inorganic and organic fertilizer sources on yield and nutrient accumulation of lowland rice. Field Crops Res 86:53–65
Shan YH, Yang LZ, Yan TM, Wang JG (2005) Downward movement of phosphorus in paddy soil installed in large-scale monolith lysimeters. Agr Ecosyst Environ 111:270–278
Sharma KL, Mandal UK, Srinivas K, Vittal KPR, Mandal B, Grace JK, Ramesh V (2005) Long-term soil management effects on crop yields and soil quality in a dryland Alfisol. Soil Tillage Res 83:246–259
Sharpley AN (1995) Soil phosphorus dynamics: agronomic and environmental impacts. Ecol Eng 5:261–279
Sharpley AN, Robinson JS, Smith SJ (1995) Bioavailable phosphorus dynamics in agricultural soils and effects on water quality. Geoderma 67:1–15
Shen J, Li R, Zhang F, Fan J, Tang C, Rengel Z (2004) Crop yields, soil fertility and phosphorus fractions in response to long-term fertilization under the rice monoculture system on a calcareous soil. Field Crops Res 86:225–238
Shi XZ, Yu DS, Warner ED, Pan XZ, Petersen GW, Gong ZT, Weindorf DC (2004) Soil database of 1:1,000,000 digital soil survey and reference system of the Chinese genetic soil classification system. Soil Surv Horiz 45:129–136
Singh RP, Das SK, Bhaskara Rao UM, Narayana Reddy M (1990) Towards sustainable dryland agricultural practices. CRIDA, Hyderabad, India
Song GH, Li LQ, Pan GX, Zhang Q (2005) Topsoil organic carbon storage of China and its loss by cultivation. Biogeochemistry 74:47–62
Szilas CP, Borgaard OK, Hansen HCB (1998) Potential iron and phosphate mobilization during flooding of soil material. Water Air Soil Pollut 106:97–109
Tan PS, Anh TN, Luat NV, Puckridge DW (1995) Yield trends of a long-term NPK experiment for intensive rice monoculture in the Mekong River Delta of Vietnam. Field Crops Res 42:101–109
Tiessen H (1994) The role of soil organic matter in sustaining soil fertility. Nature 371:783–785
Timsina J, Connor DJ (2001) Productivity and management of rice–wheat cropping systems: issues and challenges. Field Crops Res 69:93–132
Wang WJ, Smith CJ, Chalk PM, Chen D (2001) Evaluating chemical and physical indices of nitrogen mineralization capacity with an unequivocal reference. Soil Sci Soc Am J 65:368–376
Wu HB, Guo ZT, Peng CH (2003) Land use induced changes of organic carbon storage in soils of China. Glob Chang Biol 9:305–315
Yadav RL, Dwivedi BS, Pandey PS (2000) Rice–wheat cropping system: assessment of sustainability under green manuring and chemical fertilizer. Field Crops Res 65:15–30
Yaduvanshi NPS, Swarup A (2005) Effect of continuous use of sodic irrigation water with and without gypsum, farmyard manure, press mud and fertilizer on soil properties and yields of rice and wheat in a long term experiment. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 73:111–118
Yadvinder-Singh, Bijay-Singh, Ladha JK, Khind CS, Gupta RK, Meelu OP, Pasuquin E (2004) Long-term effects of organic inputs on yield and soil fertility in rice–wheat rotation. Soil Sci Soc Am J 68:845–853
Yamoah CF, Bationo A, Shapiro B, Koala S (2002) Trend and stability analyses of millet yields treated with fertilizer and crop residues in the Sahel. Field Crops Res 75:53–62
Yoshida S, Forno DA, Cock JH, Gomez KA (1976) Laboratory manual for physicological studies of rice, 3rd edn. Int Rice Res Inst, PO Box 933, Manila, Philippines
Zhang HC, Cao ZH, Shen QR, Wong MH (2003a) Effect of phosphate fertilizer application on phosphorus (P) losses from paddy soils in Taihu Lake region. I. Effect of phosphate fertilizer rate on P losses from paddy soil. Chemosphere 50:695–701
Zhang HC, Cao ZH, Wang GP, Zhang HA, Wong MH (2003b) Winter runoff losses of phosphorus from paddy soils in the Taihu Lake Region of South China. Chemosphere 52:1461–1466
Zhu ZL (1997) Fate and management of fertilizer nitrogen in agroecosystem. In: Zhu ZL, Wen QX, Freney JR (eds) Nitrogen in soils of China. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 239–279
Acknowledgement
This work is supported by the National Key Basic Research and Development Program of China (2005CB121108) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (40471072). Authors are grateful to anonymous reviewers for their comments.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shen, MX., Yang, LZ., Yao, YM. et al. Long-term effects of fertilizer managements on crop yields and organic carbon storage of a typical rice–wheat agroecosystem of China. Biol Fertil Soils 44, 187–200 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-007-0194-x
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-007-0194-x