Abstract
Purpose
The addition of maize residue nitrogen (N) to the soil strongly influences soil N accumulations, but the specific contributions of maize residue N to soil aggregates based on long-term fertilization remain largely unknown. This study involved a 360-day laboratory incubation experiment to determine the dynamics of N derived from maize straw in Mollisol soil aggregates applying different long-term fertilization treatments.
Materials and methods
In 2015, three soil samples from different fertilizers treatments were collected from the upper layer of soil (0–20 cm) of the field at a long-term Mollisol (Luvic Phaeozem) experimental site established in 1980 in Gongzhuling, Jilin Province, China. The fertilizer treatments included no fertilizer (CK); a combination of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium fertilizers (NPK); and NPK combined with manure (MNPK). Three treatments of soils were incubated for 360 days at 25 °C, with or without 15N-labeled maize straw and destructively collected on days 45, 90, 135, 180 and 360. Soil samplings were separated into two aggregate fractions (macroaggregates, ≥ 0.25 mm; microaggregates, < 0.25 mm) using the wet sieving method.
Results and discussion
The higher amounts of maize straw–derived N were incorporated into the macroaggregate on day 90 in the three treatments (average of 65.4%) and into the microaggregate in the MNPK (11.5%), NPK (9.5%), and CK (6.7%) treatments on days 360, 360, and 45, respectively. The maize straw–derived N remaining in the soil aggregates (macroaggregate and microaggregate) was in the order of NPKM > NPK > CK after 360 days of incubation.
Conclusions
The results revealed that the combined application of chemical fertilizer and organic manure had higher capacity to retain maize straw–derived N, and more of it was retained in macroaggregates in the beginning. The addition of straw residue accelerated the formation of macroaggregates in the soils with lower C/N ratios.
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Acknowledgements
The soil samples were collected from a long-term fertilization experimental site in Gongzhuling, Jilin Province, China. The authors thank Prof. Ping Zhu for the technical assistance.
Funding
This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41671293, 41807086, and 41771328), the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFD0200604 and 2016YFD0200304), the Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province (20170540799), the Open Foundation of Double Province Class and Subject Development Program of Liaoning Province (SNKFKT201701), and the Doctoral Research Start-up Funding of Shenyang Agricultural University (880416042 and 880416020).
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Wang, Y., Li, M., Pei, J. et al. Dynamics of maize straw–derived nitrogen in soil aggregates as affected by fertilization. J Soils Sediments 19, 2882–2890 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-019-02288-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-019-02288-5