Abstract
Few studies have comprehensively evaluated the method of estimating the net ecosystem carbon budget (NECB). We compared two approaches for studying the NECB components on the crop seasonal scale as validated by the soil organic carbon (SOC) changes measured over the 5-year period of 2009–2014. The field trial was initiated with four integrated soil–crop system management (ISSM) practices at different nitrogen application rates relative to the local farmer’s practices (FP) rate, namely, N1 (25 % reduction), N2 (10 % reduction), N3 (FP rate) and N4 (25 % increase) with no nitrogen (NN) and FP as the controls. Compared with the FP, the four ISSM scenarios of N1, N2, N3 and N4 significantly increased rice yields by 9.5, 19, 33 and 41 %, while increasing the agronomic nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) by 71, 75, 99 and 79 %, respectively. The SOC sequestration potentials were estimated to be −0.15 to 0.35 Mg C ha−1 year−1 from the net primary production minus heterotrophic respiration approach and −0.32 to 0.67 Mg C ha−1 year−1 from the gross primary production minus ecosystem respiration approach for the 2010–2011 rice–wheat annual cycle. Similarly, the annual topsoil carbon sequestration rate over 2009–2014 was measured to be −0.22 Mg C ha−1 year−1 for the NN plot and 0.13–0.42 Mg C ha−1 year−1 for the five fertilized treatments. Both NECB approaches provided a sound basis for accurate assessment of the SOC changes. Compared to the SOC sequestration rate from the FP, the proposed N3 and N4 scenarios increased the SOC sequestration rates while also improving rice yield and NUE.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adhya TK, Bharati K, Mohanty SR, Ramakrishnan B, Rao VR, Sethunathan N, Wassmann R (2000) Methane emission from rice fields at Cuttack, India, vol 91. Springer, Netherlands, pp 95–105
Al-Kaisi MM, Yin X (2005) Tillage and crop residue effects on soil carbon and carbon dioxide emission in corn–soybean rotations. J Environ Qual 34(2):437–445
Burney JA, Davis SJ, Lobell DB (2010) Greenhouse gas mitigation by agricultural intensification. Proc Natl Acad Sci 107(26):12052–12057
Cai Z, Shan Y, Xu H (2007) Effects of nitrogen fertilization on CH4 emissions from rice fields. Soil Sci Plant Nutr 53(4):353–361
Chapin FS III, Woodwell GM, Randerson JT, Rastetter EB, Lovett GM, Baldocchi DD, Clark DA, Harmon ME, Schimel DS, Valentini R, Wirth C, Aber JD, Cole JJ, Goulden ML, Harden JW, Heimann M, Howarth RW, Matson PA, McGuire AD, Melillo JM, Mooney HA, Neff JC, Houghton RA, Pace ML, Ryan MG, Running SW, Sala OE, Schlesinger WH, Schulze ED (2006) Reconciling carbon-cycle concepts, terminology, and methods. Ecosystems 9:1041–1050
Ciais P, Wattenbach M, Vuichard N, Smith P, Piao SL, Don A, Luyssaert S, Janssens IA, Bondeau A, Dechow R, Leip A, Smith PC, Beer C, Van Derwerf GR, Gervois S, Van OK, Tomelleri E, Freibauer A, Schulze ED, Carboeurope Synthesis Team (2010) The European carbon balance. Part 2: croplands. Glob Change Biol 16(5):1409–1428
Conrad R (2007) Microbial ecology of methanogens and methanotrophs. Adv Agron 96:1–63
FAO (2001) Soil carbon sequestration for improved land management. World Soil Resources Reports, Food and Agric 0532–0488
Gong W, Yan XY, Wang JY, Hu TX, Gong YB (2009) Long-term manuring and fertilization effects on soil organic carbon pools under a wheat-maize cropping system in North China Plain. Plant Soil 314(1–2):67–76
Gregory PJ (2006) Roots, rhizosphere and soil: the route to a better understanding of soil science? Eur J Soil Sci 57(1):2–12
Guo JH, Liu XJ, Zhang Y, Shen JL, Han WX, Zhang WF, Christie P, Goulding KWT, Vitousek PM, Zhang FS (2010) Significant acidification in major Chinese croplands. Science 327(5968):1008–1010
Hoben JP, Gehl RJ, Millar N, Grace PR, Robertson GP (2011) Nonlinear nitrous oxide (N2O) response to nitrogen fertilizer in on-farm corn crops of the US Midwest. Glob Change Biol 17(2):1140–1152
Huang Y, Sun W (2006) Changes in topsoil organic carbon of croplands in mainland China over the last two decades. Chin Sci Bull 51(15):1785–1803
Huang Y, Tang Y (2010) An estimate of greenhouse gas (N2O and CO2) mitigation potential under various scenarios of nitrogen use efficiency in Chinese croplands. Glob Change Biol 16(11):2958–2970
Huang Y, Zhang W, Sun W, Zheng X (2007) Net primary production of Chinese croplands from 1950 to 1999. Ecol Appl 17(3):692–701
IPCC (2013) Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis: working group I contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Stockholm
Ju XT, Xing GX, Chen XP, Zhang SL, Zhang LJ, Liu XJ, Cui ZL, Yin B, Christie P, Zhu ZL, Zhang FS (2009) Reducing environmental risk by improving N management in intensive Chinese agricultural systems. Proc Natl Acad Sci 106(9):3041–3046
Kimura M, Murase J, Lu Y (2004) Carbon cycling in rice field ecosystems in the context of input, decomposition and translocation of organic materials and the fates of their end products (CO2 and CH4). Soil Biol Biochem 36(9):1399–1416
Krüger M, Frenzel P (2003) Effects of N-fertilization on CH4 oxidation and production, and consequences for CH4 emissions from microcosms and rice fields. Glob Change Biol 9(5):773–784
Li QK (1992) Paddy soils of China. China Science Press, Beijing, pp 232–248 (in Chinese)
Li C, Salas W, DeAngelo B, Rose S (2006) Assessing alternatives for mitigating net greenhouse gas emissions and increasing yields from rice production in China over the next twenty years. J Environ Qual 35(4):1554–1565
Liao Q, Zhang X, Li Z, Pan G, Smith P, Jin Y, Wu X (2009) Increase in soil organic carbon stock over the last two decades in China’s Jiangsu Province. Glob Change Biol 15(4):861–875
Linquist B, Groenigen KJ, Adviento-Borbe MA, Pittelkow C, Kessel C (2012) An agronomic assessment of greenhouse gas emissions from major cereal crops. Glob Change Biol 18(1):194–209
Lu RK (2000) Methods for soil agrochemistry analysis. Agricultural Science and Technology Press, Beijing (in Chinese)
Lu F, Wang X, Han B, Ouyang Z, Duan X, Zheng H, Miao H (2009) Soil carbon sequestrations by nitrogen fertilizer application, straw return and no-tillage in China’s cropland. Glob Change Biol 15(2):281–305
Luyssaert S, Inglima I, Jung M, Richardson AD, Reichstein M, Papale D, Piao SL, Schulze ED, Wingate L, Matteucci G, Aragao L, Aubinet M, Beer C, Bernhofer C, Black KG, Bonal D, Bonnefond JM, Chambers J, Ciais P, Cook B, Davis KJ, Dolman AJ, Gielen B, Goulden M, Grace J, Granier A, Grelle A, Griffis T, Grunwald T, Guidolotti G, Hanson PJ, Harding R, Hollinger DY, Hutyra LR, Kolari P, Kruijt B, Kutsch W, Lagergren F, Laurila T, Law BE, Le Maire G, Lindroth A, Loustau D, Malhi Y, Mateus J, Migliavacca M, Misson L, Montagnani L, Moncrieff J, Moors E, Munger JW, Nikinmaa E, Ollinger SV, Pita G, Rebmann C, Roupsard O, Saigusa N, Sanz MJ, Seufert G, Sierra C, Smith ML, Tang J, Valentini R, Vesala T, Janssens IA (2007) CO2 balance of boreal, temperate, and tropical forests derived from a global database. Glob Change Biol 13(12):2509–2537
Ma J, Ma E, Xu H, Yagi K, Cai Z (2009) Wheat straw management affects CH4 and N2O emissions from rice fields. Soil Biol Biochem 41(5):1022–1028
Ma L, Yang LZ, Xia LZ, Shen MX, Yin SX, Li YD (2011) Long-term effects of inorganic and organic amendments on organic carbon in a paddy soil of the Taihu Lake Region. China. Pedosphere 21(2):186–196
Ma YC, Kong XW, Yang B, Zhang XL, Yan XY, Yang JC, Xiong ZQ (2013) Net global warming potential and greenhouse gas intensity of annual rice–wheat rotations with integrated soil–crop system management. Agric Ecosyst Environ 164:209–219
Mandal B, Majumder B, Adhya TK, Bandyopadhyay PK, Gangopadhyay A, Sarkar D, Kundu MC, Choudhury SG, Hazra GC, Kundu S, Samantaray RN, Misra AK (2008) Potential of double-cropped rice ecology to conserve organic carbon under subtropical climate. Glob Change Biol 14(9):2139–2151
Manna MC, Swarup A, Wanjari RH, Ravankar HN (2007) Long-term effects of NPK fertiliser and manure on soil fertility and a sorghum-wheat farming system. Anim Prod Sci 47(6):700–711
Mosier AR, Halvorson AD, Peterson GA, Robertson GP, Sherrod L (2005) Measurement of net global warming potential in three agroecosystems. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 72(1):67–76
Mosier AR, Halvorson AD, Reule CA, Liu XJ (2006) Net global warming potential and greenhouse gas intensity in irrigated cropping systems in northeastern Colorado. J Environ Qual 35(4):1584–1598
Naser HM, Nagata O, Tamura S, Hatano R (2007) Methane emissions from five paddy fields with different amounts of rice straw application in central Hokkaido, Japan. Soil Sci Plant Nutr 53(1):95–101
Pan G (2008) Soil organic carbon stock, dynamics and climate change mitigation of China. Adv Clim Change Res 4:282–289
Pan G, Li L, Wu L, Zhang X (2004) Storage and sequestration potential of topsoil organic carbon in China’s paddy soils. Glob Change Biol 10(1):79–92
Paustian K, Cole CV, Sauerbeck D, Sampson N (1998) CO2 mitigation by agriculture: an overview. Clim Change 40(1):135–162
Phillips RL, Podrebarac F (2009) Net fluxes of CO2, but not N2O or CH4, are affected following agronomic-scale additions of urea to prairie and arable soils. Soil Biol Biochem 41(9):2011–2013
Purakayastha TJ, Rudrappa L, Singh D, Swarup A, Bhadraray S (2008) Long-term impact of fertilizers on soil organic carbon pools and sequestration rates in maize–wheat–cowpea cropping system. Geoderma 144(1):370–378
Robertson GP, Paul EA, Harwood RR (2000) Greenhouse gases in intensive agriculture: contributions of individual gases to the radiative forcing of the atmosphere. Science 289(5486):1922–1925
Shang Q, Yang X, Gao C, Wu P, Liu J, Xu Y, Shen Q, Zou J, Guo S (2011) Net annual global warming potential and greenhouse gas intensity in Chinese double rice-cropping systems: a 3-year field measurement in long-term fertilizer experiments. Glob Change Biol 17(6):2196–2210
Smith P (2004) Carbon sequestration in croplands: the potential in Europe and the global context. Eur J Agron 20(3):229–236
Smith P, Lanigan G, Kutsch WL, Buchmann N, Eugster W, Aubinet M, Ceschia E, Beziat P, Yeluripati JB, Osborne B, Moors EJ, Brut A, Wattenbanch M, Saunders M, Jones M (2010) Measurements necessary for assessing the net ecosystem carbon budget of croplands. Agric Ecosyst Environ 139(3):302–315
Song G, Li L, Pan G, Zhang Q (2005) Topsoil organic carbon storage of China and its loss by cultivation. Biogeochemistry 74(1):47–62
Sun W, Huang Y, Zhang W, Yu Y (2009) Estimating topsoil SOC sequestration in croplands of eastern China from 1980 to 2000. Soil Res 47(3):261–272
Vanlauwe B, Kihara J, Chivenge P, Pypers P, Coe R, Six J (2011) Agronomic use efficiency of N fertilizer in maize-based systems in sub-Saharan Africa within the context of integrated soil fertility management. Plant Soil 339(1–2):35–50
Xie Z, Zhu J, Liu G, Cadisch G, Hasegawa T, Chen C, Sun H, Tang H, Zeng Q (2007) Soil organic carbon stocks in China and changes from 1980s to 2000s. Glob Change Biol 13(9):1989–2007
Xie Z, Liu G, Bei Q, Tang H, Liu J, Sun H, Xu Y, Zhu J, Cadisch G (2010) CO2 mitigation potential in farmland of China by altering current organic matter amendment pattern. Sci China Earth Sci 53(9):1351–1357
Yan X, Yagi K, Akiyama H, Akimoto H (2005) Statistical analysis of the major variables controlling methane emission from rice fields. Glob Change Biol 11(7):1131–1141
Zhang S, Wang L (2013) Review on carbon cycling of farmland ecosystem under the context of global changes. J Agric Mech Res 35(1):4–9 (in Chinese)
Zhang L, Yu D, Shi X, Weindorf DC, Zhao L, Ding W, Wang H, Pan J, Li C (2009) Simulation of global warming potential (GWP) from rice fields in the Tai-Lake region, China by coupling 1: 50,000 soil database with DNDC model. Atmos Environ 43(17):2737–2746
Zheng X, Xie B, Liu C, Zhou Z, Yao Z, Wang Y, Wang Y, Yang L, Zhu J, Huang Y, Bahl KB (2008) Quantifying net ecosystem carbon dioxide exchange of a short-plant cropland with intermittent chamber measurements. Glob Biogeochem Cycles 22(3):GB3031
Zou J, Huang Y, Zong L, Zheng X, Wang Y (2004) Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions from a rice-wheat rotation as affected by crop residue incorporation and temperature. Adv Atmos Sci 21(5):691–698
Zou J, Huang Y, Jiang J, Zheng X, Sass RL (2005) A 3-year field measurement of methane and nitrous oxide emissions from rice paddies in China: Effects of water regime, crop residue, and fertilizer application. Glob Biogeochem Cycles 19(2):GB2021
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (41171238), the Ministry of Science and Technology (2013BAD11B01), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (KYTZ201404), the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (20110097110001), and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhang, X., Fan, C., Ma, Y. et al. Two approaches for net ecosystem carbon budgets and soil carbon sequestration in a rice–wheat rotation system in China. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 100, 301–313 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-014-9651-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-014-9651-8