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Crop residue quality and soil type influence the priming effect but not the fate of crop residue C

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Abstract

Background and aims

Crop residues and soil types play an important role in soil C and N storage. The objectives of this study were to quantify the effects of crop residue quality and interactions with soil type on soil C and N, in the short- and medium-term, and to determine the responses related to the priming effect (PE).

Methods

Residues of vetch (Vicia sativa L.), pea (Pisum sativum L.) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) crops with different chemical compositions and labelled with 13C and 15N were left to decompose on the surface of either a sandy-loam soil or a clay soil incubated under laboratory conditions at 25 °C for 360 days. We measured the total CO2-C and CO2-13C emitted during decomposition, the soil mineral N content and the amounts of 13C and 15N remaining in both the surface residue particles and the bulk soil.

Results

Over the short-term, the vetch residues decomposed faster than those of wheat and pea on the soil surface due to their more favourable chemical composition for biodegradation; after one year, however, this difference disappeared. We observed extra soil C mineralization in all cases, i.e., the PE was positive for all treatments and was directly related to the water-soluble (vetch > pea > wheat) and soil C contents (clay soil > sandy-loam soil). Conversely, the fate of the added 15N and net N mineralization differed considerably between the three residues and was strongly related to the initial N content of the residue.

Conclusions

Crop residue quality and soil type affected the soil PE and soil C balance but not the fate of crop residue-C after one year. Net soil N mineralization was observed in all crop residues, with large early differences (vetch > pea > wheat), which were maintained on a medium-term basis. Our results emphasize the need to jointly consider C and N dynamics as well as short- and medium-term effects to manage agricultural and environmental services provided by the recycling of crop residues to agricultural soils.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Brazilian government through the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq). The bilateral Brazilian and French collaboration was funded under Program CNPq—Ciência sem Fronteiras, Process Number 207530/2015-7, and by INRA (the Environment & Agronomy Division) during Schmatz’s leave at UMR FARE in Reims, France.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil Science, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, 97105-900, Brazil

    Raquel Schmatz, Celso Aita, Adriane Luiza Schu, Bruno Chaves & Sandro José Giacomini

  2. FARE lab, INRA, Université Reims-Champagne Ardenne, 51000, Reims, France

    Sylvie Recous

  3. Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, The University of Poonch, Rawalakot, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 12350, Pakistan

    Majid Mahmood Tahir

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  1. Raquel Schmatz
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  2. Sylvie Recous
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  3. Celso Aita
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  6. Bruno Chaves
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Correspondence to Sandro José Giacomini.

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Schmatz, R., Recous, S., Aita, C. et al. Crop residue quality and soil type influence the priming effect but not the fate of crop residue C. Plant Soil 414, 229–245 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-016-3120-x

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