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Crop yields and soil organic carbon dynamics in a long-term fertilization experiment in an extremely arid region of northern Xinjiang, China

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Abstract

A long-term fertilization experiment was set up in northern Xinjiang, China to evaluate the dynamics of crop production and soil organic carbon (SOC) from 1990 to 2012 with seven fertilization treatments. The seven treatments included an unfertilized control (CK) and six different combinations of phosphorus (P), potassium (K), nitrogen (N), straw (S) and animal manure (M). The balanced fertilization treatments had significantly (P<0.05) higher average yields than the unbalanced ones. The treatment with 2/3 N from potassium sulfate (NPK) and 1/3 N from farmyard manure (NPKM) had a higher average yield than the other treatments. The average yields (over the 23 years) in the treatments of NPK, and urea, calcium superphosphate (NP) did not differ significantly (P>0.05) but were higher than that in the treatment with urea and potassium sulfate (NK; P<0.05). The results also show that the highest increases in SOC (P<0.05) occurred in NPKM with a potential increase of 1.2 t C/(hm2•a). The increase in SOC was only 0.31, 0.30 and 0.12 t C/(hm2•a) for NPKS (9/10 N from NPK and 1/10 N from straw), NPK and NP, respectively; and the SOC in the NP, NK and CK treatments were approaching equilibrium and so did not rise or fall significantly over the 23-year experiment. A complete NPK plus manure fertilization program is recommended for this extremely arid region to maximize both yields and carbon sequestration.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the National Basic Research Program of China (2014CB954200), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41425007, 41005001) and the National Gray Desert Soil Fertility and Fertilizer Efficiency Monitoring Station of China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, 830011, China

    Jinling Lyu & Changyan Tian

  2. Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Jinling Lyu

  3. Institute of Plant Nutrition, Resources and Environmental Sciences, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou, 450000, China

    Jinling Lyu

  4. Institute of Soils and Fertilizers, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Urumqi, 830000, China

    Hua Liu & Xihe Wang

  5. Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, Hillsborough, BT26 6DR, UK

    Rodrigo Olave

  6. College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China

    Xuejun Liu

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  1. Jinling Lyu
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  2. Hua Liu
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  3. Xihe Wang
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  4. Rodrigo Olave
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  5. Changyan Tian
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Correspondence to Xuejun Liu.

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Lyu, J., Liu, H., Wang, X. et al. Crop yields and soil organic carbon dynamics in a long-term fertilization experiment in an extremely arid region of northern Xinjiang, China. J. Arid Land 9, 345–354 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40333-017-0097-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40333-017-0097-0

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