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Influence of tillage and rotation systems on distribution of organic carbon associated with particle-size fractions in Chernozemic soils of Saskatchewan, Canada

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Abstract

The effects of several dominant tillage and rotation systems on soil organic C content of different particle-size fractions were studied in Chernozemic soils from southwestern and east-central Saskatchewan, Canada. In an Orthic Brown Chernozem in southwestern Saskatchewan, 7 years of no-till cereal–fallow, imposed on a long-term tillage fallow–wheat rotation soil, resulted in 0.1 Mg C ha−1 more organic C mass in the sand + organic matter (OM) fraction of the 0- to 5-cm layer, whereas organic C associated with coarse silt (CS), fine silt (FS), coarse clay, and fine clay of 0- to 5- and 5- to 10-cm layers was less than that of the comparable tilled cereal–fallow system. Conversion of tilled fallow–wheat rotation soil to continuous cropping had a slight effect, whereas the organic C mass in all the size fractions was significantly increased in both 0- to 5- and 5- to 10-cm layers after alfalfa was introduced on tilled fallow–wheat as perennial forage for 10 years. In an Orthic Black Chernozem in east-central Saskatchewan that was cultivated and tilled using a cereal–fallow rotation for 62 years, organic C mass decreased in sand + OM, CS, and FS of 0- to 10-cm depth. Conversion of the tilled cereal–fallow cropland soil back to seeded grassland resulted in significantly more soil organic C in sand + OM fraction after 12 years of grass seed-down. The sand + OM fraction appears to be the size fraction pool initially most sensitive to adoption of management practices that are liable to sequester carbon in the soil.

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Acknowledgements

This study was partly supported by NKBRSF Project G2000018603, Saskatchewan Agriculture Development Fund Strategic Research (R252B), and International Foundation for Sciences (C/3313-1). The advice of Drs. D.W. Anderson, F.L. Walley, R.E. Farrell, and J.R. de Freitas are appreciated on the selection of analytical methods and literature. Our thanks are also extended to Mr. Phil Curry, Ducks Unlimited, and to Mr. Sid Farkas for their assistance in locating sites and/or sampling, and to Dr. Max C. Saure for translation, and to all the anonymous referees for their valuable suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Soil Science and Fertilizer Institute, Gansu Agricultural Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730070, PR China

    Tianyun Wu

  2. Department of Soil Science, University of Saskatchewan, 51 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, Canada, S7N 5A8

    Jeff J. Schoenau & Peiyuan Qian

  3. State Key Laboratory of Arid Agroecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730070, PR China

    Fengmin Li & Yuanchun Shi

  4. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Research Farm, P.O. Box 1240, Melfort, Saskatchewan, Canada, S0E 1A0

    Sukhdev S. Malhi

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  1. Tianyun Wu
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  2. Jeff J. Schoenau
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  3. Fengmin Li
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  4. Peiyuan Qian
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  5. Sukhdev S. Malhi
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  6. Yuanchun Shi
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Correspondence to Jeff J. Schoenau or Fengmin Li.

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Wu, T., Schoenau, J.J., Li, F. et al. Influence of tillage and rotation systems on distribution of organic carbon associated with particle-size fractions in Chernozemic soils of Saskatchewan, Canada. Biol Fertil Soils 42, 338–344 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-005-0032-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-005-0032-y

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