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Carbon fluxes within tree-crop-grass agroforestry system: 13C field labeling and tracing

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Abstract

Agroforestry systems are characterized by a high complexity between vegetation components and niche partitioning. In a crop-grass-tree agroforestry system, rape, willow, and grasses were in situ pulse labeled separately with 13CO2 for 6 h, and 13C was traced in shoots, roots, topsoil (0–15 cm) and subsoil (15–30 cm), microbial biomass carbon (C), and dissolved organic C, as well as respiration losses (CO2) up to 28 days after labeling to investigate the effects of vegetation components on C allocation belowground. 13C recovery in roots after 28 days was 7.0% of total assimilated C for grassland, which was 3.5- and 5.2-fold higher than that for rape and willow, respectively. The larger C allocation belowground in grassland was ascribed to its higher root/shoot ratio compared to willow and rape. Grassland facilitated higher accumulation of root-derived C in soil compared to rape (9.2% of recovered 13C) and compared to willow (1.6% of 13C). Willow retained more photosynthetic C aboveground and less was allocated to roots compared to rape. Although the C allocated to the top 15-cm soil was similar between willow and rape, willow facilitated C allocation in deeper soil compared to rape (0.6% vs. 0.2%). This could be explained by the lower microbial activity and subsequent weaker decomposition of rhizodeposits in 15–30-cm depth under willow. The net belowground C inputs in grassland, willow, and rape were 0.53, 0.06, and 0.10 g C m−2 month−1 of vegetation period, including rhizodeposition of 0.24, 0.05, and 0.04 g C m−2 month−1, respectively. Overall, integrating trees and grassland within cropland facilitates higher root-derived C input into soil, thus contributing to the soil C sequestration in agroforestry systems.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The isotopic analyses were performed at the Centre for Stable Isotope Research and Analysis (KOSI), Göttingen. Yakov Kuzyakov thanks the RUDN University Strategic Academic Leadership Program. Jie Zhou (201606850093) and Guodong Shao (201703270029) also thank the China Scholarship Council (CSC) for supporting their study in Germany.

Funding

This study was financially supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) within the project BMBF project SIGNAL, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (318611430002), and the Yunnan Fundamental Research Projects (202101AS070045).

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Author notes

  1. Jie Zhou and Guodong Shao contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China

    Jie Zhou

  2. Biogeochemistry of Agroecosystems, Department of Crop Science, Georg August University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

    Jie Zhou

  3. Geo-Biosphere Interactions, Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Guodong Shao

  4. Chair of Ecosystem Functioning and Services, Institute of Ecology, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Lüneburg, Germany

    Amit Kumar

  5. Department of Economic Plants and Biotechnology, Yunnan Key Laboratory for Wild Plant Resources, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China

    Lingling Shi

  6. Department of Soil Science of Temperate Ecosystems, Department of Agricultural Soil Science, Georg August University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

    Yakov Kuzyakov

  7. Agroecology, Bayreuth Center for Ecology and Environmental Research BayCEER, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany

    Johanna Pausch

  8. Centre for Mountain Futures (CMF), Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China

    Lingling Shi

  9. Agro-Technological Institute, Peoples Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University), Moscow, Russia

    Yakov Kuzyakov

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Zhou, J., Shao, G., Kumar, A. et al. Carbon fluxes within tree-crop-grass agroforestry system: 13C field labeling and tracing. Biol Fertil Soils 58, 733–743 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-022-01659-4

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