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Changes in labile soil organic matter fractions following land use change from monocropping to poplar-based agroforestry systems in a semiarid region of Northeast China

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Abstract

Labile fractions of soil organic matter (SOM) respond rapidly to land management practices and can be used as a sensitive indicator of changes in SOM. However, there is little information about the effect of agroforestry practices on labile SOM fractions in semiarid regions of China. In order to test the effects of land use change from monocropping to agroforestry systems on labile SOM fractions, we investigated soil microbial biomass C (MBC) and N, particulate organic matter C (POMC) and N (POMN), as well as total organic C (TOC) and total N (TN) in the 0- to 15-cm and the 15- to 30-cm layers in 4-year-old poplar-based agroforestry systems and adjoining monocropping systems with two different soil textures (sandy loam and sandy clay loam) in a semiarid region of Northeast China. Our results showed that poplar-based agroforestry practices affected soil MBC, POMC, and POMN, albeit there was no significant difference in TOC and TN. Agroforestry practices increased MBC, POMC, and POMN in sandy clay loam soils. However, in sandy loam soils, agroforestry practices only increased MBC and even decreased POMC and POMN at the 0- to 15-cm layer. Our results suggest that labile SOM fractions respond sensitively to poplar-based agroforestry practices and can provide early information about the changes in SOM in semiarid regions of Northeast China and highlight that the effects of agroforestry practices on labile SOM fractions vary with soil texture.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the National Key Technologies R&D Program of China (nos. 2011BAD38B0203 and 2006BAD03A0502) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 31000297). We thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript, Gui-Yan Ai for laboratory analyses, and Qing Zhang and Zhan-Peng Liu for field work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110164, China

    Rong Mao, De-Hui Zeng, Lu-Jun Li & Ya-Lin Hu

  2. Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 72 Wenhua Rd., Shenyang, 110016, China

    De-Hui Zeng

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  1. Rong Mao
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  2. De-Hui Zeng
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  3. Lu-Jun Li
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Correspondence to De-Hui Zeng.

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Mao, R., Zeng, DH., Li, LJ. et al. Changes in labile soil organic matter fractions following land use change from monocropping to poplar-based agroforestry systems in a semiarid region of Northeast China. Environ Monit Assess 184, 6845–6853 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-011-2462-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-011-2462-3

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