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Fate of rice shoot and root residues, rhizodeposits, and microbial assimilated carbon in paddy soil - part 2: turnover and microbial utilization

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Abstract

Background and aims

The turnover of plant- and microbial- derived carbon (C) plays a significant role in the soil organic C (SOC) cycle. However, there is limited information about the turnover of the recently photosynthesized plant- and soil microbe-derived C in paddy soil.

Methods

We conducted an incubation study with four different 13C–labeled substrates: rice shoots (Shoot-C), rice roots (Root-C), rice rhizodeposits (Rhizo-C), and microbe-assimilated C (Micro-C).

Results

Shoot- and Root-C were initially rapidly transformed into the dissolved organic C (DOC) pool, while their recovery in microbial biomass C (MBC) and SOC increased with incubation time. There were 0.05%, 9.8% and 10.0% of shoot-C, and 0.06%, 15.9% and 16.5% of root-C recovered in DOC, MBC and SOC pools, respectively at the end of incubation. The percentages of Rhizo- and Micro-C recovered in DOC, MBC, and SOC pools slowly decreased over time. Less than 0.1% of the Rhizo- and Micro-C recovered in DOC pools at the end of experiment; while 45.2% and 33.8% of Rhizo- and Micro-C recovered in SOC pools. Shoot- and Root-C greatly increased the amount of 13C–PLFA in the initial 50 d incubation, which concerned PLFA being indicative for fungi and actinomycetes while those assigning gram-positive bacteria decreased. The dynamic of soil microbes utilizing Rhizo- and Micro-C showed an inverse pattern than those using Shoot- and Root-C. Principal component analysis of 13C–PLFA showed that microbial community composition shifted obviously in the Shoot-C and Root-C treatments over time, but that composition changed little in the Rhizo-C and Micro-C treatments.

Conclusions

The input C substrates drive soil microbial community structure and function with respect to carbon stabilization. Rhizodeposited and microbial assimilated C have lower input rates, however, they are better stabilized than shoot- and root-derived C, and thus are preferentially involved in the formation of stable SOC in paddy soils.

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Acknowledgments

The present study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41522107; 41501321), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB15020401), and the Recruitment Program of High-End Foreign Experts of the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, awarded to Prof. Georg Guggenberger (GDT20164300013). We thank the Public Service Technology Center, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences for technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Agro-ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hunan, 410125, China

    Zhenke Zhu, Tida Ge, Yajun Hu, Ping Zhou, Tingting Wang, Georg Guggenberger, Yirong Su & Jinshui Wu

  2. Changsha Research Station for Agricultural and Environmental Monitoring, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hunan, 410125, China

    Zhenke Zhu, Tida Ge, Yajun Hu, Ping Zhou & Jinshui Wu

  3. Institute of Soil Science, Leibniz Universität Hannover, 30419, Hannover, Germany

    Olga Shibistova & Georg Guggenberger

  4. VN Sukachev Institute of Forest, SB-RAS, Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation, 660036

    Olga Shibistova

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  1. Zhenke Zhu
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  2. Tida Ge
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  3. Yajun Hu
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  4. Ping Zhou
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  7. Georg Guggenberger
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  8. Yirong Su
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Correspondence to Tida Ge.

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Zhu, Z., Ge, T., Hu, Y. et al. Fate of rice shoot and root residues, rhizodeposits, and microbial assimilated carbon in paddy soil - part 2: turnover and microbial utilization. Plant Soil 416, 243–257 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-017-3210-4

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