Abstract
Mineral-associated soil organic matter (MAOM) is seen as the key to soil carbon sequestration, but its stability often varies with types of exogenous organic materials. Fulvic acid and manure are ones of the exogenous organic materials used for the improvement of degraded soil. However, little is known about if and how fulvic acid and manure affect the stability of MAOM. Using a field experiment of four fertilization treatments (no fertilization, mineral fertilizers, fulvic acid, and manure) and a comprehensive meta-analysis using relevant studies published prior to January 2020, we investigated effects of exogenous fulvic acid and manure applications on four MAOM stability indexes: association intensity, humus stabilization index, iron oxide complex coefficient, and aluminum oxide complex coefficient. Exogenous fulvic acid and manure applications increased soil organic carbon fractions by 26.04–48.47%, MAOM stability by 12.26–387.41%, and complexed iron/aluminum contents by 16.12–20.01%. Fulvic acid application increased MAOM stability by promoting mineral oxide complexation by 20.33% and manure application improved MAOM stability via increasing humus stabilization by 21–25%. Association intensity was positively correlated with contents of soil carbon fractions and the metal oxide complex coefficients were positively correlated with iron/aluminum oxide contents. Moreover, stable-humus exerted significantly positive direct and indirect effects on association intensity and humus stabilization index, while amorphous iron/aluminum content had significantly negative influences on metal oxide complex coefficients. The meta-analysis verified that long-term fulvic acid application improved MAOM stability more so than manure application in acidic soils. We recommend that strategies aiming to prevent land degradation should focus on the potential of fulvic acid as a soil amendment because it can significantly increase MAOM stability.
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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 41907088) and the Science Innovation Project of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science (grant no. CAAS-ASTIP-2016-IEDA).
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Yang Zhang, Xiaojia Zhang, and Jiong Wen performed the field experiment and analyzed the field data regarding the stability of mineral-associated soil organic matter. Yanan Wang, Nan Zhang, Yuehui Jia, Shiming Su, and Cuixia Wu analyzed and interpreted the metadata about the effect of manure (or fulvic acid) on the stability of mineral-associated soil organic matter. Yang Zhang was a major contributor in writing the manuscript. Xibai Zeng reviewed and edited the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Zhang, Y., Zhang, X., Wen, J. et al. Exogenous fulvic acid enhances stability of mineral-associated soil organic matter better than manure. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 9805–9816 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16382-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16382-0