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Effects of rice cropping intensity on soil nitrogen mineralization rate and potential in buried ancient paddy soils from the Neolithic Age in China’s Yangtze River Delta

  • SOILS, SEC 2 * GLOBAL CHANGE, ENVIRON RISK ASSESS, SUSTAINABLE LAND USE * RESEARCH ARTICLE
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Abstract

Purpose

Rice cropping density, rice cropping duration, and fertilization can affect soil nitrogen (N) supply, but rice cropping intensity (RCI) on soil N fertility is not fully understood, particularly for ancient paddy soils without N fertilization.

Materials and methods

Eight buried ancient paddy soils from the Neolithic Age in China’s Yangtze River Delta, and its parent material, and seven present paddy soils in the same fields were used to investigate the effects of RCI on soil nitrogen mineralization rate and potential. In the present study, concentration of phytolith of rice in soils was used to indicate the RCI.

Results and discussion

Soil N content was obviously greater in the buried Neolithic paddy soils than in the parent material. Total soil N increased with increasing phytolith from 5,200 to 60,000 pellets g−1, but tended to decrease with increasing phytolith from 60,000 to 105,000 pellets g−1. A possible reason for RCI-induced increase of soil N was due to biological N2 fixation in the rice field because there was a significant negative relationship between total N and δ15N in the buried Neolithic soils. The mineralization rate constant (k) ranged from 0.0126 to 0.0485 d−1 with an average of 0.0276 d−1, which was similar to that of the parent material, but lower than those in the present paddy soils. The k value increased with increasing RCI in the Neolithic paddy soils. There was a significant positive relation between RCI and the percentage of cumulative mineralizable N in the 14 d of that within 103 d incubation.

Conclusions

Soil N content tended to increase with the increasing intensity of rice cropping and then decreased under the high intensity of rice cropping; the excessive high intensification of rice cropping could facilitate fast N mineralization (labile N) fraction in the cumulated mineralized N. The unfertilized paddy field could only meet soil N supply under the low intensification of cropping rice in the Neolithic Age. The N fertilization is necessary in order to improve soil fertility for sustaining the present high-yield rice production.

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Acknowledgements

The study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (40335047, 2077092, 20577055). Z. H. Xu received the Australian Research Council funding support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Resources and Environment, Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A, Yuquan Road, Beijing, 100049, People’s Republic of China

    Jia Lu & Zhengyi Hu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 71st East Beijing Road, Nanjing, 210008, People’s Republic of China

    Jia Lu, Zhengyi Hu, Zhihong Cao, Shunyao Zhuang, Linzhang Yang, Xiangui Lin, Yuanhua Dong & Rui Yin

  3. Center for Forestry and Horticultural Research, Griffith University, Nathan, Brisbane, Queensland, 4111, Australia

    Zhihong Xu

  4. Archaeology Department of Suzhou Museum, Suzhou, 215001, People’s Republic of China

    Jinlong Ding

  5. Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Hangzhou, 310004, People’s Republic of China

    Yunfei Zheng

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  1. Jia Lu
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  2. Zhengyi Hu
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Correspondence to Zhengyi Hu.

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Lu, J., Hu, Z., Xu, Z. et al. Effects of rice cropping intensity on soil nitrogen mineralization rate and potential in buried ancient paddy soils from the Neolithic Age in China’s Yangtze River Delta. J Soils Sediments 9, 526–536 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-009-0138-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-009-0138-1

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