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No tillage enhances arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal population, glomalin-related soil protein content, and organic carbon accumulation in soil macroaggregates

  • Soils, Sec 1 • Soil Organic Matter Dynamics and Nutrient Cycling • Research Article
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

Mechanisms of soil organic carbon (C) accumulation in response to no tillage (NT) are unclear. The extraradical hyphae of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are known to contribute to the formation and maintenance of soil aggregates through the exudation of glomalin. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of different tillage management treatments on soil aggregates, AM fungal community, and glomalin contents and find out the main factors that influence aggregate C accumulation.

Materials and methods

A field experiment established in a sandy loam soil at Northern China has received 4-year continuous tillage treatments, including conventional tillage (CT), NT, and alternating tillage (AT, tillage in the wheat season and no tillage in the maize season). Undisturbed top soil samples (0–15 cm) from four individual plots per treatment were collected for the analysis of aggregates, which were separated according to the wet-sieving method. The organic C contents in different particle size aggregates were determined by the dichromate oxidization, and the glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP) was then extracted with citrate solution using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a standard. The population size of AM fungi was determined by real-time PCR, and the community composition was analyzed using polymerase chain reaction plus denature gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE), cloning, and sequencing techniques.

Results and discussion

Compared to CT, both NT and AT resulted in higher percentages of macroaggregates (>50 μm), and NT, rather than AT, significantly increased organic C contents in >250- and 50–2-μm aggregates, and also organic C contribution by macroaggregates. Both NT and AT significantly increased AM fungal population in 250–50-μm aggregates, but only NT increased it in >250-μm aggregates. NT, rather than AT, significantly increased easily extractable GRSP contents in 250–50- and <2-μm aggregates, and total GRSP content in 250–50-μm aggregates. In addition, the greatest changes of AM fungal community in response to NT or AT were observed in 250–50-μm aggregates, and the genus of Glomus registered the highest species number from the DGGE profiles.

Conclusions

Four-year NT practice greatly enhanced soil aggregation and increased both AM fungal population and organic C contribution of soil macroaggregates. The contents of GRSP and organic C in aggregates were linearly related across particle sizes for all treatments, suggesting that NT played a vital role in maintaining AM fungal growth and GRSP production (notably in 250–50-μm aggregates), which might contribute to binding within microaggregates (<50 μm) and macroaggregates, and increasing soil organic C sequestration.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Linyun Zhou and Qi’ao Jiang of the Fengqiu Agro-Ecological Experimental Station, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, for their field management and support on soil sampling. We are also grateful to Dr. Xinhua He from The University of Western Australia and the anonymous reviewers, for their vauable comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program (2011CB100505) and the National Natural Science Foundation (No.40801090) of China, and the Knowledge Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (ISSASIP1118-3).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Joint Open Laboratory of Soil and the Environment, Hong Kong Baptist University and Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, East Beijing Road 71, Nanjing, 210008, People’s Republic of China

    Jue Dai, Junli Hu, Anning Zhu, Junhua Wang & Xiangui Lin

  2. Shanghai Cooperative Centre for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Recycling, School of Environmental and Materials Engineering, Shanghai Second Polytechnic University, Jinhai Road 2360, Shanghai, 201209, People’s Republic of China

    Jue Dai & Jianfeng Bai

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  1. Jue Dai
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  2. Junli Hu
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Correspondence to Xiangui Lin.

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Dai, J., Hu, J., Zhu, A. et al. No tillage enhances arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal population, glomalin-related soil protein content, and organic carbon accumulation in soil macroaggregates. J Soils Sediments 15, 1055–1062 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-015-1091-9

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