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Long-term fertilization and intensive cropping enhance carbon and nitrogen accumulated in soil clay-sized particles of red soil in South China

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

Purpose

Understanding the underlying mechanism of soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) accumulation is of great significance for soil C sequestration and climate change mitigation, as well as soil fertility improvement. The objective of this study was to evaluate the response of C and N accumulation in aggregates and fine soil particles to long-term mineral fertilizer and manure application.

Materials and methods

Five treatments from a long-term experiment with double maize cropping were examined in this study, i.e., (1) no fertilizer (control); (2) mineral nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium application (NPK); (3) doubled application rate of the NPK (2NPK); (4) pig manure alone (M); and (5) mineral NPK fertilizers and manure combination (NPKM). By using physical particle-sized fractionation, we analyzed soil organic carbon (OC) and total nitrogen (N), and δ13C of OC in bulk soil and aggregates (53–2000 μm) and, coarse silt-sized fraction (5–53 μm), fine silt-sized fraction (2–5 μm), and clay-sized fraction (< 2 μm) under those five treatments.

Results and discussion

Fertilizer application for 24 years, particularly M and NPKM treatments, significantly increased the concentration and proportion of OC and total N associated with aggregates and clay-sized fraction as compared with control. Manure application significantly increased the proportion of OC by 6.6–7.8 points in aggregates, whereas it was by 22.6–25.0 points in clay-sized fraction. Clay-sized fraction-associated C and N showed a non-linear response to C and N accumulation in bulk soil, contributing approximately 47% and 69% to soil OC and total N, respectively. Moreover, the mass proportion of aggregates and the mass ratio of aggregates to fine soil particles increased significantly with C accumulation in fine silt-sized and clay-sized fraction.

Conclusions

Organic carbon and total nitrogen accumulation in soil clay-sized particles play important role in soil C and N sequestration in red soil. Our results also suggested that C accumulation in fine soil particles might benefit soil aggregation in intensive cropping system of South China.

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Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to the reviewer for the insightful suggestions and comments which greatly improved the quality of the paper.

Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41371247, 41620104006) and Fundamental Research Funds for Central Non-profit Scientific Institution (No. 1610132019044). The China Scholarship Council (No. 201803250076) was also acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Engineering Laboratory for Improving Quality of Arable Land, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China

    Hu Xu, Wenju Zhang, Jingye Zhang, Lei Wu & Minggang Xu

  2. Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liege, 5030, Gembloux, Belgium

    Hu Xu & Gilles Colinet

  3. Jiangxi Institute of Red Soil, Scientific Observational and Experimental Station of Arable Land Conservation in Jiangxi, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanchang, 331717, China

    Kailou Liu & Qinghai Huang

  4. Rodale Institute, Kutztown, Harrisburg, PA, 19530, USA

    Yichao Rui

  5. College of Agriculture, Henan University of Science & Technology, Luoyang, 471003, China

    Xianni Chen

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  1. Hu Xu
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Correspondence to Wenju Zhang or Minggang Xu.

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Xu, H., Liu, K., Zhang, W. et al. Long-term fertilization and intensive cropping enhance carbon and nitrogen accumulated in soil clay-sized particles of red soil in South China. J Soils Sediments 20, 1824–1833 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-019-02544-8

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