Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Paddy soil nutrients and stoichiometric ratios as affected by anthropogenic activities during long-term tillage process in Chengdu Plain

  • Soils, Sec 1 • Soil Organic Matter Dynamics and Nutrient Cycling • Research Article
  • Published:
Journal of Soils and Sediments Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Being the most widespread soil in the Chengdu Plain in Sichuan Basin, China, paddy soil has a great importance in agriculture and ecology. Anthropogenic activities alter the concentrations and stoichiometric ratios (C:N, C:P, and N:P) of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) in paddy soil. This study aims to investigate whether the cycling of C, N, and P in paddy soil is influenced by cropping system and pedogenic process (the subtype of paddy soil).

Materials and methods

In this study, we collected 1080 soil samples at 0–20 cm from five cropping systems (rice monoculture (RM), vegetable monoculture (VM), rice and vegetable rotation (RVR), rice and wheat rotation (RWR), rice and oilseed rape rotation (ROR)) and six subtypes (bleached paddy soil (BPS), gleyed paddy soil (GPS), percogenic paddy soil (PPS), degleyed paddy soil (DPS), submergienc paddy soil (SPS), and hydromorphic paddy soil (HPS)) of paddy soil in Chengdu. Soil organic carbon (SOC), soil total nitrogen (TN), and soil total phosphorus (TP) concentrations were determined to calculate the stoichiometric ratios.

Results and discussion

Our results indicated that the concentrations of SOC, TN, and TP of paddy soil were higher than those of cropland on a global scale. There are similar stoichiometric ratios between paddy soil in Chengdu Plain and the cropland in the global scale. The cropping system and subtype significantly altered the soil nutrient concentrations and stoichiometric ratios. The concentrations of soil TN under rotation systems (RV, RW, and RO) were significantly higher than those of VM. The soil with the subtypes of BPS and GPS were related to low TP concentration.

Conclusions

The cropping system of VM showed soil N consumption compared with the traditional cropping system (rotation systems, such as RV, RW, and RO). In addition, subtype also significantly influenced the element balance in paddy soil. The balance of soil C, N, and P is mainly affected by fertilizer application of N and P.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Al-Kaisi MM, Grote JB (2007) Cropping systems effects on improving soil carbon stocks of exposed subsoil. Soil Sci Soc Am J 71:1381–1388

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Alvarez R, Gimenez A, Caffaro MM, Pagnanini F, Recondo V, Molina CD, Berhongaray G, Mendoza MR, Ramil DA, Facio F, De Paepe JL, Steinbach HS, Cantet RJ (2018) Land use affected nutrient mass with minor impact on stoichiometry ratios in Pampean soils. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 110:257–276

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Augusto L, Achat DL, Jonard M, Vidal D, Ringeval B (2017) Soil parent material-a major driver of plant nutrient limitations in terrestrial ecosystems. Glob Chang Biol 23:3808–3824

    Google Scholar 

  • Blanco-Moure N, Moret-Fernández D, López MV (2012) Dynamics of aggregate destabilization by water in soils under long-term conservation tillage in semiarid Spain. Catena 99:34–41

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bradshaw C, Kautsky U, Kumblad L (2012) Ecological stoichiometry and multielement transfer in a coastal ecosystem. Ecosystems 15:591–603

  • Chengdu municipal people’s government. Chengdu yearbook. Chengdu: Xinhua Publishing House 2016

  • Deng L, Wang KB, Chen ML, Shangguan ZP, Sweeney S (2013) Soil organic carbon storage capacity positively related to forest succession on the Loess Plateau, China. Catena 110:1–7

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dijkstra FA, Pendall E, Morgan JA, Blumenthal DM, Carrillo Y, Lecain DR (2012) Climate change alters stoichiometry of phosphorus and nitrogen in a semiarid grassland. New Phytol 196:807–815

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Feng JL, Hu ZG, Ju JT, Lin YC (2014) The dust provenance and transport mechanism for the Chengdu clay in the Sichuan Basin, China. Catena 121:68–80

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gallaher RN, Weldon CO, Boswell FC (1976) A semiautomated procedure for total nitrogen in plant and soil samples. Soil Sci Soc Am J 40:887–889

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gao Y, He NP, Yu GR, Chen WL, Wang QF (2014) Long-term effects of different land use types on C, N, and P stoichiometry and storage in subtropical ecosystems: a case study in China. Ecol Eng 67:171–181

    Google Scholar 

  • Guo LB, Gifford RM (2002) Soil carbon stocks and land use change: a meta analysis. Globle Change Biol 8(4):345–360

    Google Scholar 

  • Guo X, Jiang YF (2019) Spatial characteristics of ecological stoichiometry and their driving factors in farmland soils in Poyang Lake Plain, Southeast China. J Soils Sediments 19:263–274

    Google Scholar 

  • Jiang YF, Rao L, Sun K, Han Y, Guo X (2018) Spatio-temporal distribution of soil nitrogen in Poyang lake ecological economic zone (South-China). Sci Total Environ 626:235–243

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kong XB, Zhang FG, Wei Q, Xu Y, Hui JG (2006) Influence of land use change on soil nutrients in an intensive agricultural region of North China. Soil Tillage Res 88:85–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Lang F, Bauhus J, Frossard E, George E, Kaiser K, Kaupenjohann M, Krüger J, Matzner E, Polle A, Prietzel J, Rennenberg H, Wellbrock N (2016) Phosphorus in forest ecosystems: new insights from an ecosystem nutrition perspective. J Plant Nutr Soil Sci 179:129–135

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li ZP, Han CW, Han FX (2010) Organic C and N mineralization as affected by dissolved organic matter in paddy soils of subtropical China. Geoderma 157:206–213

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li DJ, Wen L, Yang LQ, Luo P, Xiao KC, Chen H, Zhang W, He XY, Chen HS, Wang K (2017) Dynamics of soil organic carbon and nitrogen following agricultural abandonment in a karst region. J Geophys Res Biogeosci 122:230–242

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li QQ, Li AW, Yu XL, Dai T, Peng Y, Yuan D, Zhao B, Tao Q, Wang C, Li B, Gao X, Li Y, Wu D, Xu Q (2020) Soil acidification of the soil profile across Chengdu Plain of China from the 980s to 2010s. Sci Total Environ 698:134320

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu X, Ma J, Ma ZW, Li LH (2017) Soil nutrient contents and stoichiometry as affected by land-use in an agro-pastoral region of northwest China. Catena 150:146–1530

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu X, Li LH, Wang Q, Mu SY (2018) Land-use change affects stocks and stoichiometric ratios of soil carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus in a typical agro-pastoral region of northwest China. J Soils Sediments 18:3167–3176. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-018-1984-5

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Luo YL, Li QQ, Wang CQ, Li B, Stomph T, Yang J, Tao Q, Yuan S, Tang XY, Ge JR, Yu XL, Peng YY, Xu Q, Zheng GX (2020) Negative effects of urbanization on agricultural soil easily oxidizable organic carbon (EOC) down the profile of the Chengdu Plain, China. Land Degrad Dev 31: 404–416

  • McGroddy ME, Daufresne T, Hedin LO (2004) Scaling of C:N:P stoichiometry in forests worldwide: implications of terrestrial Redfield-type ratios. Ecology 85:2390–2401

    Google Scholar 

  • McLauchlan K (2006) The nature and longevity of agricultural impacts on soil carbon and nutrients: a review. Ecosystems 9:1364–1382

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson D, Sommers LE (1982) Total carbon, organic carbon, and organic matter. Methods of soil analysis Part 2. Chemical and Microbiological Properties, pp. 539-579

  • Parkinson J, Allen S (1975) A wet oxidation procedure suitable for the determination of nitrogen and mineral nutrients in biological material. Commun Soil Sci Plant Anal 6:1–11

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rinnan R, Michelsen A, Jonasson S (2008) Effects of litter addition and warming on soil carbon, nutrient pools and microbial communities in a subarctic heath ecosystem. Appl Soil Ecol 39:271–281

    Google Scholar 

  • Schuerger AC, Capelle GA, Benedetto JAD, Mao CY, Thai CN, Evans MD, Richards JT, Blank TA, Stryjewski EC (2003) Comparison of two hyperspectral imaging and two laser-induced fluorescence instruments for the detection of zinc stress and chlorophyll concentration in bahia grass (Paspalum notatum, Flugge). Remote Sens Environ 84:572–588

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevens RJ, Laughlin RJ, Malone JP (1998) Soil pH affects the processes reducing nitrate to nitrous oxide and di-nitrogen. Soil Biol Biochem 30:1119–1126

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tian HQ, Chen GS, Zhang C, Melillo JM, Hall CAS (2010) Pattern and variation of C: N: P ratios in China’s soils: a synthesis of observational data. Biogeochemistry 98:139–151

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang H, Han GL (2011) Chemical composition of rainwater and anthropogenic influences in Chengdu, Southwest China. Atmos Res 99:190–196

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang W, Sardans J, Zeng C, Zhou C, Li Y, Peñuelas J (2014) Responses of soil nutrient concentrations and stoichiometry to different human land uses in a subtropical tidal wetland. Geoderma 2014(232–234):459–470

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang WQ, Wang C, Sardans J, Min QW, Zeng CS, Tong C, Peñuelas J (2015) Agricultural land use decouples soil nutrient cycles in a subtropical riparian wetland in China. Catena 133:171–178

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang XY, Yu DS, Li CF, Pan Y, Wang XH, Pan JJ, Shi XZ (2016) Characteristics of variations in the organic carbon fractions in paddy soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 80:983–991

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang MM, Chen HS, Zhang W, Wang KL (2018) Soil nutrients and stoichiometric ratios as affected by land use and lithology at county scale in a karst area, Southwest China. Sci Total Environ 619-620:1299–1307

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wardle DA, Walker LR, Bardgett RD (2004) Ecosystem properties and forest decline in contrasting long-term chronosequences. Science 305:509–513

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Winkler P, Kaiser K, Kölbl A, Kühn T, Schad P, Urbanski L, Fiedler S, Lehndorff E, Kalbitz K, Utami SR, Cao Z, Zhang G, Jahn R, Kögel-Knabner I (2015) Response of Vertisols, Andosols, and Alisols to paddy management. Geoderma 261:23–35

  • Wu YZ, Chen J, Wu XM, Tian QJ, Ji JF, Qin ZH (2005) Possibilities of reflectance spectroscopy for the assessment of contaminant elements in suburban soils. Appl Geochem 20:1051–1059

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Xu XF, Thornton PE, Post WM (2013) A global analysis of soil microbial biomass carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in terrestrial ecosystems. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 22:737–749

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu CH, Xiang WH, Gou MM, Chen L, Lei PF, Fang X, Deng XW, Ouyang S (2018) Effects of forest restoration on soil carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and their stoichiometry in Hunan, Southern China. Sustainability 10:1874

    Google Scholar 

  • Yan XY, Cai ZC, Wang SW, Smith P (2011) Direct measurement of soil organic carbon content change in the croplands of China. Glob Change Biol 17:1487–1496

    Google Scholar 

  • Yao ZS, Zheng XH, Xie BH, Mei BL, Wang R, Butterbach-Bahl K, Zhu JG, Yin R (2009) Tillage and crop residue management significantly affects N-trace gas emissions during the non-rice season of a subtropical rice-wheat rotation. Soil Biol Biochem 41:2131–2140

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yu Q, Chen QS, Elser JJ, He NP, Wu HH, Zhang GM, Wu JG, Bai YF, Han XG (2010) Linking stoichiometric homoeostasis with ecosystem structure, functioning and stability. Ecol Lett 13:1390–1399

    Google Scholar 

  • Zechmeister-Boltenstern S, Keiblinger KM, Mooshammer M, Peñuelas J, Richter A, Sardans J, Wanek W (2015) The application of ecological stoichiometry to plant-microbial-soil organic matter transformations. Ecol Monogr 85:133–155

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang ZS, Song XL, Lu XG, Xue ZS (2013) Ecological stoichiometry of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus in estuarine wetland soils: influences of vegetation coverage, plant communities, geomorphology, and seawalls. J Soils Sediments 13:1043–1051

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao FZ, Sun J, Ren CJ, Kang D, Deng J, Han XH, Yang GH, Feng YZ, Ren GX (2015) Land use change influences soil C, N, and P stoichiometry under ‘Grain-to-Green Program’ in China. Sci Rep 5:10195

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou Y, Boutton TW, Wu XB (2018) Soil C:N:P stoichiometry responds to vegetation change from grassland to woodland. Biogeochemistry 140:341–357

    CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 40901138).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Resources, Sichuan Agricultural University, 211 Huimin Road, Chengdu, 611130, Sichuan, China

    Lei Du, Xizhou Zhang, Zicheng Zheng, Tingxuan Li, Yongdong Wang, Huagang Huang, Haiying Yu, Daihua Ye & Tao Liu

Authors
  1. Lei Du
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xizhou Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Zicheng Zheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Tingxuan Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Yongdong Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Huagang Huang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Haiying Yu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Daihua Ye
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Tao Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Lei Du and Xizhou Zhang designed the paper with the data from Tao Liu and Yongdong Wang. All authors contributed to the writing of the manuscript, with writing led by Lei Du.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xizhou Zhang.

Ethics declarations

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. This research was not involved Human Participants and Animals.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Weixin Ding

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Du, L., Zhang, X., Zheng, Z. et al. Paddy soil nutrients and stoichiometric ratios as affected by anthropogenic activities during long-term tillage process in Chengdu Plain. J Soils Sediments 20, 3835–3845 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-020-02724-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-020-02724-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation