Abstract
Purpose
This study was conducted to investigate variations in the stable isotope ratios of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) of agricultural soils under different land uses (i.e., paddy, upland, and orchard) that subjected to different fertilization management (i.e., 15 N-depleted synthetic fertilizer and 13C- and 15 N-enriched livestock manure and compost application).
Materials and methods
Soil samples were collected from paddy, upland, and orchard fields in an intensive agricultural area, and forest (pine and oak) soils were additionally included as background soils. The C and N concentrations and isotope ratios of both bulk and water-extractable soil fractions were analyzed.
Results and discussion
The δ13C and δ15N of agricultural soils were higher than those of forest soils, reflecting repeated manure and compost applications (for both δ13C and δ15N) and higher N loss (for δ15N) in agricultural soils. Among agricultural soils, orchard (− 24.2‰ for δ13C and + 10.6‰ for δ15N) and upland (− 25.4‰ and + 9.6‰, respectively) soils which received higher rates of manure and compost were more enriched with 13C and 15N compared with paddy (− 28.0‰ and + 4.9‰, respectively). Such differences in the isotopic compositions among agricultural soils were also found for water-extractable soil fractions.
Conclusions
Our study suggests that δ13C and δ15N of agricultural soils are affected by land use types with different fertilization management, particularly application of 13C- and 15 N-enriched livestock manure and compost. The δ13C and δ15N could be used as chemical indicators to evaluate the effects of the application of manure and compost on soil C and N dynamics.
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Data availability
All data are available from the supplementary information.
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Funding
This work was carried out with the support of the “Cooperative Research Program for Agriculture Science and Technology Development (Project No. PJ015010022020)”, Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea. YJJ and BSS received scholarships from the BK21 project (Education and Research Unit for Climate-Smart Reclaimed-Tideland Agriculture) of the Ministry of Education, Republic of Korea.
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YJJ: Investigation and Writing—Original draft. HJP: Investigation and Writing—Original draft. BJJ: Investigation and Data curation. BSS: Investigation and Data curation. NRB: Investigation and Data curation. HIY: Investigation and Writing—Reviewing and Editing. JHK: Investigation and Writing—Reviewing and Editing. SML: Resources and Writing—Reviewing and Editing. WJC: Conceptualization, Writing—Reviewing and Editing, and Supervision.
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Jeong, YJ., Park, HJ., Jeon, BJ. et al. Land use types with different fertilization management affected isotope ratios of bulk and water-extractable C and N of soils in an intensive agricultural area. J Soils Sediments 22, 429–442 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-021-03097-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-021-03097-5