Abstract
Among factors controlling decomposition and retention of residue C in soil, effect of initial soil organic C (SOC) concentration remains unclear. We evaluated, under controlled conditions, short-term retention of corn residue C and total soil CO2 production in C-rich topsoil and C-poor subsoil samples of heavy clay. Topsoil (0–20 cm deep, 31.3 g SOC kg−1 soil) and subsoil (30–70 cm deep, 4.5 g SOC kg−1 soil) were mixed separately with 13C–15N-labeled corn (Zea mays L.) residue at rates of 0 to 40 g residue C kg−1 soil and incubated for 51 days. We measured soil CO2–C production and the retention of residue C in the whole soil and the fine particle-size fraction (<50 μm). Cumulative C mineralization was always greater in topsoil than subsoil. Whole-soil residue C retention was similar in topsoil and subsoil at rates up to 20 g residue C kg−1. There was more residue C retained in the fine fraction of topsoil than subsoil at low residue input levels (2.5 and 5 g residue C kg−1), but the trend was reversed with high residue inputs (20 and 40 g residue C kg−1). Initial SOC concentration affected residue C retention in the fine fraction but not in the whole soil. At low residue input levels, greater microbial activity in topsoil resulted in greater residue fragmentation and more residue C retained in the fine fraction, compared to the subsoil. At high residue input levels, less residue C accumulated in the fine fraction of topsoil than subsoil likely due to greater C saturation in the topsoil. We conclude that SOC-poor soils receiving high C inputs have greater potential to accumulate C in stable forms than SOC-rich soils.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada staff for the technical assistance provided, in particular, Normand Bertrand, Gabriel Lévesque, Johanne Tremblay, Nicole Bissonnette, and Clarence Gilberton. The Green Crop Network, funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, provided partial financial support for the study. V. P. received postgraduate scholarships from the Fond Québécois pour la Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies, the Max Bell Foundation at McGill University, and the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada. We also thank Isabelle Basile-Doelsch and Daniel Borschneck at the CEREGE, Aix-en-Provence, France for their help with soil mineralogical analysis and Jerôme Balesdent from INRA, Aix-en-Provence, France for helpful discussions.
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This article was submitted for the special issue “Mechanisms of C stabilization and sequestration in soils.”
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Poirier, V., Angers, D.A., Rochette, P. et al. Initial soil organic carbon concentration influences the short-term retention of crop-residue carbon in the fine fraction of a heavy clay soil. Biol Fertil Soils 49, 527–535 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-013-0794-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-013-0794-6