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A new equation to simulate the contact between soil and maize residues of different sizes during their decomposition

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Abstract

The availability of soil nutrients, which are recycled through the decomposition of crop residues, is important for the management of cropped soils. However, knowledge regarding the influence of contact between crop residues and soil on the dynamics of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) in soil is limited. In particular, the effect of particle size on decomposition is not well-known, and conceptual approaches for modelling the soil-residue contact in a decomposition model remain scarce. Therefore, we analysed and modelled the effect of maize stem particle length on decomposition. We incubated maize stem residues with particle sizes of 0.02, 0.5, 2 and 5 cm in length in a loamy soil at 25 °C over 301 days. We continuously measured the mineralisation of C and N and determined the chemical evolution of the remaining particles. We used the decomposition model CANTIS which takes into account the soil-residue contact, using a contact factor, KMZ. The decomposition rates of smaller maize particles were higher than those of larger particles during the early phases of decomposition. However, these differences were not maintained after 301 days. These results suggest that a larger size of the maize particles only slowed the rate of mineralisation in the short term but did not modify decomposition in the medium term. We proposed a new formalism for expressing the changes in soil-residue contact with different particle sizes. The contact factor KMZ was calculated using the standardised specific surface area and can be applied more widely to residues that differ in morphology and density.

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Abbreviations

ADF:

Acid detergent fibre

ADL:

Acid detergent lignin

AUB:

Autochthonous biomass

CEL:

Cellulose fraction

FOM:

Fresh organic matter

HCE:

Hemicelluloses fraction

HOM:

Humified organic matter

LCI:

Lignocellulose index

LIG:

Lignin fraction

NDF:

Neutral detergent fibre

PCS:

Potentially available contact surface

RDM:

Rapidly decomposable material

SOL:

Water-soluble fraction

SS:

Specific surface

VS SOL:

Van Soest soluble fraction

ZYB:

Zymogenous biomass

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Acknowledgments

The present study was funded through INRA, the PEPITES project (ANR Systerra, ANR-08-STRA-10) and HEC, the ministry of foreign affairs of Pakistan, which provided a doctoral grant to Akhtar Iqbal. The authors would like to thank Dr. Pauline Défossez for fruitful discussions at the beginning of this work and G. Alavoine, S. Millon and O. Delfosse for their technical assistance in the laboratory. We would also like to thank Dr. C. Gaudnik and the CAPS service for their reviews of an earlier version of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INRA, UMR614 Fractionnement des AgroRessources et Environnement, F-51100, Reims, France

    Akhtar Iqbal, Gwenaëlle Lashermes & Sylvie Recous

  2. Université de Reims-Champagne Ardenne, UMR614 Fractionnement des AgroRessources et Environnement, F-51100, Reims, France

    Akhtar Iqbal, Gwenaëlle Lashermes & Sylvie Recous

  3. INRA, UMR1091 Environnement et Grandes Cultures, F-78500, Thiverval-Grignon, France

    Patricia Garnier

  4. AgroParisTech, UMR1091 Environnement et Grandes Cultures, F-78500, Thiverval-Grignon, France

    Patricia Garnier

Authors
  1. Akhtar Iqbal
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  2. Patricia Garnier
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  3. Gwenaëlle Lashermes
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  4. Sylvie Recous
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Correspondence to Sylvie Recous.

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Iqbal, A., Garnier, P., Lashermes, G. et al. A new equation to simulate the contact between soil and maize residues of different sizes during their decomposition. Biol Fertil Soils 50, 645–655 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-013-0876-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-013-0876-5

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