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Soil aggregates control N cycling efficiency in long-term conventional and alternative cropping systems

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Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

An Erratum to this article was published on 02 August 2009

Abstract

This paper presents novel data illustrating how soil aggregates control nitrogen (N) dynamics within conventional and alternative Mediterranean cropping systems. An experiment with 15N-labeled cover crop residue and synthetic fertilizer was conducted in long-term (11 years) maize–tomato rotations: conventional (synthetic N only), low-input (reduced synthetic and cover crop-N), and organic (composted manure- and cover crop-N). Soil and nitrous oxide (N2O) samples were collected throughout the maize growing season. Soil samples were separated into three aggregate size classes. We observed a trend of shorter mean residence times in the silt-and-clay fraction than macro- (>250 μm) and microaggregate fractions (53–250 μm). The majority of synthetic fertilizer-derived 15N in the conventional system was associated with the silt-and-clay fraction (<53 μm), which showed shorter mean residence times (2.6 months) than cover crop-derived 15N in the silt-and-clay fractions in the low-input (14.5 months) and organic systems (18.3 months). This, combined with greater N2O fluxes and low fertilizer-N recoveries in both the soil and the crop, suggest that rapid aggregate-N turnover induced greater N losses and reduced the retention of synthetic fertilizer-N in the conventional system. The organic system, which received 11 years of organic amendments, sequestered soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil N, whereas the conventional and low-input systems merely maintained SOC and soil N levels. Nevertheless, the low-input system showed the highest yield per unit of N applied. Our data suggests that the alternating application of cover crop-N and synthetic fertilizer-N in the low-input system accelerates aggregate-N turnover in comparison to the organic system, thereby, leading to tradeoffs among N loss, benefits of organic amendments to SOC and soil N sequestration, and N availability for plant uptake.

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Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Francisco Reis for his invaluable work both in the laboratory and in the field. Also, we are grateful to the staff at the CIFS, particularly Dennis Bryant and Israel Herrera, for their assistance with our field study. We also acknowledge Timothy Doane for his technical advice and assistance with the stable isotope labeling of our cover crop in the greenhouse. Funding for this project was provided by the Kearney Foundation of Soil Science, University of California.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Angela Y. Y. Kong, Steven J. Fonte, Chris van Kessel & Johan Six

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  1. Angela Y. Y. Kong
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  2. Steven J. Fonte
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  3. Chris van Kessel
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  4. Johan Six
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Correspondence to Angela Y. Y. Kong.

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An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10705-009-9305-4.

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Kong, A.Y.Y., Fonte, S.J., van Kessel, C. et al. Soil aggregates control N cycling efficiency in long-term conventional and alternative cropping systems. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 79, 45–58 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-007-9094-6

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