Abstract
Background and Aims
Managing soil organic matter (SOM) levels in agricultural systems has focused predominantly on the quantity of plant residues returned to the soil but residue quality may also affect SOM stores and dynamics. Our objective in this research was to evaluate the influence of crop rotation on SOM storage and dynamics in a long-term field experiment using particle size fractionation and natural abundance 13C.
Methods
Soils were collected from an 18-year maize (Zea mays L.) and soybean (Glycine max (L) Merr.) cropping experiment that imposed a natural shift in the C isotope ratio of SOM with no addition of fertilizer nitrogen (N). We fractionated soils from time zero and year 18 into three size fractions (>53 μm, 5–53 μm, <5 μm), analyzed the whole soils and fractions for their elemental concentrations and C isotope ratios, and calculated the storage and turnover of C and N in the soil.
Results
Soil C and N levels declined in all cropping treatments over time. The quantity and quality of residues returned to the soil over the experimental period differed among the rotation treatments but there was no rotation effect on the storage of C and N in the whole soil or any fraction. The rate of soil C and N loss was positively related to the quantity of residues returned to the soil, suggesting that in this C- and N-limited system, residue addition stimulated decomposition of recalcitrant C.
Conclusions
This study indicates that C inputs alone may not be sufficient for increasing SOC stores and that the availability of nutrients in the plant-soil system must also be considered, particularly when N inputs are limiting. Our results suggest that in a C- and N-limited system, additions of fresh residues may stimulate the microbial community to mine recalcitrant stores of SOM for N, thereby resulting in losses of otherwise stable SOM stores by priming.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allmaras RR, Nelson WW, Voorhees WB (1975) Soybean and corn rooting in southwestern Minnesota: II. Root distribution and related water inflow. Soil Sci Soc Am Pro 39:771–777
Anderson EL (1987) Tillage and N fertilization effects on maize root growth and root:shoot ratio. Plant Soil 108:245–251
Anderson DW, Paul EA (1984) Organo-mineral complexes and their study by radiocarbon dating. Soil Sci Soc Am J 48:298–301
Anderson DW, Saggar S, Bettany JR, Stewart JWB (1981) Particle size fractions and their use in studies of soil organic matter: I. the nature and distribution of forms of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur. Soil Sci Soc Am J 45:767–772
Angers DA, Bolinder MA, Carter MR, Gregorich EG, Drury CF, Liant BC, Voroney RP, Simard RR, Donald RG, Beyaert RP, Martel J (1997) Impact of tillage practices on organic carbon and nitrogen storage in cool, humid soils of eastern Canada. Soil Tillage Res 41:587–596
Balesdent J, Mariotti A (1987) Natural 13C abundance as a tracer for studies of soil organic matter dynamics. Soil Biol Biochem 19:25–30
Balesdent J, Wagner GH, Mariotti A (1988) Soil organic matter turnover in long-term field experiments as revealed by carbon-13 natural abundance. Soil Sci Soc Am J 52:118–124
Bathke GR, Blake GR (1984) Effects of soybeans on soil properties related to soil erodibility. Soil Sci Soc Am J 48:1398–1401
Blagodatskaya E, Kuzyakov Y (2008) Mechanisms of real and apparent priming effects and their dependence on soil microbial biomass and community structure: critical review. Biol Fertil Soils 45:115–131
Broder MW, Wagner GH (1988) Microbial colonization and decomposition of corn, wheat and soybean residue. Soil Sci Soc Am J 52:112–117
Buyanovsky GA, Wagner GH (1986) Post-harvest residue input to cropland. Plant Soil 93:57–65
Clapp CE, Allmaras RR, Layese MF, Linden DR, Dowdy RH (2000) Soil organic carbon and 13C abundance as related to tillage, crop residue, and nitrogen fertilization under continuous corn management in Minnesota. Soil Till Res 55:127–142
Collins HP, Blevins RL, Bundy LG, Christenson DR, Dick WA, Huggins DR, Paul EA (1999) Soil carbon dynamics in corn-based agroecosystems: results from carbon-13 natural abundance. Soil Sci Soc Am J 63:584–591
Coulter JA, Nafziger ED, Wander MM (2009) Soil organic matter response to cropping system and nitrogen fertilization. Agron J 101:592–599
Craine JM, Morrow C, Fierer N (2007) Microbial nitrogen limitation increases decomposition. Ecology 88:2105–2113
Deen W, Kataki PK (2003) Carbon sequestration in a long-term conventional versus conservation tillage experiment. Soil Tillage Res 74:143–150
Eghball B, Maranville JW (1993) Root development and nitrogen influx of corn genotypes grown under combined drought and nitrogen stress. Agron J 85:147–152
Ellert BH, Bettany JR (1995) Calculation of organic matter and nutrients stored in soils under contrasting management regimes. Can J Soil Sci 75:529–538
Ellert BH, Janzen HH, VandenBygaart AJ, Bremer E (2008) Measuring change in soil organic carbon storage. In: Carter MR, Gregorich EG (eds) Soil sampling and methods of analysis, 2nd edn. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis, Boca Raton, FL, pp. 25–38
Fahad AA, Miekle LN, Flowerday AD, Swartzendruber D (1982) Soil physical properties as affected by soybean and other cropping sequences. Soil Sci Soc Am J 46:377–381
Fontaine S, Bardoux G, Abbadie L, Mariotti A (2004) Carbon input to soil may decrease soil carbon content. Ecol Lett 7:314–320
Fontaine S, Barot S, Barre P, Bdioui N, Mary B, Rempel C (2007) Stability of organic carbon in deep soil layers controlled by fresh carbon supply. Nature 450:277–281
Fornara DA, Bardgett R, Steinbeiss S, Zak DR, Gleixner G, Tilman D (2011) Plant effects on soil N mineralization are mediated by the composition of multiple organic matter fractions. Ecol Res 26:201–208
Gerzabek MH, Haberhauer G, Kirchmann H (2001) Soil organic matter pools and carbon-13 natural abundances in particle-size fractions of a long-term agricultural field experiment receiving organic amendments. Soil Sci Soc Am J 65:352–358
Gregorich EG, Ellert BH, Monreal CM (1995) Turnover of soil organic matter and storage of corn residue carbon estimated from natural 13C abundance. Can J Soil Sci 75:161–167
Gregorich EG, Drury CF, Baldock JA (2001) Changes in soil carbon under long-term maize in monoculture and legume-based rotation. Can J Soil Sci 81:21–31
Gregorich EG, Beare MH, McKim UF, Skjemstad JO (2006) Chemical and biological characteristics of physically uncomplexed organic matter. Soil Sci Soc Am J 70:975–985
Gregorich EG, Carter MR, Angers DA, Drury CF (2009) Using a sequential density and particle-size fractionation to evaluate carbon and nitrogen storage in the profile of tilled and no-till soils in eastern Canada. Can J Soil Sci 89:255–267
Guenet B, Juarez S, Bardoux G, Abbadie L, Chenu C (2012) Evidence that stable C is as vulnerable to priming effect as is more labile C in soil. Soil Biol Biochem 52:43–48
Guenet B, Neill C, Bardoux G, Abbadi L (2010) Is there a linear relationship between priming effect intensity and the amount of organic matter input? Appl Soil Ecol 46:436–442
Huggins DR, Buyanovsky GA, Wagner GH, Brown JR, Darmody RG, Peck TR, Lesoing GW, Vanotti MB, Bundy LG (1998a) Soil organic C in the tallgrass prairie-derived region of the corn belt: effects of long-term crop management. Soil Till Res 47:219–234
Huggins DR, Clapp CE, Allmaras RR, Lamb JA, Layese MF (1998b) Carbon dynamics in corn-soybean sequences as estimated from natural carbon-13 abundance. Soil Sci Soc Am J 62:195–203
Huggins DR, Allmaras RR, Clapp CE, Lamb JA, Randall GW (2007) Corn-soybean sequence and tillage effects on soil carbon dynamics and storage. Soil Sci Soc Am J 71:145–154
Johnson JMF, Allmaras RR, Reicosky DC (2006) Estimating source carbon from crop residues, roots and rhizodeposits using the national grain-yield database. Agron J 98:622–636
Larson WE, Clapp CE, Pierre WH, Morachan YB (1972) Effects of increasing amounts of organic residues on continuous corn: II. Organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, and sulfur. Agron J 64:204–208
Liang BC, Gregorich EG, MacKenzie AF, Schnitzer M, Voroney RP, Monreal CM, Beyaert RP (1998) Retention and turnover of corn residue carbon in some eastern Canadian soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 62:1361–1366
Ma BL, Dwyer LM, Gregorich EG (1999a) Soil nitrogen amendment effects on nitrogen uptake and grain yield of maize. Agron J 91:650–656
Ma BL, Dwyer LM, Gregorich EG (1999b) Soil nitrogen amendment effects on seasonal nitrogen mineralization and nitrogen cycling in maize production. Agron J 91:1003–1009
Mazilli SR, Kemanian AR, Ernst OR, Jackson RB, Pineiro G (2014) Priming of soil organic carbon decomposition induced by corn compared to soybean crops. Soil Biol Biochem 75:273–281
Parfitt RL, Salt GJ (2001) Carbon and nitrogen mineralisation in sand, silt, and clay fractions of soils under maize and pasture. Aust J Soil Res 39:361–371
Pikul JL, Johnson JMF, Schumacher TE, Vigil M, Riedell WE (2008) Change in surface soil carbon under rotated corn in eastern South Dakota. Soil Sci Soc Am J 72:1738–1744
Rasmussen PE, Allmaras RR, Rohde CR, Roager NC (1980) Crop residue influences on soil carbon and nitrogen in a wheat-fallow system. Soil Sci Soc Am J 44:596–600
Reicosky DC, Evans SD, Cambardella CA, Allmaras RR, Wilts AR, Huggins DR (2002) Continous corn with moldboard tillage: residue and fertility effects on soil carbon. J Soil Water Conserv 57:277–284
Schelske CL, Hodell DA (1995) Using carbon isotopes of bulk sedimentary organic matter to reconstruct the history of nutrient loading and eutrophication in lake Erie. Limnol Oceanogr 40:918–929
Schmidt MWI, Torn MS, Abiven S, Dittmar T, Guggenberger G, Janssens IA, Kleber M, Kogel-Knabner I, Lehmann J, Manning DAC, Nannipieri P, Rasse DP, Weiner S, Trumbore SE (2011) Persistence of soil organic matter as an ecosystem property. Nature 478:49–56
Sollins P, Spycher G, Glassman CA (1984) Net nitrogen mineralization from light- and heavy-fraction forest soil organic matter. Soil Biol Biochem 16:31–37
Tiessen H, Stewart JWB (1983) Particle-size fractions and their use in studies of soil organic matter: II. Cultivation effects on organic matter composition in size. Soil Sci Soc Am J 47:509–514
VandenBygaart AJ, Kay BD (2004) Persistence of soil organic carbon after plowing a long-term no-till field in southern Ontario, Canada. Soil Sci Soc Am J 68:1394–1402
Whalen JK, Bottomley PJ, Myrold DD (2000) Carbon and nitrogen mineralization from light- and heavy-fraction additions to soil. Soil Biol Biochem 32:1345–1352
Yang XM, Kay BD (2001) Impacts of tillage practices on total, loose- and occluded-particulate, and humified organic carbon fractions in soils within a field in southern Ontario. Can J Soil Sci 81:149–156
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Liz Shaw.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Diochon, A., Gregorich, E.G., Kellman, L. et al. Greater soil C inputs accelerate loss of C in cropping systems with low N input. Plant Soil 400, 93–105 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-015-2718-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-015-2718-8