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Soil aggregate and organic carbon distribution at dry land soil and paddy soil: the role of different straws returning

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Abstract

Agriculture wastes returning to soil is one of common ways to reuse crop straws in China. The returned straws are expected to improve the fertility and structural stability of soil during the degradation of straw it selves. The in situ effect of different straw (wheat, rice, maize, rape, and broad bean) applications for soil aggregate stability and soil organic carbon (SOC) distribution were studied at both dry land soil and paddy soil in this study. Wet sieving procedures were used to separate soil aggregate sizes. Aggregate stability indicators including mean weight diameter, geometric mean diameter, mean weight of specific surface area, and the fractal dimension were used to evaluate soil aggregate stability after the incubation of straws returning. Meanwhile, the variation and distribution of SOC in different-sized aggregates were further studied. Results showed that the application of straws, especially rape straw at dry land soil and rice straw at paddy soil, increased the fractions of macro-aggregate (> 0.25 mm) and micro-aggregate (0.25–0.053 mm). Suggesting the nutrients released from straw degradation promotes the growing of soil aggregates directly and indirectly. The application of different straws increased the SOC content at both soils and the SOC mainly distributed at < 0.53 mm aggregates. However, the contribution of SOC in macro- and micro-aggregates increased. Straw-applied paddy soil have a higher total SOC content but lower SOC contents at > 0.25 and 0.25–0.053 mm aggregates with dry land soil. Rape straw in dry land and rice straw in paddy field could stabilize soil aggregates and increasing SOC contents best.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Skye K for his assistance in language polishing. The authors also thank the helpful comments of the reviewers on the manuscript.

Funding

This study was sponsored by the National Key Technology Research and Development Program of China: Cultivated and waste recycling technology integration and demonstration in southwest China (No.2012BAD14B18) and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (XDJK2016E160).

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  1. College of Resources and Environment, Southwest University, No. 2, Tiansheng Street, Beibei, Chongqing, 400715, People’s Republic of China

    Rong Huang, Muling Lan, Jiang Liu & Ming Gao

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  1. Rong Huang
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  2. Muling Lan
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  3. Jiang Liu
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Correspondence to Ming Gao.

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Huang, R., Lan, M., Liu, J. et al. Soil aggregate and organic carbon distribution at dry land soil and paddy soil: the role of different straws returning. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 27942–27952 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0372-9

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