Journal
ARCHIVES OF AGRONOMY AND SOIL SCIENCE
Volume 64, Issue 3, Pages 398-408Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/03650340.2017.1359410
Keywords
Tillage; soil organic carbon; labile soil organic carbon; maize yield
Categories
Funding
- Chinese National Scientific Foundation [31540053, 31170490, 41601328]
- Chinese Postdoctoral Science Foundation [2016M601182]
- Special Fund for Agro-scientific Research in the Public Interest [201503120]
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The dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) is imperative for maintaining soil quality. Our objective was to investigate the effects of tillage practices on SOC and its fractions at the depth (0-60 cm) of Chromic Cambisol profile in northern China. The experiment including no-tillage with straw mulch (NTSM) and conventional tillage (CT). Our results indicated that differences in SOC concentration and stock were primarily evident in the 0-10 cm layer. The particulate organic matter carbon (POM-C), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) levels in the top layers (0-10 cm) under the NTSM treatment were 28.5, 26.1 and 51.0% higher than CT. A positive correlation was observed between these labile C fractions and the SOC, and POM-C was the much more sensitive indicator of SOC quality than MBC and DOC. NTSM was unable to sustain the greater yields, and from 2006 to 2011, the mean maize yield for NTSM was significantly lower than that for CT (P < 0.05). NTSM resulted in higher SOC content and stocks in dryland farming systems but lower crop yields is a concern which needs to be addressed in order to make these systems acceptable to the farming community.
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