Journal
PLANT AND SOIL
Volume 428, Issue 1-2, Pages 453-467Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s11104-018-3689-3
Keywords
Soil structure; biopores; Computed tomography; Land use; Fertilization
Categories
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [NSFC 41401245, 41771264, 41571130053]
- Institute of Soil Science CAS, China [ISSASIP1610]
- State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture [Y20160012]
- National Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars [41725004]
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Soil macropores consist of biopores and non-biopores, which are different in morphological features and ecological functions. We aimed to separate biopores and non-biopores and investigate the response of their three-dimensional (3D) characteristics to land use and fertilization. Intact soil cores sampled from the subsoil (20-30 cm) under a combination of two land uses, paddy and upland fields, and three fertilization treatments, no fertilizer (Control), chemical fertilizer (NPK), and chemical fertilizer plus organic manure (NPKM), were scanned with X-ray computed tomography (CT). A methodology was proposed to separate biopores and non-biopores and the 3D characteristics of the pores were quantified. Based on the proposed methodology, soil biopores were well isolated from non-biopores. The volume of the biopores contributed 30.1-58.0% and 66.3-74.1% of the volume of the total macropores in the upland and paddy subsoils, respectively. The biopores in the paddy subsoil had a lower mean pore volume (MPV) and mean branch number (MBN), but a larger branch angle than those of the biopores found in the upland subsoil. The porosity, MPV, surface area (SA) and connectivity of non-biopores were significantly higher in the upland subsoil than those in the paddy subsoil. The NPKM treatment significantly increased the volume of the large-sized biopores in the upland subsoil and the tortuosity of the biopores in the paddy subsoil, whereas the fertilization effect on non-biopores was minor. Our results demonstrate that subsoil biopores and non-biopores can be effectively distinguished according to the proposed methodology and that their 3D characteristics respond differently to land use and fertilization.
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