Kinetics of organic carbon mineralization and its changes in three soil types treated with different plant residues (case study: soils around the Lake of Urmia)

Document Type : Complete scientific research article

Authors

1 Ph.D. Graduate, Dept. of Soil Science, ,Urmia University, Urmia, Iran

2 Associate Prof. of Soil Science, Dept. of Soil Science, Urmia University, Urmia, I.R. Iran.

3 Assistant Professor, Dryland Agricultural Research Institute (DARI), Agricultural Research Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Maragheh, Iran

4 Prof. of Soil Science, Dept. of Soil Science, Urmia University, Urmia, I.R. Iran

Abstract

Abstract
Background and Objectives: Soil C dynamics will be influenced differently following incorporation of various plant residues with different qualitative characteristics. One of the most important ways to improve soil organic matter is to manage the correct use of plant residues in agricultural products, so that by bringing these residues back to the soil, the average annual carbon input to soil is increased and part of the carbon output from decomposition microbial is compensated. Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of various plant residues on the mineralization kinetics of carbon and organic carbon content in different soils around the Urmia lake.
Materials and Methods: This study was conducted as a laboratory incubation experiment in a completely randomized factorial design, including three soil types (calcareous, saline-sodic and sodic) and five plant residues (corn stalks, sunflower stalks, wheat straw, clover and vetch residues) with control treatment (soil without plant residues) in three replications. Plant residues (20 g kg-1) were added to the soils and incubated for 10 weeks (70 days) at 25±1°C. CO2 emissions were measured once a week for 10 weeks, and then the parameters of the kinetic equation of mineralization of carbon were calculated. Finally, the organic carbon content of soils was measured immediately after the completion of the experiment on all treatments.
Results: The results of analysis of variance showed that the soil type and plant residue significantly (p < 0.01) affected C mineralization. In all treatments, the highest CO2 emissions occurred during the first week of incubation, and then there was a decreasing trend until the end of the incubation time. The highest amount of cumulative C mineralized obtained from calcareous soils treated with vetch and clover residues. There was a positive and significant correlation between plant N concentration and C mineralized, while there was a negative and significant correlation between ratios of C/N, lignin/N, cellulose/N, hemicellulose/N, cellulose+lignin/N, N/P ratio and C mineralized. Carbon mineralization in all three studied soils is better estimated with C0K than C0. Also, with the return of plant residues to the soils, the amount of organic carbon increased in all three studied soils. The order of increasing organic carbon in different treatments of plant residues in all three studied soils was wheat> corn> sunflower> vetch> clover.
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the highest cumulative mineral carbon in calcareous soils among the three studied soils, indicates the further decomposition of residues in these soils. Therefore, it should be compensated annually for the return of more residues to these soils, part of the carbon output resulting from microbial decomposition. Considering that the main purpose of using organic matter in soils was to increase soil organic matter, the results of this study showed that the greatest effect was on organic carbon increase in all three soils (calcareous, sodic and saline-sodic) of wheat residues and then corn with high C/N ratios and the smallest role obtained from clover and vetch with the lowest C/N. This suggests that increasing the amount of soil organic carbon content by adding plant residues depends on the quality of plant remains (C/N, lignin/N, cellulose/N, hemicellulose/N, cellulose + lignin/N and N/P). Therefore, the use of plant residues with high C/N ratio is recommended for carbon sequestration in these soils.

Keywords: Plant residues, carbon mineralization, organic carbon, C/N ratio, soil type

Keywords

References

 1.Abera, G., Wolde-Meskel, E., and Bakken, L.R. 2012. Carbon and nitrogen mineralization dynamics in different soils of the tropics amended with legume residues and contrasting soil moisture contents. Biology and Fertility of Soils. 48: 51-66.
2.Ajwa, H.A., and Tabatabai, M.A. 1994. Decomposition of different organic materials in soils. Biology and Fertility of Soils. 18: 175-182.
3.Anderson, J.P.E. 1982. Soil respiration.P 831-871. In: A.L. Page and R.H Miller (eds), Methods of soil analysis. Part 2. Chemical and microbiological properties. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI.
4.Basharati, H., Golchin, A., and Atashnama, K. 2007. Effect of nitrogen addition and regulation of C/N ratio of different plant residues on the rate of decomposition of residues. The 10th Iranian Soil Science Congress. 4-6 September, Karaj, Iran. (Translated in Persian)
5.Boldock, J.A. 2007. Composition and cycling of organic soil carbon in soil. P 1-396, In: P. Marchner and Z. Rengel (Eds.), Nutrient Cycling in Terrestrial Ecosystems. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg.
6.Bremner, J.M., and Mulvaney, M. 1982. Nitrogen total. P 595-624. In: A.L. Page, R.H. Miller and R.R. Keeney (eds.), Methods of Soil Analysis, Part 2. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI.
7.Chander, K., Goyal, S., and Kapoor, K.K. 1994. Effect of sodic water irrigation and farmyard manure application on soil microbial biomass and microbial activity. Applied Soil Ecology. 1: 139-144.
8.Dalal, R.C., and Allen, D.E. 2008. Greenhouse gas fluxes from natural ecosystems. Australian Journal of Botany. 56: 369-407.
9.Golchin, A., Kelych, S., and Ajudanzadeh, M. 2007. The role of organic materials in improving the physicochemical properties of soils in arid and semi-arid regions. The 10th Iranian Soil Science Congress. 4-6 September. Karaj. Iran. (Translated in Persian)
10.Hadas, A., Kautsky, L., Goek, M., and Kara, E.E. 2004. Rates of decomposition of plant residues and available nitrogen in soil, related to residue composition through simulation of carbon and nitrogen turnover. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 36: 255-266.
11.Harper, S.H.T., and Lynch, J.M. 1981. The Chemical components and decomposition of wheat straw leaves, internodes and nodes. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. 32: 1057-1062.
12.Hongmei, Z., Daniel, Q.T., Qianxin, L., Xianguo, L., and Guoping, W. 2012. Effects of fires on soil organic carbon pool and mineralization in a Northeastern China wetland. Geoderma. 189-190: 532-539.
13.Khalil, M.I., Hossain, M.B., and Schmidhalter, U. 2005. Carbon and nitrogen mineralization in different upland soils of the subtropics treated with organic materials. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 37: 1507-1518.
14.Kitson, R.E., and Mellon, M.G. 1944.   A spectrophotometric study of the molybdivanadophosphoric acid method for the determination of phosphorus. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, Analytical Edition. 16: 379-383.
15.Liu, P.J., Huang, X.J., Han, O., Sun, O.J., and Zhou, Z.H. 2006. Differential responses of litter decomposition to increased soil nutrients and water between two contrasting grassland plant species of Inner Mongolia, China. Applied Soil Ecology. 34: 266-275.
16.Martens, D.A. 2000. Plant residue biochemistry regulates soil carbon cycling and carbon sequestration. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 32: 361-369.
17.Nelson, D.W., and Sommers, L.P. 1982. Total carbon, organic carbon and organic matter. P 539-579. In: A.L.  Page (Ed.), Methods of Soil Analysis. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, Wisconsin.
18.Nourbakhsh, F., and Sheikh-Hosseini, A.R. 2006. A kinetic approach to evaluate salinity effects on carbon mineralization in a plant residue amended soil. Journal of Zhejiang University Science B. 7: 10. 788-793.
19.Nourbakhsh, F. 2006. Fate of carbon  and nitrogen from plant residue decomposition in a calcareous soil. Plant Soil and Environment. 52: 137-140.
20.Nourbakhsh, F. 2005. Study of kinetics of barley residue decomposition in soil under laboratory conditions. J. Res. Agric. Sci. 4: 1. 69-77.
21.Pascual, J.A., Hernandez, T., Garcia,   C., and Ayuso, M. 1998. Carbon mineralization in an arid soil amended with organic wastes of varying degrees of stability. Communication in Soil Science and Plant Analysis. 29: 835-846.
22.Raiesi, F. 2006. Carbon and N mineralization as affected by soil cultivation and crop residue in a calcareous wetland ecosystem in Central Iran. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. 112: 3-20.
23.Raiesi, F., and Aghababae, F. 2011. The Decomposability of Some Plant Residues and Their Subsequent Influence on Soil Microbial Respiration and Biomass and Enzyme Activity. Journal of Water and Soil. 25: 4. 873-863. (In Persian)
24.Rao, Y., and Xiang, B. 2009. Determination of total ash and acid-insoluble ash of Chinese herbal medicine Prunellae Spica by near infrared spectroscopy. Yakugaku zasshi J. Pharm. Soc. Japan. 129: 7. 881-886.
25.Rees, R.M., Bingham, I.J., Baddeley, J.A., and Watson, C.A. 2005. The role of plants and land management in sequestering soil carbon in temperate arable and grassland ecosystems. Geoderma. 128: 130-154.
26.Rietz, D.N., and Haynes, R.J. 2003. Effects of irrigation-induced salinity and sodicity on soil microbial activity. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 35: 845-854.
27.Saviozzi, A., Vanni, G., and Cardelli, R. 2014. Carbon mineralization kinetics in soils under urban environment. Soil Ecology. 73: 64-69.
28.Setia, R., Marschner, P., Baldock, J., Chittleborough, D., and Verma, V. 2011. Relationships between carbon dioxide emission and soil properties in salt-affected landscapes. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 43: 667-674.
29.Sparks, D.L., Page, A.L., Helmke, P.A., Loeppert, R.H., Soltanpour, P.N., Tabatabai, M.A., Johnston, C.T., and Sumner, M.E. 1996. Methods of soils analysis part-3 Chemical methods. Soil Science Society of America Book Ser. 5, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. 1390p.
30.Thomsen, I.K., Olesen, J.E., Schjønning, P., Jensen, B., and Christensen, B.T. 2001. Net mineralization of soil N and 15N-ryegrass residues in differently textured soils of similar mineralogical composition. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 33: 277-285.
31.Tripathi, S., Kumari, S., Chakraborty, A., Gupta, A., Chakrabarti, K., and Bandyapadhyay, B.K. 2006. Microbial biomass and its activities in salt-affected coastal soils. Biology and Fertility of Soils. 42: 273-277.
32.Vahdat, E., Nourbakhsh, F., and Basiri, M. 2011. Lignin content of range plant residues controls N mineralization in soil. European Journal of Soil Biology. 47: 243-246.
33.Vaieretti, M.V., Pérez, H.N., and Gurvich, D.E. 2005. Decomposition dynamics and physicochemical leaf quality of abundant species in montane woodland in central Argentina. Plant and Soil. 21: 205-278.
34.Van Soest, P.J., Robertson, J.B., and Lewis, B.A. 1991. Methods for dietary fiber, neutral detergent fiber and   non-starch polysaccharides in relation    to animal nutrition. Journal of Dairy Science. 74: 3584-3597.
Journal of Soil Management and Sustainable Production
Volume 10, Issue 1
May 2020
Pages 27-46

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics