Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T01:39:19.419Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Changes in soil carbon and nitrogen under long-term cotton plantations in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2011

W. KAIYONG ,
F. HUA ,
T. RANAB ,
M. A. HANJRAC ,
D. BO ,
L. HUAN  and
Z. FENGHUA
W. KAIYONG
Affiliation:
The Key Oasis Eco-Agriculture Laboratory of Xinjiang Production and Construction Group, ShiHezi, China Agronomy College, Shihezi University, ShiHezi City, 832003, Xinjiang, China
F. HUA
Affiliation:
The Key Oasis Eco-Agriculture Laboratory of Xinjiang Production and Construction Group, ShiHezi, China Agronomy College, Shihezi University, ShiHezi City, 832003, Xinjiang, China
T. RANAB
Affiliation:
CSIRO Land and Water, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
M. A. HANJRAC
Affiliation:
Charles Sturt University, NSW, 2678, Australia
D. BO
Affiliation:
The Key Oasis Eco-Agriculture Laboratory of Xinjiang Production and Construction Group, ShiHezi, China Agronomy College, Shihezi University, ShiHezi City, 832003, Xinjiang, China
L. HUAN
Affiliation:
The Key Oasis Eco-Agriculture Laboratory of Xinjiang Production and Construction Group, ShiHezi, China Agronomy College, Shihezi University, ShiHezi City, 832003, Xinjiang, China
Z. FENGHUA*
Affiliation:
The Key Oasis Eco-Agriculture Laboratory of Xinjiang Production and Construction Group, ShiHezi, China Agronomy College, Shihezi University, ShiHezi City, 832003, Xinjiang, China
*
*To whom all correspondence should be addressed. Email: zhangfenghua2008@yahoo.com.cn
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Cotton is the dominant crop in the northern Xinjiang oasis of China; it accounts for 0·78 of the total planting area and represents a major contribution to economic development. The objective of the present study is to determine how cotton plantation age affected chemical and microbiological properties of the soil. The time substitution method was used on plantation farmlands, reclaimed from uncultivated land 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 years ago. A total of 250 soil samples, at depths of 0–200, 200–400, 400–600, 600–800 and 800–1000 mm, were collected from cotton fields in 10 farms of each age category. There were significant differences in soil organic carbon (SOC), total soil nitrogen (TSN), soil available nitrogen (SAN), soil microbial biomass carbon (SMBC) and soil microbial biomass nitrogen (SMBN). There were also differences in the activities of cellulase, invertase and urease between soil layers and plantation ages, and these were most evident in the 200–400 mm layer. The cumulative rates of SOC and SMBC in the 0–1000 mm soil layer at the 5-, 10-, 15- and 20-year sites were 0·89, 0·99, 1·01 and 0·92 mg/kg/yr and 16, 16, 16 and 15 mg/kg/yr, respectively, compared to that at the control site (0 year). The cumulative amounts of SOC and SMBC increased gradually and then decreased, reaching a maximum at plantation ages of 13·1 years and 11·1 years, respectively. This suggests that incorporation of post-harvest cotton residues could be used as an effective measure to improve SOC in farmland of Xinjiang Oasis, and may be recommended for adoption in cotton growing in semi-arid oasis agriculture.

Type
Crops and Soils
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 149 , Issue 4 , August 2011 , pp. 497 - 505
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alvarez, R. (2005). A review of nitrogen fertilizer and conservation tillage effects on soil organic carbon storage. Soil Use and Management 21, 38–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bao, S. D. (2002). Soil and Agricultural Chemistry Analysis. Beijing: China Agriculture Press.Google Scholar
Dexter, A. R. (1988). Advances in characterization of soil structure. Soil and Tillage Research 11, 199–238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Du Preez, C. C. & Wiltshire, G. H. (1997). Changes in the organic matter and nutrient content of some South African irrigated soils. South African Journal of Plant and Soil 14, 49–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Entry, J. A., Sojka, R. E. & Shewmaker, G. E. (2002). Management of irrigated agriculture to increase organic carbon storage in soils. Soil Science Society of America Journal 66, 1957–1964.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Follett, R. F. (2001) Soil management concepts and carbon sequestration in cropland soils. Soil & Tillage Research 61, 77–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fortuna, A., Harwood, R., Kizilkaya, K. & Paul, E. A. (2003). Optimizing nutrient availability and potential carbon sequestration in an agroecosystem. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 35, 1005–1013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franzluebbers, A. J. (1999). Potential C and N mineralization and microbial biomass from intact and increasingly disturbed soils of varying texture. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 31, 1083–1090.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freibauer, A., Rounsevell, M. D. A., Smith, P. & Verhagend, J. (2004). Carbon sequestration in the agricultural soils of Europe. Geoderma 122, 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grandy, A. S. & Robertson, G. P. (2006). Initial cultivation of a temperate-region soil immediately accelerates aggregate turnover and CO2 and N2O fluxes. Global Change Biology 12, 1507–1520.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hu, Y. L., Zeng, D. H., Fan, Z. P., Chen, G. S., Zhao, Q. & Pepper, D. (2008). Changes in ecosystem carbon stocks following grassland afforestation of semiarid sandy soil in the southeastern Keerqin Sandy Lands, China. Journal of Arid Environments 72, 2193–2200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Integrated Survey Team of Xinjiang and Institute of Botany of Chinese Academy of Sciences. (ISTXJIBCAS) (1978). Vegetation of Xinjiang and its Development. Beijing: Science Press.Google Scholar
Jenkinson, D. S. & Powlson, D. S. (1976). The effects of biosidal treatments on metabolism in soil-V: A method for measuring soil biomass. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 8, 209–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lobe, I., Ameldung, W. & Du Preez, C. C. (2001). Losses of carbon and nitrogen with prolonged arable cropping from sandy soils of the South African Highveld. European Journal of Soil Science 52, 93–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
López-Piñeiro, A., Albarran, A., Rato Nunes, J. M. & Barreto, C. (2008). Short and medium-term effects of two-phase olive mill waste application on olive grove production and soil properties under semiarid Mediterranean conditions. Bioresource Technology 99, 7982–7987.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, G. L. (1959). Use of dinitrosalicylic acid reagent for determination of reducing sugar. Analytical Chemistry 31, 426–428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nel, P. C., Barnard, R. O., Steynberg, R. E., De Beer, J. M. & Groeneveld, H. T. (1996). Trends in maize grain yields in a long term fertilizer trial. Field Crops Research 47, 53–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Omay, A. B., Rice, C. W., Maddux, L. D. & Gordon, W. B. (1997). Changes in soil microbial and chemical properties under long-term crop rotation and fertilization. Soil Science Society of America Journal 61, 1672–1678.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pascual, J. A., Garcia, G., Hernandez, T., Moreno, J. L. & Ros, M. (2000). Soil microbial activity as a biomarker of degradation and remediation processes. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 32, 1877–1883.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, D. L. & Hammer, R. D. (1986). Soil nutrient flux: a component of nutrient cycling in temperate forest ecosystems. Forest Science 32, 318–324.Google Scholar
Pickett, S. T. A. (1989). Space-for-time substitution as an alternative to long-term studies. In Long-term Studies in Ecology: Approaches and Alternatives (Ed. Likens, G. E.), pp. 110–135. New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierce, J. F. & Nowak, P. (1999). Aspects of precision agriculture. Advances in Agronomy 67, 1–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plaza, C., Hernandez, D., Garcia-Gil, J. C. & Polo, A. (2004). Microbial activity in pig slurry-amended soils under semiarid conditions. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 36, 1577–1585.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Post, W. M., Emanuel, W. R., Zinke, P. J. & Stangenberger, A. G. (1982). Soil carbon pools and world life zones. Nature 298, 156–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pouyat, R. V., Yesilonis, I. D. & Nowak, D. J. (2006). Carbon storage by urban soil in the United States. Journal of Environmental Quality 35, 1566–1575.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Puglisi, E., Del Re, A. A. M., Rao, M. A. & Gianfreda, L. (2006). Development and validation of numerical indexes integrating enzyme activities of soils. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 38, 1673–1681.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodriguez-Murillo, J. C. (2001). Organic carbon content under different types of land use and soil in peninsular Spain. Biology and Fertility of Soils 33, 53–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saiz, G., Green, C., Butterbach-Bahl, K., Kiese, R., Avitabile, V. & Farrell, E. P. (2006). Seasonal and spatial variability of soil respiration in four Sitka spruce stands. Plant Soil 287, 161–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandhu, K. S., Benbi, D. K. & Prihar, S. S. (1996). Dryland wheat yields in relation to soil organic carbon, applied nitrogen, stored water and rainfall distribution. Fertilizer Research 44, 9–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sardans, J., Penuelas, J. & Estiarte, M. (2008). Changes in soil enzymes related to C and N cycle and in soil C and N content under prolonged warming and drought in a Mediterranean shrubland. Applied Soil Ecology 39, 223–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sampson, R. N. & Scholes, R. J. (2000). Additional human-induced activities: Article 3.4. In Land Use, Land-Use change and Forestry (Eds Watson, R. T., Noble, I. R., Bolin, B., Ravindranath, N. H., Verardo, D. J. & Dokken, D. J.), pp. 220–230. sections 4.1–4.7. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Schinner, F. & von Mersi, W. (1990). Xylanase-, CM-cellulase and invertase activity in soil: an improved method. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 22, 511–515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schinner, F., Öhlinger, R., Kandeler, E. & Margesin, R. (1996). Methods in Soil Biology. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sitaula, B. K., Bajracharya, R. M., Singh, B. R. & Solberg, B. (2004) Factors affecting organic carbon dynamics in soils of Nepal/Himalayan region-a review and analysis. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems 70, 215–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soil Science Society of China. (2000). Chemical Analysis Methods of Soils. Beijing: China Agricultural Science Technology Press.Google Scholar
Soil Survey Team of Manas County. (1992). Report of soil survey of Manas County. Manas, Xinjiang: Agricultural Office of Manas CountyGoogle Scholar
SPSS (2001). SPSS. Release Version 11.0.1. Chicago, IL: SPSS Inc.Google Scholar
Steenwerth, K. & Belina, K. M. (2008). Cover crops enhance soil organic matter, carbon dynamics and microbiological function in a vineyard agroecosystem. Applied Soil Ecology 40, 359–369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tonitto, C., David, M. B., Drinkwater, L. E. & Li, C. S. (2007). Application of the DNDC model to tile-drained Illinois agroecosystems: model calibration, validation, and uncertainty analysis. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems 78, 51–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zheng, Z., Lai, X. Q., Deng, X. D. & Dai, Z. G. (2000). Technique of cotton stalks returned to field and preliminary calculation of stalk nutrient quantity in Xinjiang. Acta Gossypii Sinica 12, 264–266.Google Scholar