Cropping systems and agricultural management strategies affect soil organic carbon dynamics in semi-arid regions

Abstract

IntroductionSoil organic carbon (SOC) dynamic is one of the important factors that directly influence soil properties and quality. In agro-ecosystems, the SOC dynamics are strongly linked to agricultural management practices.MethodsIn this study, we investigated the response of SOC and its fractions to various combination of agricultural management practices based on measurements obtained from an experiment conducted over four growing seasons from 2018 to 2020 in Ahvaz, Iran. The experimental treatments involved three agricultural strategies combined with four crop rotation systems. The agricultural strategies comprised conventional (CON: mineral fertilizer, removal of all crop residues), organic (ORG: organic fertilizer, 30% return of crop residues to the soil), and integrated (INT: mineral/organic fertilizer, 15% return of crop residues) strategies. The crop rotation systems were: fallow-wheat (F-W), corn-wheat (C-W), sesame-wheat (S-W), and mung bean-wheat (B-W). Soil samples were collected from all treatments and SOC, labile-C, and non-labile-C were measured.Results and discussionAfter two years of experiment, no significant improvement was found in SOC of CON strategy (p ≤ 0.05). The ORG and INT strategies contained on average 1.1 and 1.06 times more SOC than the CON strategy, respectively. The value of labile-C was decreased during summer cultivations and increased in the soil samples collected after winter cultivations. However, although the quantity of labile-C in ORG (2 g kg−1) was higher than INT (1.83 g kg−1) and CON (1.87 g kg−1) overall during the experiment time, after the second summer cultivation despite the gradual accumulation of organic matter due to high levels of temperature and humidity, the content in ORG reduced to1.47 g kg−1. In all three agricultural management strategies, the SOC content in the four rotation systems was according to the following descending order B-W (5.7 g kg−1) > C-W (5.29 g kg−1) > S-W (5.23 g kg−1) > F-W (4.52 g kg−1). Therefore, for this region M-W and S-W crop rotation systems are recommended in addition to C-W (which is the most common rotation system). However, crop rotation systems were more beneficial for C-sequestration when combined with organic and inorganic fertilization and crop residue incorporation. This study gives promising results for implementing INT and ORG strategies under long-term cropping systems containing various summer crops in rotation with wheat for improving SOC dynamics in semi-arid regions in Iran.

Short-Term Response of Soil Organic Carbon Indices to Different Farming Strategies and Crop Rotation Systems in a Semiarid Warm Region

“…Te experimental soil is classifed as sandy-loamy, consisting of 67% sand, 21% silt, and 12% clay. Soil analysis revealed a nitrogen content of 0.039%, a carbon content of 0.45%, a phosphorus concentration of 26 kg•ha −1 , an available potassium concentration of 318 kg•ha −1 , an electrical conductivity of 3.4 dS•m −1 , and a pH of 7.8 [11].…”

“…Te herbicide was applied once a year before the wheat was sown when weeds were still in active growth. Weed control was chemical for SIF + no-CR, manual for SOF + 30% CR, and chemical and manual for the IOF + 15% CR strategy [11].…”

“…Figure 1 shows the diferent types of crop rotation systems during the experimental years. Detailed information, e.g., planting and harvesting dates, cultivation method, irrigation, and tillage for summer, and winter crops are highlighted in our published research [11]. All crops were irrigated.…”

“…Te labile-SOC was determined using 333 mM KMNO 4 , and then the nonlabile-SOC pools were estimated by deducting the labile-SOC from the total SOC [16,32]. Detailed information on the measurement of SOC fractions is documented in [11]. Te information and the range of the initial and fnal values for total SOC, labile-SOC, and nonlabile SOC are given in Table 2.…”

“…However, short-term changes in total SOC are difcult to measure because a large fraction of SOC consists of stable C (hereafter referred to as nonlabile SOC) with a slow turnover in the soil (from 10 to 1000 years) [8]. On the other hand, many researchers have used labile soil organic carbon (labile-SOC) fractions such as microbial biomass C, particulate organic C, and KMnO 4 oxidised organic C (KMnO 4 -C) as a sensitive indicator of management practices [9][10][11]. Tese fractions refer to small pools of SOC that are susceptible to short-term turnover [12].…”