Long-term effect of chemical fertilizer, straw, and manure on soil chemical and biological properties in northwest China

Effects of fertilization regimes on tea yields, soil fertility, and soil microbial diversity

“…Therefore, maintaining and increasing SOM content in agricultural soils is of paramount importance. Usually, balance application of inorganic fertilizers and organic amendments increased organic input to the soil, then enhanced SOM content (Kanchikerimath and Singh, 2001;Hai et al, 2010), improved soil fertility and crop production (Zhu et al, 2007;Liu et al, 2010). In our study, SOM contents were positively correlated with contents of TN (r = 0.987, P < 0.01), TP (r = 0.964, P < 0.01), AN (r = 0.914, P < 0.01), AP (r = 0.867, P < 0.01), and AK (r = 0.904, P < 0.01), and with tea yields (r = 0.589, P < 0.05) as well as the Shannon indices of bacteria (r = 0.484, P < 0.05, Table 5).…”

“…Fertilization, as an important agricultural practice, not only can increase crop yields and maintain soil fertility, but also result in shifts in the microbial communities, which play a critical role in maintaining the agroecosystem health through soil formation and biochemical processes, including residue decomposition and nutrient cycling. Many studies have focused on fertilization regimes on soil fertility Liu et al, 2010), crop yields (Venkatesan et al, 2004;Zhu et al, 2007) and microbial communities (He et al, 2008;Shen et al, 2010), but, up to now, the results of these reports are still not unanimous, and even conflicted. Moreover, most studies were concerned about the soils for growing food crops, like rice (Wu et al, 2011), wheat (Shen et al, 2010), maize or their combination for rotation (Kumar and Yadav, 2001;Yang et al, 2007;Hu et al, 2011), while few about the soils for planting tea (Venkatesan et al, 2004).…”

Arylsulphatase activity and sulphate content in relation to crop rotation and fertilization of soil

“…According to the review by Alvarez (2005), nitrogen addition generally results in an increase in the SOM level but only when crop residues are returned to soil. Liu et al (2010) reported a decrease in soil microbial biomass after the addition of mineral nitrogen.…”

Benefits of Biochar on the Agriculture and Environment - A Review

“…Declining soil quality and loss in per capita land area demanded the increase in inorganic fertilizer use. However, the use of chemical or inorganic fertilizers for improving the agricultural yield and soil fertility is not a sustainable approach; rather, it has been widely took in that the excessive use of inorganic fertilizers mainly nitrogen, has the ability to deteriorate soil environment and can also lead to the mineralization of organic matter [4,5]. Although the global population has been fed owing to these practices of green revolution for almost last half century but these practices have become environmentally destructive, unsustainable and are also unable to satisfy the needs of population [6].…”