Straw mulching with fertilizer nitrogen: An approach for improving crop yield, soil nutrients and enzyme activities

Abstract

Field experiments were conducted to study soil properties, soil enzymes activities, water use efficiency (WUE) and crop productivity after six years of soya bean straw mulching in the semi‐arid conditions of China. The experiment included four treatments: CK (Control), N (240 kg N ha‐1), H (soya bean straw mulching at half rate 700 kg ha‐1 with 240 kg N ha‐1) and F (soya bean straw mulching at full rate 1,400 kg ha‐1 with 240 kg N ha‐1). Soil organic carbon (SOC), soil labile organic carbon (LOC), soil available N (AN), available P (AP) and enzyme activities were analysed after wheat harvesting in 2016 and 2017. Results show that straw amounts had positive effects on the soil fertility indices being higher for treatment F. The SOC, LOC, AN, AP and enzyme activities (i.e. saccharase, urease and alkaline phosphatase) were in the order of F > H > N > CK. High wheat grain yield and WUE were observed for F treatment. A total of six years mulching along with 240 kg ha‐1 nitrogen fertilizer application is sufficient for wheat yield stability and improving soil properties except urease activities in the semi‐arid condition of China. However, the straw mulching amount should be further studied with minimum nitrogen fertilizer for an environment‐friendly and effective approach for improving the soil biological properties with adequate crop production on a sustainable basis in the semi‐arid region of China.

Managing Tillage Operation and Manure to Restore Soil Carbon Stocks in Wheat–Maize Cropping System

“…The SOC concentration was greater in MT than DT over the whole studies. Increases in C concentration is only possible with addition of external input (Akhtar et al, 2018a) or improving soil microbial activity (Cai et al, 2016). In MT plots, the higher C concentration might be related to greater amount of crop's roots in the surface layer of MT in the semiarid region (Guan et al, 2015) which might have contributed a substantial amount of C in top 0‐ to 20‐cm soil depth.…”

“…Due to increasing demand for dairy products, an increase in FYM production is expected. The disposal of FYM in large amounts, damping off or making heaps can lead to serious environmental risks of surface and groundwater contamination (Akhtar et al, 2018a; Ali et al, 2018). On the other hand, FYM application to cropland can increase SOM, which improves soil health and plant productivity (Akhtar et al, 2018b; Khan et al, 2009; Muhammad et al, 2018).…”

Biochar Integration with Legume Crops in Summer Gape Synergizes Nitrogen Use Efficiency and Enhance Maize Yield

“…These results are in agreement with [29] who reported that the rank of available N in soil improved due to N fertilization. Similarly, soil N was increased in the treatment where N fertilizer was added with straw mulch to the previous wheat crop [30].…”

“…The increase in growth and yield of cereal crop is related with the improvement of soil fertility by the improved organic matter [37,38]. Furthermore, the application of biochar helps in improving of soil physiochemical properties, which leads in the increase of grain yield [39][40][41] and sufficient amount of soil nitrogen availability lead to increase in plant growth and yield [42,43] and also the increase of 43-68% in grain yield is due to nitrogen application [17]. Moreover, the N application significantly enhance crop production in the course of additional nitrogen [43].…”

“…In addition, growth parameters including biological yield increased with increasing N rates [45]. Furthermore, Akhtar et al reported that N recovery in biomass was significantly higher when the soil contained additional fertilizers [42]. Pierce et al and Danga et al reported that grain legumes grown in turning round with annual cereal crops contribute to the total pool of nitrogen in the soil and improve the yield of cereals [21,46].…”