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Effects of organic amendments on soil carbon sequestration in paddy fields of subtropical China

  • SOILS, SEC 1 • SOIL ORGANIC MATTER DYNAMICS AND NUTRIENT CYCLING • RESEARCH ARTICLE
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Abstract

Purpose

Although organic amendments have been recommended as one of the practices for crop production and soil carbon sequestration, little has been done to evaluate soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics following long-term application of organic amendments. The objective of this research were to (1) assess the effect of long-term organic amendments on SOC dynamics in rice-based systems; (2) evaluate the relationship between soil carbon sequestration and carbon input based on various mineral and organic fertilization treatments.

Materials and methods

A multi-sites analysis was conducted on four long-term experiments with double-rice (three sites) and rice–wheat (one site) cropping systems which started in the 1980s in Southern China. We selected three groups of treatments in common at each site: (1) control (no fertilizer), (2) mineral nitrogen–phosphorus with and without potassium (NPK/NP), and (3) the combined treatments of mineral NP/NPK with pig manure (M), green manure (G, Astragalus sinicus L.), rice straw (S), and/or their combinations. Harvestable crop biomass was annually recorded for all plots. SOC in topsoil was determined in 1–5 yearly intervals after rice harvest.

Results and discussion

Analysis showed that organic amendments sustained or significantly increased carbon biomass, but had little effects on the coefficient of variance (CV) of the carbon biomass production compared with the mineral NPK/NP treatments. With additional carbon input, organic amendments increased SOC significantly by 7–45% after 25–28 years of fertilization compared with the mineral treatments. These combined treatments sequestered carbon at a rate from 0.20 to 0.48 t ha–1 year–1 under the double-rice and 0.70 to 0.88 t ha–1 year–1 under rice–wheat cropping system. The estimated annual SOC decomposition rate ranged from 0.15 to 0.82 t ha–1 at these studied sites. Our analyses revealed strong positive correlations between soil carbon sequestration and carbon input for all sites.

Conclusions

We concluded that organic amendments applied as substitution and extra nutrients had significant effect on soil carbon sequestration and served as a carbon sink for the duration of the experiments. Paddy soil high in clay content had the potential to sequester more carbon. Soil carbon sequestration efficiency-declined with carbon input at some sites with loam soil texture, suggesting applying a large amount of organic amendments is not recommended as a sustainable agricultural management practice because of the high risk of non-point environment pollution.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge all our colleagues for their unremitting efforts on running the long-term experiments from these sites. Financial support from the National Basic Research Program of China (2011CB100501) and Natural Science Foundation of China (40871148, 40901141) are gratefully acknowledged. We also acknowledge the international collaborative project (RDA-CAAS 110405) between the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and National Institute of Crop Science of the Rural Development Administration (RDA) of Korea. Anonymous reviewers are also thanked for their valuable criticisms and comments, which led to substantial improvements of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory of Crop Nutrition and Fertilization, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, People’s Republic of China

    Wenju Zhang & Minggang Xu

  2. Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, 830000, People’s Republic of China

    Xiujun Wang

  3. Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20740, USA

    Xiujun Wang

  4. Jiangxi Institute of Red Soils, National Engineering and Technology Research Center for Red Soil Improvement, Jinxian, 331717, People’s Republic of China

    Qinhai Huang

  5. Soil and Fertilizer Institute of Hunan Province, Changsha, 410125, People’s Republic of China

    Jun Nie

  6. Institute of Soils and Fertilizers and Agricultural Resources, Jiangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanchang, 330200, People’s Republic of China

    Zuzhang Li

  7. Institute of Plant Protection and Soil Science, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430064, People’s Republic of China

    Shuanglai Li

  8. Department of Rice and Winter Cereal Crop, National Institute of Crop Science, RDA 381, Songhag-dong, Iksan, 570-080, South Korea

    Seon Woong Hwang & Kyeong Bo Lee

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  1. Wenju Zhang
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Correspondence to Minggang Xu.

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Zhang, W., Xu, M., Wang, X. et al. Effects of organic amendments on soil carbon sequestration in paddy fields of subtropical China. J Soils Sediments 12, 457–470 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-011-0467-8

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