Elevated arsenic (As) concentrations in rice and the soil solution result from changes in soil redox conditions, influenced by the water management practices during rice cultivation. Microscale changes in redox conditions from rhizosphere to soil matrix affect the As speciation and Fe plaque deposition. In order to focus on the rhizosphere environment, we observed microscale distribution and speciation of As around the rhizosphere of paddy rice with X-ray fluorescence mapping and X-ray absorption spectroscopy. When the soil matrix was anaerobic during rice growth, Fe-plaque did not cover the entire root, and As(III) was the dominant arsenic species in the soil matrix and rhizosphere. Draining before harvest led the conditions to shift to aerobic. Oxidation of As(III) to As(V) occurred faster in the Fe-plaque than the soil matrix. Arsenic was scavenged by iron mottles originating from Fe-plaque around the roots. The ratio of As(V) to As(III) decreased toward the outer-rim of the subsurface Fe mottles where the soil matrix was not completely aerated. These results provide direct evidence that speciation of As near rice roots depends on spatial and temporal redox variations in the soil matrix.

The characteristics of Japanese soil were developed by wide paddy field farming, the influence of volcanic ash on soil, and a perudic moisture regime under temperate climatic conditions. Major soil classifications in Japan have developed in line with public work projects and soils in Japan have tended to be classified independently depending on the land use, such as cultivated area, forest, and so forth.

We estimated the carbon (C) sequestration potential of organic matter application in Japanese arable soils at a country scale by applying the Rothamsted carbon (RothC) model at a 1‐km resolution. After establishing the baseline soil organic carbon (SOC) content for 1990, a 25‐year simulation was run for four management scenarios: A (minimum organic matter application), B (farmyard manure application), C (double cropping for paddy fields) and D (both B and C). The total SOC decreased during the simulation in all four scenarios because the C input in all four scenarios was lower than that required to maintain the baseline 1990 SOC level. Scenario A resulted in the greatest depletion, reflecting the effects of increased organic matter application in the other scenarios. The 25‐year difference in SOC accumulation between scenario A and scenarios B, C and D was 32.3, 11.1 and 43.4 Mt C, respectively. The annual SOC accumulation per unit area was similar to a previous estimate, and the 25‐year averages were 0.30, 0.10 and 0.41 t C ha−1 year−1 for scenarios B, C and D, respectively. The system we developed in the present study, that is, linking the RothC model and soil spatial data, can be useful for estimating the potential C sequestration resulting from an increase in organic matter input to Japanese arable soils, although more feasible scenarios need to be developed to enable more realistic estimation.

Global concerns for the sustainability of agriculture have emphasized the need to reduce the use of mineral fertilizer. Although phosphorus (P) is accumulated in farmland soils due to the long-term application of fertilizer, most soil P is not readily available to plants. The chemical speciation of P in soils, which comprise heterogeneous microenvironments, cannot be evaluated with a high degree of specificity using only macroscopic analyses. In this study, we investigated the distribution and speciation of P accumulated in soils by using both macro- and microscopic techniques including chemical extraction, solution and solid-state 31P NMR, bulk- and micro- P K-edge X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES), and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). Soil samples were collected from a field in which cabbage was cultivated under three amendment treatments: i) mineral fertilizer (NPK), ii) mineral fertilizer and compost (NPK + compost), and iii) mineral fertilizer plus compost but without nitrogen fertilizer (PK + compost). Macro-scale analyses suggested that accumulated P was predominantly inorganic P and associated with Al-bearing minerals. The repeated application of compost to the soils increased the proportion of P associated with Ca which accounted for 17% in the NPK + compost plot and 40% in the PK + compost plot. At the microscale, hot spots of P were heterogeneously distributed, and P was associated with Fe and Ca in hot spots of the NPK + compost (pH 6) and PK + compost (pH 7) treated samples, respectively. Our results indicate that application of compost contributed to creating diverse microenvironments hosting P in these soils.