Does Straw Returning Amended with Straw Decomposing Microorganism Inoculants Increase the Soil Major Nutrients in China’s Farmlands?

Abstract

Although straw-decomposing microbial inoculants (SDMI) are capable to generally promote the fertility of straw-amended soils, their impact on the release of individual soil major nutrients remains controversial. Additionally, the combined effects of SDMI and environment/management on various forms of nutrients remain poorly documented. To fill these research gaps, we conducted a meta-analysis study using 1214 paired observations from 132 field trials in China. Our results showed that SDMI significantly increases the total and available concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in soil (p < 0.05), although increases in nutrients varied with different conditions. Moreover, mean annual precipitation (MAP) had significant correlations with the effects of SDMI-amended straw on soil total nitrogen (p = 0.008) and available nitrogen (p = 0.0006). The effect of SDMI-amended straw on soil total phosphorus and soil available potassium was mainly correlated with soil organic matter (p = 0.032) and MAP (p = 0.049), respectively. Our findings indicate that SDMI-amended straw can have a measurable impact on the status of soil major nutrients. In particular, the application of SDMI-amended rice straw with an initial C/N ratio of ≤15 to neutral soils in temperate and subtropical monsoon climates is a promising strategy.

Effect of crevice density on biological soil crust development on rock cut slope in mountainous regions, Sichuan, China

“…In addition, organic acids segregated by BSCs could contribute to mineral bio-weathering, thus solubilizing P compounds (Sokol et al 2022;Zubiri et al 2022). Nutrients released from the litter of BSCs are the most relevant sources of humus formation, and could improve soil major nutrients (He et al 2022;Liu et al 2022;Sokol et al 2022;Tian et al 2022b;Tonello et al 2022;Turan et al 2019). It has been found that BSCs can boost surface soil fertility, especially in terms of the TN, TP and OC contents of soils in deserts and mine dust (Deng et al 2020;Gao et al 2018;Karimi et al 2022;Lucieer et al 2014;Mager and Thomas 2011;Nyenda et al 2019;Tian et al 2022b;Wang et al 2022a, b;Wu et al 2001;Zhang et al 2012;Zubiri et al 2022).…”

“…Furthermore, in the process of ecological restoration, plant community structure can be optimized with time, and thus, more litter is input into soils (Deng et al 2020;Feng et al 2011;Nyenda et al 2019;Zhao et al 2015). The increase in litter directly transports organic matter and nutrient elements into the soil, resulting in the increase in major soil nutrients with time (Feng et al 2011;He et al 2022;Li et al 2018b;Liu et al 2022;Sokol et al 2022;Tian et al 2022b;Tonello et al 2022;Zhao et al 2015). Nevertheless, in our study, OC, TN and TP contents in soils on RCSs vary irregularly, possibly attributed to the interaction between the contents in the grains trapped from the slope soils and air, BSC biomass accumulation, decomposition of organic matter, erosion intensity by water and air, etc.…”

“…Microorganisms play a key role in the most of the functional roles of BSCs (Bilen and Turan 2022), e.g., segregating organic acids so as to contribute to mineral bio-weathering (e.g., releasing and solubilizing P and metal elements) (Al-Maliki and Breesam 2020;Bilen and Turan 2022;Moore et al 2022;Tian et al 2022b;Zhu 1995), and regulating soil microbial activity and diversity (Castillo-Monroy et al 2011;Zubiri et al 2022), and fixing nutrients (C, N and P) and accelerating the mineralization of organic matters to improve soil fertility and quality and maintain soil nutrients cycling (Hayat et al 2010;Hyvrinenm et al 2002;Karimi et al 2022;Kleber et al 2021;Margolis et al 2022;Sokol et al 2022;Tian et al 2022a, b;Turan et al 2019;Wang et al 2022a, b). In addition to fixing nutrients, microbes also break down organic matters or plant litter in soils, in turn affecting the soil fertility (Albornoz et al 2022;He et al 2022;Liu et al 2022;Sokol et al 2022;Tian et al 2022a, b;Tonello et al 2022;Turan et al 2019;Wang et al 2022a, b). Meanwhile, the metal cation released by microorganisms within BSCs also could fix nutrients form water and dust into soils (Hafsteinsdóttir et al 2015;Netherway et al 2019;Rasool et al 2022;Tauqeer et al 2022).…”

Amendment with controlled release urea increases leaf morpho‐physiological traits, grain yield and NUE in a double‐cropping rice system in southern China

“…Both controlled and field experiments suggest that supplementation with controlled release N fertilizer increases cereal crop morphology traits, gas exchange attributes, and soil inorganic N and organic C content over the reproductive period 16‐18 . Short‐term straw returning fertilization effects on crop yields are likely to reduce because of the uncertainty in the quality and quantality of straw decomposition to nutrients over the changing growing season 19,20 …”

“…[16][17][18] Short-term straw returning fertilization effects on crop yields are likely to reduce because of the uncertainty in the quality and quantality of straw decomposition to nutrients over the changing growing season. 19,20 Conventional N urea application practices (such as multiple application and subsurface placement) enhance leaf development, N allocation to harvest organs and decrease the N losses to environment. 21 However, lack of effective labor and appropriate machinery often limit the application of these practices in paddy soil.…”