Short-term effects of crop rotation, residue management, and soil water on carbon mineralization in a tropical cropping system

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the short-term effects of maize (Zea mays)-fallow rotation, residue management, and soil water on carbon mineralization in a tropical cropping system in Ghana. After 15 months of the trial, maize-legume rotation treatments had significantly (P<0.001) higher levels of potentially mineralizable carbon, C 0 (μg CO 2 -C g −1 ) than maize-elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) rotations. The C 0 for maize-grass rotation treatments was significantly related to the biomass input (r=0.95; P=0.05), but that for the maize-legume rotation was not. The soil carbon mineralization rate constant, k (per day), was also significantly related to the rotation treatments (P< 0.001). The k values for maize-grass and maizelegume rotation treatments were 0.025 and 0.036 day −1 respectively. The initial carbon mineralization rate, m 0 (μg CO 2 -C g −1 day −1 ), was significantly (P<0.001) related to the soil water content, θ. The m 0 ranged from 3.88 to 18.67 and from 2.30 to 15.35 μg CO 2 -C g −1 day −1 for maizelegume and maize-grass rotation treatments, respectively, when the soil water varied from 28% to 95% field capacity (FC). A simple soil water content (θ)-based factor, f w , formulated as: f w ¼ qÀq d

Soil and crop residue CO2-C emission under tillage systems in sugarcane-producing areas of southern Brazil

“…Our result is consistent with that reported by Resende et al (2006), who found that part of the C stored and associated with crop residues in soil was lost after tillage during the replanting period, which usually occurs every six years in sugarcane areas. Changes in SOC emission due to tillage incorporation have previously been reported by Adiku et al (2008) and Al-Kaisi and Yin (2005).…”

Effects of summer catch crop, residue management, soil temperature and water on the succeeding cucumber rhizosphere nitrogen mineralization in intensive production systems

“…Our alternative soil incubation temperature relied on the premise that the mineralization process was rapid when temperature C 15°C (Ingwersen et al 1999;Breuer et al 2002), but very slow when temperature declined below 5°C (Adiku et al 2008). Hence, our temperature, T1, would be below 5°C.…”

Soil respiration in cucumber field under crop rotation in solar greenhouse

“…The ratios of yield to soil respiration under each treatment varied in 2008, 2009 and 2010. However, the ratio under MGM was relatively higher and more stable than under other previous crop treatments in 2008, respectively. He et al (2009 reported that the soil urease activity was higher under MGM treatment than under other treatments.…”

“…The yield of cucumber under MGM treatment was higher (p < 0.05) than CK ( Figure 2B) and increased by 21 %, 11 % and 22 % in 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively, as compared with CK. The yield of cucumber under TM and BC treatments was lower than CK in 2008. Under TM treatment, the yield decreased by 11 %, 27 % and 30 % in 200811 %, 27 % and 30 % in , 200911 %, 27 % and 30 % in and 2010under BC treatment, the yield decreased by 12 %, 23 % and 19 % in 2008under BC treatment, the yield decreased by 12 %, 23 % and 19 % in , 2009under BC treatment, the yield decreased by 12 %, 23 % and 19 % in and 2010, as compared with CK.…”

“…Crop residues (above and below ground) are the primary source of carbon input in the soil carbon pool but crop rotation can also impact the plant biomass returned to the soil, thereby influencing soil quality, total microbial biomass, microbial activity, basal respiration, specific maintenance respiration, total organic carbon, active carbon, total nitrogen, aggregate stability, particulate organic matter, C:N ratio and soil organic matter decomposition (Adiku et al, 2008;Ferreira et al, 2010;Aziz et al, 2011). Therefore, crop rotation has the potential to affect soil respiration (Halvorson et al, 2002;Lal, 2004Lal, , 2005Russell et al, 2005).…”