Soil nitrogen and carbon storages and carbon pool management index under sustainable conservation tillage strategy

Abstract

Agricultural practices are significant to increase the soil nitrogen and organic carbon sequestration to adapt and mitigate the climate change in a recent climate change scenario. With this background, we carried out research in the Longzhong Loess Plateau region of China. This research was conducted under a randomized complete block design, with three replicates. Adopt the method of combining outdoor positioning field test with indoor index measurement to explore the soil bulk density (BD), nitrogen components (viz., nitrate nitrogen (NO3−-N), ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N), total nitrogen (TN), microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) and nitrogen storage (NS), and carbon components [viz., soil organic carbon (SOC), easily oxidized organic carbon (EOC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and carbon storage (CS), carbon pool index (CPI), carbon pool activity (A) and carbon pool activity index (AI) and carbon pool management index (CPMI)] and C/N, ratio under different tillage practices [namely., conventional tillage (CT), no tillage (NT), straw mulch with conventional tillage (CTS) and straw mulch with no tillage (NTS)]. Our results depicted that different conservation tillage systems significantly increased soil BD over conventional tillage. Compared with CT, the NTS, CTS and NT reduced soil NO3−-N, increased the soil NH4+-N, TN, MBN and NS, among them, NS under NTS, CTS and NT treatment was 25.0, 14.8 and 13.1% higher than that under CT treatment, respectively. Additionally, conservation tillage significantly increased SOC, EOC, MBC, CS, CPI, AI, CPMI and C/N, ratio than CT. Inside, CS under NTS, CTS and NT treatment was 19.4, 12.1 and 13.4% higher than that under CT treatment, respectively. Moreover, during the 3-year study period, the CPMI under NTS treatment was the largest (139.26, 140.97, and 166.17). Consequently, we suggest that NTS treatment was more sustainable strategy over other investigated conservation tillage practices and should be recommended as climate mitigation technique under climate change context.

Conservation tillage: a way to improve yield and soil properties and decrease global warming potential in spring wheat agroecosystems

“…This study also found that compared with CT, conservation tillage systems were more helpful in improving soil (Liu et al, 2017). The role of straw-retention and residue incorporation in increasing carbon elements was also stated by numerous scholars (Zhao et al, 2019;Sadiq et al, 2021a;Yuan et al, 2023b). The conservation tillage system is a straw addition or plowless tillage with a minimum number of tillage operations, and its beneficial impact on soil functions and quality has been extensively identified (Han et al, 2020;Wulanningtyas et al, 2021;Sadiq et al, 2021b).…”

“…More values of carbon-associated parameters in CTS, NTS, and NT systems soil were attributable to residue retention and no soil physical disturbance (Chen et al, 2009). In conservative tillage systems, the SOC solid stratification, which was significantly attributable to surface residue retention, is identical to that in other studies (Blanco-Canqui and Lal, 2008;Yuan et al, 2023b). Soil carbon storage is the retention of carbon in the ecosystem and a chief index to measure the gauge and quantity of ecosystem primary productivity.…”

“…It could be roughly divided into straw incorporation into the field, no-tillage, mulch tillage, or straw-retention with no-tillage system, minimum tillage, ridge tillage, and strip tillage (Yuan et al, 2023a). It is a well-established approach to improving soil physicochemical, microbial, and crop yields, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, mitigating negative influences of conventional tillage and climate change through soil carbon sequestering in agricultural systems, and improving agricultural and environmental sustainability globally (Jat et al, 2021;Yuan et al, 2023b). The worldwide population is exerting a noteworthy burden on land resources due to intensive land cultivation strategies that destroy the soil and environmental quality.…”

Influence of surface water and groundwater on functional traits and trade-off strategies of oasis communities at the end of the Keriya River, China

“…The mixed soil samples were brought back to the laboratory in aluminum boxes and plastic bags, respectively, and soil water content, total dissolved solids, pH, organic matter, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus were determined. Soil water content was measured using the drying method; total dissolved solids and pH were determined using a conductivity meter (DDSJ-319L, Rex, China) and pH meter (PHSJ-5T, Rex, China), respectively; organic matter was determined using the potassium dichromate external heating method (Yuan et al, 2023); and total nitrogen and total phosphorus were determined in the same way as for leaves. Mean values of full profiles were used for each soil variable for subsequent analysis.…”