Effects of long-term no-tillage and different stover mulching amounts on soil carbon and nitrogen contents and enzyme activities of carbon and nitrogen cycle in Mollisols

doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.202403.012

Abstract

Abstract: To understand the effects of different stover mulching amounts in no-tillage on soil carbon and nitrogen contents and enzyme activities, finding a stover mulching amount which can meet the requirement of soil carbon and nitrogen accumulation while maximizing economic benefits, we conducted a long-term conservation tillage field experiment since 2007 in Mollisols area of Northeast China. We analyzed soil carbon and nitrogen contents, enzyme activities and economic benefits under conventional tillage (Control, CT), no-tillage without stover mulching (NT₀), no-tillage with 33% stover mulching (NT₃₃), no-tillage with 67% stover mulching (NT₆₇), and no-tillage with 100% stover mulching (NT₁₀₀) before planting in May 2020. The results showed that compared with CT, NT₀ did not affect soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) contents, but increased soil organic carbon recalcitrance and decreased the availability of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and ammonium nitrogen. Compared with NT₀, no-tillage with stover mulching significantly increased SOC contents in 0-10 cm layer and increased with the amounts of stover. In addition, NT₆₇ and NT₁₀₀ significantly increased SOC stocks, facilitating the accumulation of soil organic matter. The effects of different stover mulching amounts on soil nitrogen content in 0-10 cm layer were different. Specifically, NT₃₃ increased DON content and DON/TN, NT₆₇ increased DON content, while NT₁₀₀ increased TN content. Compared with CT, NT₀ decreased peroxidase (POD) activity in 0-10 cm layer. Compared with NT₀, NT₃₃ increased β-glucosidase (βG), cellobiase (CB), 1,4-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase (NAG), polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and POD activities, while NT₆₇ only increased CB, NAG and POD activities in 0-10 cm soil layer, both alleviated microbial nutrient limitation. NT₁₀₀ increased PPO activity in 10-20 cm layer. NT₃₃ increased carbon conversion efficiency of stover compared with NT₁₀₀, and had the highest economic benefit. In all, no-tillage with 33% stover mulching was the optimal strategy, which could promote nutrient circulation, boost stover utilization efficiency, improve the quality of Mollisols, and maximize guaranteed income.

Key words: conservation tillage, stover mulching amount, soil carbon and nitrogen, soil enzyme

YU Yang, ZHANG Changren, YANG Yali, XU Xin, LYU Fuze, ZHENG Tiantian, XIE Hongtu, BAO Xuelian. Effects of long-term no-tillage and different stover mulching amounts on soil carbon and nitrogen contents and enzyme activities of carbon and nitrogen cycle in Mollisols[J]. Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology, 2024, 35(3): 695-704.

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