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Long-Term Effects of Fertilization on Soil Organic Carbon Changes in Continuous Corn of Northeast China: RothC Model Simulations

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Abstract

Soil organic C (SOC) content can increase by managing land use practices in which the rates of organic C input exceed those of organic C mineralization. Understanding the changes in SOC content of Black soils (mainly Typic Halpudoll) in northeast China is necessary for sustainable using of soil resources there. We used the RothC model to estimate SOC levels of Black soils under monoculture cropping corn in a long-term fertilization trial at Gongzhuling, Jilin Province, China. The model outputs for the changes in SOC were compared with measured data in this long-term fertilization/manure trial. The sound performance of model in simulating SOC changes suggests that RothC is feasible with Black soils in the temperate climatic region of northeast China. The modeled and measured results indicated that the treatment without fertilizer/farmyard manure (FYM) addition led to a continuous decline in SOC during the study period and N and NPK fertilization were inadequate to maintain the SOC levels in the plow layer (upper 20 cm) unless FYM was added under the current conventional management associated with no above-ground crop residues returning into the soil. Soil organic carbon could follow the same path of decline if the same management practices are maintained. Model results indicate that returning above-ground crop residues to the soil from 2002 to 2022 would increase SOC by 26% for the treatment without fertilization addition, 40% for N treatment, 45% for NPK treatment, and 38% and 46% for N and NPK treatments with FYM addition, compared to the levels in the corresponding treatments in 2002. The simulation results suggest that the RothC model is a feasible tool to assess SOC trend under different management practices, and returning above-ground crop residues into the soil would lead to a remarkable increase in SOC of Black soils in the region.

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Acknowledgements

Funding for this study was partially provided by the National Natural Science Foundation (40271108) and Chinese Academy of Sciences (K09Z3). We thank Mr. H. D. Sun for help and advice in setting up and running the experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Northeast institute of Geography and Agricultural Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin Province, China

    X.M. Yang, X.P. Zhang & H.J. Fang

  2. Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Gongzhuling, Jilin Province, China

    P. Zhu, J. Ren & L.C. Wang

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  1. X.M. Yang
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  2. X.P. Zhang
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  4. P. Zhu
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Correspondence to X.M. Yang.

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Yang, X., Zhang, X., Fang, H. et al. Long-Term Effects of Fertilization on Soil Organic Carbon Changes in Continuous Corn of Northeast China: RothC Model Simulations . Environmental Management 32, 459–465 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-003-0082-6

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