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Long term fertilization effects on soil organic carbon pools in a sandy loam soil of the Indian sub-Himalayas

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Abstract

An understanding of the dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) as affected by farming practices is imperative for maintaining soil productivity and mitigating global warming. Results of a long-term (32 years) experiment in the Indian Himalayas under rainfed soybean (Glycine max L.)- wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) rotation was analyzed to determine the effects of mineral fertilizer and farmyard manure (FYM) application at 10 Mg ha-1 on SOC stocks and depth distribution of the labile and recalcitrant pools of SOC. Results indicate all treatments increased SOC contents over the control. The annual application of NPK significantly (P < 0.05) enhanced total SOC, oxidizable soil organic C and its fractions over the control plots. The increase in these SOC fractions was greater with the NPK + FYM treatment. Nearly 16% (mean of all treatments) of the estimated added C was stabilized into SOC both in the labile and recalcitrant pools, preferentially in the 0–30 cm soil layer. However, the labile:recalcitrant SOC ratios of applied C stabilized was largest in the 15–30 cm soil layer. About 62% of total SOC was present in the labile pool. Plots under the N + FYM and NPK + FYM treatments contained a larger proportion of total SOC in the recalcitrant pool than the plots with mineral or no fertilizer, indicating that FYM application promoted SOC stabilization.

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Abbreviations

SOC:

soil organic C

FYM:

farmyard manure

KMnO4-C:

KMnO4 oxidizable C

MBC:

microbial biomass C

ECI:

estimated amount of C input

SOM:

soil organic matter

CFYM :

applied C through FYM

SOCNPK + FYM :

SOC in the plots under NPK + FYM

SOCNPK :

SOC in the NPK treated plots

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Acknowledgement

The authors are grateful to Mr Ved Prakash and Mr. Ramesh for maintaining the field experiment over the years.

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Correspondence to Ranjan Bhattacharyya.

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Responsible Editor: Gerlinde De Deyn.

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Bhattacharyya, R., Kundu, S., Srivastva, A.K. et al. Long term fertilization effects on soil organic carbon pools in a sandy loam soil of the Indian sub-Himalayas. Plant Soil 341, 109–124 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-010-0627-4

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