Effects of different residue part inputs of corn straws on CO<inf>2</inf> efflux and microbial biomass in clay loam and sandy loam black soils

Citation

Liu, S.Y., Liang, A.Z., Yang, X.M., Zhang, X.P., Jia, S.X., Chen, X.W., Zhang, S.X., Sun, B.J., Chen, S.L. (2015). Effects of different residue part inputs of corn straws on CO2 efflux and microbial biomass in clay loam and sandy loam black soils. Huanjing Kexue/Environmental Science, [online] 36(7), 2686-2694. http://dx.doi.org/10.13227/j.hjkx.2015.07.048

Abstract

The decomposed rate of crop residues is a major determinant for carbon balance and nutrient cycling in agroecosystem. In this study, a constant temperature incubation study was conducted to evaluate CO2 emission and microbial biomass based on four different parts of corn straw (roots, lower stem, upper stem and leaves) and two soils with different textures (sandy loam and clay loam) from the black soil region. The relationships between soil CO2 emission, microbial biomass and the ratio of carbon (C) to nitrogen (N) and lignin of corn residues were analyzed by the linear regression. Results showed that the production of CO2 was increased with the addition of different parts of corn straw to soil, with the value of priming effect (PE) ranged from 215.53 μmol·g-1 to 335.17 μmol·g-1. Except for corn leaves, the cumulative CO2 production and PE of clay loam soil were significantly higher than those in sandy loam soil. The correlation of PE with lignin/N was obviously more significant than that with lignin concentration, nitrogen concentration and C/N of corn residue. The addition of corn straw to soil increased the contents of MBC and MBN and decreased MBC/MBN, which suggested that more nitrogen rather than carbon was conserved in microbial community. The augmenter of microbial biomass in sandy loam soil was greater than that in clay loam soil, but the total dissolved nitrogen was lower. Our results indicated that the differences in CO2 emission with the addition of residues to soils were primarily ascribe to the different lignin/N ratio in different corn parts; and the corn residues added into the sandy loam soil could enhance carbon sequestration, microbial biomass and nitrogen holding ability relative to clay loam soil.

Publication date

2015-07-15

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