scholarly journals Soil Aggregate-Associated Carbon Fraction Dynamics during the Process of Tea (Camellia sinensis L.) Planting in Southern Guangxi, China

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1530
Author(s):  
Chao Zhang ◽  
Xinxin He ◽  
Shaoming Ye ◽  
Shengqiang Wang

Revealing the variation in soil aggregate-associated organic carbon (Corg) in tea plantations of various planting ages is crucial to shed more light on the accumulation and decomposition of soil Corg in the tea-planting period. This study measured the concentrations of soil Corg, active carbon (Cact), and recalcitrant carbon (Crec) in different-sized aggregates obtained from tea plantations of various planting ages (8, 17, 25, and 43 years old) at the soil depths of 0–20 and 20–40 cm in southern Guangxi, China. According to the wet-sieving approach, soil aggregates were classified as macro- (>0.25 mm) and micro- (<0.25 mm) aggregates, and the former were further divided into coarse (>2 mm), medium (2–1 mm), and fine (1–0.25 mm) fractions. Based on the mean weight diameter (MWD), the stability of soil aggregates was the highest in the 17-year-old tea plantations, and it was closely related to the concentration of soil Cact (0–20 cm: R2 = 0.9744, p < 0.05; 20–40 cm: R2 = 0.8951, p < 0.05), but not Corg (0–20 cm: R2 = 0.1532, p > 0.05; 20–40 cm: R2 = 0.4538, p > 0.05), during the tea-planting process. In the 0–20 and 20–40 cm soil layers, the coarse and medium macro-aggregates had higher concentrations of Corg, Cact, and Crec, regardless of the tea-planting age; meanwhile, the soil Cact/Crec ratio, indicating the Corg availability, increased as aggregate size increased, implying that the soil Corg was younger and more labile in coarse macro-aggregates relative to finer aggregates. Moreover, the tea-planting age significantly affected the Corg, Cact, and Crec reserves in both soil layers. To be specific, continuous tea planting facilitated the accumulation of soil Corg and Crec, but their reserves’ increase rates decreased over time; meanwhile, the soil Cact reserve increased during the early (from 8 to 17 years) tea-planting stage and later decreased. Therefore, during the middle (from 17 to 25 years) and late (from 25 to 43 years) tea-planting stages, maintaining the soil as an Cact pool plays a vital role in facilitating the formation and stabilization of soil aggregates in southern Guangxi, China.

2014 ◽  
Vol 955-959 ◽  
pp. 3566-3571 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Wang ◽  
Zhuang Xiong ◽  
Wu Xian Yan ◽  
Yue Qun Qiu

The objective of this study was to investigate soil aggregate stability within landscape on hillslopes by intensive tillage. Traditional tillage by consecutive hoeing was performed 5 and 20 times on steeply sloping land of the Sichuan Basin, China, by using the methods of simulated tillage to analyze the impact of long-term tillage on soil aggregates at different slope positions. The dry-sieved method was used to determine distribution of aggregate size in the different landscape positions, and mean weight diameter (MWD) and geometric mean diameter (GMD) as indices of soil aggregate stability. The different times of tillage resulted in different soil aggregate distributions. The results showed that the MWD and GMD values of aggregates were significantly decreased (p< 0.05) after 20-tillage operation, compared with pre-tillage operation. The differences in distributions of MWD and GMD demonstrate that the choice of the tillage times can be an important factor in changing soil aggregate stability and productivity in steeply sloping fields.


Soil Research ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 153 ◽  
Author(s):  
AJ Gijsman ◽  
RJ Thomas

This study evaluated soil aggregate size distribution and stability of an Oxisol under improved grass-only or grass-legume pastures, established in previously native savanna. Three grass-legume combinations were included at various stocking rates. In all treatments and soil layers, soils were well aggregated, having more than 90% of their weight in macroaggregates (>250 �m). The addition of legumes to pastures did not affect the soil aggregate size distribution, although aggregates showed somewhat more stability against slaking. An increase in stocking rate negatively affected both average aggregate size and aggregate stability. Aggregates showed little or no dispersion of clay particles in any treatment. A positive correlation was found between wet aggregate stability and hot-water extractable carbohydrate concentration, supporting the hypothesis that these carbohydrates equate with plant-derived or microbial polysaccharides which glue soil aggregates together. It is suggested that determination of hot-water extractable carbohydrates may serve as a useful indicator of small differences in aggregate stability, even when these differences are not evident in the stability measurement itself.


Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 730 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moein Farahnak ◽  
Keiji Mitsuyasu ◽  
Kyoichi Otsuki ◽  
Kuniyoshi Shimizu ◽  
Atsushi Kume

Soil water repellency (SWR) is a cause of low water infiltration, overland flow and soil erosion in mountainous coniferous plantations in Japan. The factors determining SWR intensity were investigated in two coniferous plantations of Chamaecyparis obtusa (Siebold et Zucc.) Endl. and Cryptomeria japonica (L.f.) D. Don, using intact tree plots and cut tree plots on the same hillslope. The SWR of Ch. obtusa plots was stronger than that of Cr. japonica plots. SWR intensity decreased after tree cutting. There were no significant differences in SWR upslope and downslope of individual trees/stumps for both tree species, though areas downslope of individual Ch. obtusa trees had higher SWR intensity than those upslope. SWR intensity and soil aggregate stability were positively correlated in the Ch. obtusa intact tree plot (r = 0.88, p < 0.01), whereas in the cut tree plot, this correlation was weak with no significance (r = 0.29, p = 0.41). Soil aggregate size had a non-significant influence on SWR intensity. These findings suggest that SWR intensity was not related to the soil aggregate size, but SWR intensity seemed have a role in soil aggregation in the Ch. obtusa intact tree plot. Destruction of soil aggregates could occur after tree cutting because of physical disturbances or increased input of different types of organic matter from other vegetation into soil. The presence of Ch. obtusa introduces a source of SWR, although uncertainty remains about how water repellency is distributed around soil aggregates. The distribution pattern of soil water content and soil hydraulic conductivity around Cr. japonica was related to other factors such as the litter layer and non-water-repellant soil.


2019 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marisângela Viana Barbosa ◽  
Daniela de Fátima Pedroso ◽  
Nilton Curi ◽  
Marco Aurélio Carbone Carneiro

ABSTRACT Soil structure, which is defined by the arrangement of the particles and the porous space forming aggregates, is one of the most important properties of the soil. Among the biological factors that influence the formation and stabilization of soil aggregates, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are distinguished due to extrarradicular hyphae and glomalin production. In this context, the objective of this study was to evaluate different AMF (Acaulospora colombiana, Acaulospora longula, Acaulospora morrowiae, Paraglomus occultum and Gigaspora margarita) associated with Urochloa brizantha (A. Rich.) Stapf on soil aggregate stability. The study was conducted in a completely randomized design, using an Oxisol and autoclaved sand 2:1 (v/v), with seven treatments: five AMF; and treatments with plants without inoculation and with only the soil, with 5 replicates. The experiment was conducted during 180 days and the following variables were evaluated: mycelium total length (TML); production of easily extractable glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP) in the soil and aggregate classes; stability of the dry and immersed in water aggregates through the mean geometric diameter (MGD) and the mean weighted diameter (MWD) of aggregates; and the soil aggregate stability index (ASI). It was observed that the inoculation favored soil aggregation, with a high incidence of A. colombiana, which presented the highest MGD, TML and GRSP production in the aggregates with Ø>2.0mm and for A. colombiana and A. morrowiae in the aggregates with Ø<0.105 mm, when compared to the treatment without inoculation. These results show that there is a distinction between the effects of different AMF on the formation and stability of soil aggregates.


Geosciences ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Wacha ◽  
A. Papanicolaou ◽  
Christos Giannopoulos ◽  
Benjamin Abban ◽  
Christopher Wilson ◽  
...  

The role of tillage practices on soil aggregate properties has been mainly addressed at the pedon scale (i.e., soilscape scale) by treating landscape elements as disconnected. However, there is observed heterogeneity in aggregate properties along flowpaths, suggesting that landscape scale hydraulic processes are also important. This study examines this supposition using field, laboratory and modeling analysis to assess aggregate size and stability along flowpaths under different management conditions: (1) tillage-induced abrasion effects on aggregate size were evaluated with the dry mean weight diameter (DMWD); (2) raindrop impact effects were evaluated with small macroaggregate stability (SMAGGSTAB) using rainfall simulators; and (3) these aggregate proxies were studied in the context of connectivity through the excess bed shear stress (δ), quantified using a physically-based landscape model. DMWD and SMAGGSTAB decreased along the flowpaths for all managements, and a negative correspondence between the proxies and δ was observed. δ captured roughness effects on connectivity along the flowpaths: highest connectivity was noted for parallel-ridge-till flowpaths, where δ ranged from 0–8.2 Pa, and lowest connectivity for contour-ridge-till flowpaths, where δ ranged from 0–1.1 Pa. High tillage intensity likely led to an increase in aggregate susceptibility to hydraulic forcing, reflected in the higher gradients of aggregate size and stability trendlines with respect to δ. Finally, a linear relationship between DMWD and SMAGGSTAB was established.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Samsu Samsu ◽  
Henry N Barus ◽  
Uswah Hasanah

Mycorrhiza is a biological agent to help fertility of soil and plants. Application of mycorrhiza on the land in the form of inoculum is often used in agricultural land in the name of quality of inoculum that also influenced by the content of existing spores. One of them is growing medium. This study aimed to study the effect of soil aggregate size and P dosage on the number of mycorrhizal spores in sorghum plants. The research design used was Randomized Block Design consisting of 2 factors. First factor was soil aggregate size(μm) which consisted of 4 treatments: U1 = < 2000, U2 = 500 - 1000, U3 = 200 - 500, U4 = < 200, and second factor was P dosage: 100 mg/kg and 300mg/kg. Each treatment combination was repeated 3 times so that there were 24 units of experimental unit. Observation parameters included the percentage of the infected root, number of spores, plant height and dry weight of the plant. The research was conducted in Greenhouse and Agronomy Laboratory of Agricultural Faculty of Tadulako University Palu. The various sizes of soil aggregates do not affect the amount of arbuscular mycorrhizal spores in sorghum plants. P 100 mg/kg or f P 300 mg/kg dosage used do not address the effect of the mycorrhizal spores. There is no interaction between soil aggregate size and P dosage to the amount of mycorrhizal spores in sorghum plants.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinjing Lu ◽  
Sheng ping Li ◽  
Xueping Wu ◽  
Aurore Degre

&lt;p&gt;As the basic unit of soil, aggregates are considered as a stable soil organic ( SOC ) pool. Changes in organic subtract due to straw addition induce variations in soil microbial community or activity, which may effect the C sequestration in aggregates. Most of the previous studies on soil microorganisms assessment was done at large scale i.e. larger quantities of soil, however, few studies on SOC is known in aggregate size fractions. This study investigated the effects of soil aggregate size on the distribution of microorganism and SOC, and the relationship of microorganism and C sequestration inside aggregate size fractions with &lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C-labelled straw addition. Soil samples were collected from 0-15 cm and classified into 5 aggregates sizes classes ( &amp;#65310;5 mm, 2-5 mm, 1-2 mm, 0.25-1 mm and &amp;#65308;0.25 mm ), and the graded aggregates were incubated for 180 days at 20&amp;#160;&amp;#176;C, with or without&amp;#160;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C-labelled straw residue. The incorporation of &lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C into the five aggregate size fractions was analyzed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After incubation, the SOC, DOC and ROC contents were increased more rapidly and significantly in aggregate ( &amp;#65310;5 mm ) than that in aggregate ( &amp;#65308;5 mm ) under straw addition, with the same trend of new carbon derived from straw. The total PLFAs was increased most significantly in aggregate ( &amp;#65310;5 mm ), especially fungi and negative bacteria ( G- ), while the positive bacteria ( G+ ) increased slightly in aggregate ( &amp;#65308;0.25 mm ), with no significant change in total PLFAs. The proportion of bacteria in total microorganism increased gradually, as the aggregate size increased in straw treatment. The results imply that aggregate ( &amp;#65310;5 mm ) have more space for C sequestration and greater contribution to new carbon turnovering in soil than other small aggregates, and it gradually tended to be bacterial with the enrichment of carbon. In addition, the SOC contents were strongly related to the amount of fungi and G- in aggregate ( &amp;#65308;5 mm ), while related to G+ in aggregate ( &amp;#65308;0.25 mm ) under straw addition.&lt;/p&gt;


Soil Systems ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Daphne Topps ◽  
Md Imam ul Khabir ◽  
Hagir Abdelmagid ◽  
Todd Jackson ◽  
Javed Iqbal ◽  
...  

Cover crops are considered an integral component of agroecosystems because of their positive impacts on biotic and abiotic indicators of soil health. At present, we know little about the impact of cover crop types and diversity on the organic carbon (OC) contents of different soil aggregate-size classes. In this study, we investigated the effect of cover plant diversity on OC contents of different soil aggregates, such as macro- (<2000–500 μm), meso- (<500–250 μm), and micro-aggregates (<250 μm). Our experiment included a total of 12 experimental treatments in triplicate; six different monoculture treatments such as chickling vetch (Vicia villosa), crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum), hairy vetch (Vicia villosa), field peas (Pisum sativum), oilseed radish (Raphanus sativus), and mighty mustard (Brassica juncea), and their three- and six-species mixture treatments, including one unplanted control treatment. We performed this experiment usingdeep pots that contained soil collected from a corn-soybean rotation field. At vegetative maturity of cover plants (about 70 days), we took soil samples, and the soil aggregate-size classes were separated by the dry sieving. We hypothesized that cover crop type and diversity will improve OC contents of different soil aggregate-size classes. We found that cover plant species richness weakly positively increased OC contents of soil macro-aggregates (p = 0.056), whereas other aggregate-size classes did not respond to cover crop diversity gradient. Similarly, the OC contents of macroaggregates varied significantly (p = 0.013) under cover crop treatments, though neither monoculture nor mixture treatments showed significantly higher OC contents than the control treatment in this short-term experiment. Interestingly, the inclusion of hairy vetch and oilseed radish increased and decreased the OC contents of macro- and micro-aggregates, respectively. Moreover, we found a positive correlation between shoot biomass and OC contents of macroaggregates. Overall, our results suggest that species-rich rather than -poor communities may improve OC contents of soil macroaggregates, which constitute a major portion of soil systems, and are also considered as important indicators of soil functions.


2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-60
Author(s):  
Ahmed Tagar ◽  
Jan Adamowski

Abstract Arid areas are particularly susceptible to soil erosion due to long dry periods and sudden heavy downpours. This study investigates the aggregate size distribution and aggregate stability of twelve tilled fallow areas of Hyderabad district, Sindh, Pakistan. This study determined aggregate size distribution by dry sieving to evaluate the seedbed condition and aggregate stability using wet sieving to assess the susceptibility of tilled fallow areas to soil erosion. The aggregate size distribution of the soils of the selected areas was highly variable. Gulistan-e-Sarmast had the largest number of clods (51.0%) followed by Kohsar (49.0%), Latifabad # 10 (41.10%) and Daman-e-Kohsar (39.0%). Fazal Sun City, the left side of the Indus River, the Village Nooral Detha and the left side of the Abdullah Sports city had a greater number of large (>8.0 mm) and small aggregates (<0.5 mm). The optimum aggregate size distribution was found in the left side of the channel, which had the largest number of aggregates (50.50%) in the 0.5–8.0 mm sieve size range. Maximum aggregate stability (AS) was found in Gulistan-e-Sarmast (46%), Kohsar (42%) and Latifabad # 10 (34%), while all other soils had minimum aggregate stability (<14%). The minimum aggregate stabilities demonstrate that the tilled fallow areas of Hyderabad district are highly susceptible to erosion. Therefore, the present study suggests investigating potential ways to enhance the aggregate stabilities of soils.


1969 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-133
Author(s):  
R. Pérez-Escolar ◽  
M. A. Lugo-López

Data are presented here on the effect of the synthetic soil conditioners Krilium (formulations 6 and 9) and Aerotil on the aggregate stability of Juncos clay and on the yield of potatoes and string beans. The conditioners used were formulations 6 and 9 of Krilium, dry form, and Aerotil, wettable flakes, each at rates of 900, 1,800, and 3,600 pounds to the acre. At all levels Krilium 6 showed the highest aggregate-stabilizing capacity. Significant and highly significant differences were obtained between the stability of soil aggregates in the check plots and in all conditioner-treated plots, except where Krilium 9 was used at the minimum level. The production of potatoes of the Kennebeck variety was significantly increased by conditioner treatment, except at the low levels of both Krilium formulations and the intermediate level of formulation 6. Stringless beans did not respond to the increased stability of soil aggregates, which stresses the importance of recognizing crop differences in assessing soil characteristics.


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