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Effects of straw and biochar amendments on aggregate stability, soil organic carbon, and enzyme activities in the Loess Plateau, China

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Abstract

Soil from the Loess Plateau of China is typically low in organic carbon and generally has poor aggregate stability. Application of organic amendments to these soils could help to increase and sustain soil organic matter levels and thus to enhance soil aggregate stability. A field experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of the application of wheat straw and wheat straw-derived biochar (pyrolyzed at 350–550 °C) amendments on soil aggregate stability, soil organic carbon (SOC), and enzyme activities in a representative Chinese Loess soil during summer maize and winter wheat growing season from 2013 to 2015. Five treatments were set up as follows: no fertilization (CK), application of inorganic fertilizer (N), wheat straw applied at 8 t ha−1 with inorganic fertilizer (S8), and wheat straw-derived biochar applied at 8 t ha−1 (B8) and 16 t ha−1 (B16) with inorganic fertilizer, respectively. Compared to the N treatment, straw and straw-derived biochar amendments significantly increased SOC (by 33.7–79.6%), microbial biomass carbon (by 18.9–46.5%), and microbial biomass nitrogen (by 8.3–38.2%), while total nitrogen (TN) only increased significantly in the B16 plot (by 24.1%). The 8 t ha−1 straw and biochar applications had no significant effects on soil aggregation, but a significant increase in soil macro-aggregates (>2 mm) (by 105.8%) was observed in the B16 treatment. The concentrations of aggregate-associated SOC increased by 40.4–105.8% in macro-aggregates (>2 mm) under straw and biochar amendments relative to the N treatment. No significant differences in invertase and alkaline phosphatase activity were detected among different treatments. However, urease activity was greater in the biochar treatment than the straw treatment, indicating that biochar amendment improved the transformation of nitrogen in the soil. The carbon pool index and carbon management index were increased with straw and biochar amendments, especially in the B16 treatment. In conclusion, application of carbonized crop residue as biochar, especially at a rate of 16 t ha−1, could be a potential solution to recover the depleted SOC and enhance the formation of macro-aggregates in Loess Plateau soils of China.

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Abbreviations

ASD:

Aggregate size distribution

MWD:

Mean weight diameter

LI:

Lability index

CMI:

Carbon management index

CPI:

Carbon pool index

FTIR:

Fourier transform infrared

HLOC:

High labile organic carbon

LLOC:

Low labile organic carbon

LOC:

Labile organic carbon

MBC:

Microbial biomass carbon

MBN:

Microbial biomass nitrogen

PCA:

Principal component analysis

SOC:

Soil organic carbon

SOM:

Soil organic matter

TN:

Total nitrogen

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41301305, 41471222, 41601321), the National 863 Research Program (2013AA102904), Technology Co-innovation Projects in Shaanxi Province (2016KTZDNY03-06), the NWAFU Research Project (Z111021302, Z109021614), and the Chinese Universities Scientific Fund (2014YB062, 2452015355).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shanxi, 712100, China

    Man Zhang, Hao Feng & Haixin Chen

  2. Key Laboratory of Plant Nutrition and the Agri-environment in Northwest China, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, 3 Taicheng, Yangling, 712100, China

    Gong Cheng, Benhua Sun, Ying Zhao, Jing Chen, Xudong Wang, Jianguo Zhang & Afeng Zhang

  3. Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling, Shanxi, 712100, China

    Man Zhang

  4. Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, 773 General Services Building, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2H1, Canada

    Miles Dyck

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Correspondence to Afeng Zhang.

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Fig S1.

Correlation between mean weight diameter (MWD) and the content of >0.25 mm water-stable soil aggregates (a); Correlation between MWD and high labile organic C (HLOC), low labile organic C (LLOC) and soil organic carbon (SOC) (b). (PDF 51 kb)

Fig S2

Principal component analysis (PCA) based on FTIR spectra of the different treatments in all various aggregate fractions. 1, 2, 3 and 4 represent >2 mm, 1–2 mm, 0.25–1 mm and <0.25 mm soil aggregates fraction, respectively. (PDF 29 kb)

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Zhang, M., Cheng, G., Feng, H. et al. Effects of straw and biochar amendments on aggregate stability, soil organic carbon, and enzyme activities in the Loess Plateau, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 10108–10120 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8505-8

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