Abstract
This study investigated soil carbon storage and microbial activities influenced by different management practices in rice paddies and pastures. Soils under a single-crop farming of rice (CON) and rice-Italian ryegrass rotation farming (IRG) were compared in Jangheung, Jeollanam-do, Seocheon and Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do. Soils from pastures were analyzed to investigate the effect of duration period (P1, P2, P3) in Namwon, Jeollabuk-do and Seosan, Chungcheongnam-do. In rice paddy, total and particulate carbon (PC) concentrations in the IRG soils were significantly higher than those in the CON soils both in Jangheung and Seocheon where the IRG has been established for three years, whereas carbon concentrations were not significantly different in Cheonan where IRG planting history is only one year. In rice paddy soils, PC was suggested as an early indicator to monitor changes in soil carbon storage followed by adopting different management practices. In pasture, total and PC concentrations increased with duration period especially in the 0-5 cm soils. Contrary to the rice paddy soils, the magnitude of change in PC concentration is not as great as that in total carbon concentration, implying that there is a need to develop a new early indicator other than PC using different fractionation scheme. The soil carbon storage in pasture also increased with years since establishment and the increasing rate was significantly greater in the early stage (0-5 yrs) than the later one (> 5 yrs). Microbial activities measured from fluorescein diacetate (FDA) hydrolysis analysis were significantly lower in the IRG soils than CON soils, whereas no difference was observed in the pastures of different ages. This shows that FDA activity is not a sensitive indicator to differentiate soil qualities influenced by management practices if it is used by itself.
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