Characterization of the heavy, hydrolysable and non-hydrolysable fractions of soil organic carbon in conventional and no-tillage soils

Abstract

Quantification of soil organic carbon (SOC) pool fractions under different tillage systems is important in understanding SOC dynamics and storage. Two major pools of SOC that can be isolated are the light (LF) and heavy fractions (HF). Few studies have quantified the effect of tillage systems on the hydrolysable (HYF) and non-hydrolysable fractions (NHF) which comprise the HF. The objective of this study was to evaluate if there were significant changes in the quantity and δ13C of the HF, HYF, and NHF fractions of SOC after six years of no-tillage (NT), on arable soils that were previously under conventional tillage (CT). Our study used 13C natural abundance (rotation of C3 and C4crops) on a calcareous Typic Hapludalf soil in southern Ontario, Canada. The HF (>1.7 g cm−3) was isolated using density fractionation and separated into its HYF and NHF using acid hydrolysis (6 M HCl) for three soil depths: 0–10, 10–20, and 20–30 cm. The HF pool (90–93% of SOC) was significantly greater (P < 0.05) in the NT (28.9) than the CT system (25.5 Mg C ha−1) only for the 0–10 cm depth. The dominant SOC fraction from the HF pool was the NHF (62–65% of SOC) for both tillage systems. However, the HYF (25–30% of SOC) was significantly greater in the NT (9.3) than the CT system (7.0 Mg C ha−1) only for the 0–10 cm depth. Additionally, there was a significantly higher proportion of C4-derived C in the HF only at the 0–10 cm depth of NT soils. Differences in the δ13C of the whole soil and SOC fractions show a preservation of newly derived C in the HF, HYF and NHF of NT soils. We conclude that the adoption of NT systems on arable soils increases the quantity of HF and HYF in the 0–10 cm depth only, but there is no difference in carbon sequestration potential when treatments are compared over the 0–30 cm depth in the short-term.