Effects of Amendments on Physicochemical Properties and Respiration Rate of Soil from the Arid Region of Northwest China

Dianpeng Li,Hongtao Jia,Yuxin Zhang,Tao Sun,Shuqing An,Jianqin Zhou

doi:10.3390/su13105332

Dianpeng Li, Hongtao Jia + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105332

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Abstract

In arid regions, decreased soil fertility has adversely affected agricultural sustainability. The effects of different amendments in alleviating these issues and increasing soil fertility remain unclear. Herein, a two-year field experiment was conducted to evaluate the properties of grey desert soil and soil respiration (SR) dynamics under six different treatment groups: biochar (BC), leonardite (LD), anionic polyacrylamide (PAM−), cationic polyacrylamide (PAM+) powder, anionic polyacrylamide solution in water (PAM−W), and control (CK). We observed that the BC and LD amendments significantly altered soil pH, organic matter, available nitrogen, available phosphorus, cation exchange capacity, and SR. PAM amendment increased the SR as compared to the control, except in autumn, but PAM did not affect the soil properties. SR under different amendments showed strong seasonal patterns, the highest and lowest SR rates were observed in June and January, respectively. Amendments and seasonal dynamics significantly affected SR, but no interaction was observed between these factors. Temporal variation of SR was substantially influenced by soil temperature at 15 cm of soil depth. Temperature sensitivity of SR (Q10) increased with soil depth and decreased with amendment addition. SR was significantly affected by soil temperature, moisture, air temperature, and their interactions. The outcomes of this study suggested that the BC and LD amendments improved soil fertility and negated the net carbon accumulation by increasing the SR and Q10 in arid agriculture soil.

Highlights

Grey desert soil represents an important soil type in the typical continental arid climate regions of northwestern China, out of the total 52,528 km2 of cultivated grey desert soil across China, one quarter is cultivated in Xinjiang [1]
There was no significant difference between SOM, total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and bulk density (BD) in BC and LD treatments (p > 0.05)
We observed that BC and LD amendment to arid agriculture soil affected its physicochemical properties and soil respiration (SR) as compared to control

Summary

Introduction

Grey desert soil represents an important soil type in the typical continental arid climate regions of northwestern China, out of the total 52,528 km of cultivated grey desert soil across China, one quarter is cultivated in Xinjiang [1]. Due to a high evaporation rate and agriculture practice of using high-intensity mechanical operations in the arid climate, soil in the arid region encounters secondary salinization and the tight barrier layer This hampers the utilization rate of water and fertilizer as well as the productivity of the soil [2,3]. In fields where continuous farming was carried out for a duration of 5–10 years, activities of catalase, invertase, and protease in grey desert soil decreased notably [4]. These obstacles have severely restricted crop growth and adversely impacted crop yield [5,6].

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