Effects of Chinese milk vetch intercropped with rape under straw mulching on soil aggregate and organic carbon character

Abstract

There are severe soil erosion, shallow soil, reduction of soil organic matter, and poor soil and water conservation in purple soil areas in Southwest China, which become the main limiting factors for the sustainable development of agriculture. A series of buckets and field experiments in the field were employed to explore the soil aggregate and soil organic carbon in response to Chinese milk vetch intercropped with rape under straw mulching, aiming to improve soil aggregate structure and increase organic carbon content. Results showed that intercropped Chinese milk vetch increased soil micro-aggregate content in rape rhizosphere, and reduced soil aggregate mean mass diameter. The change of soil macro-aggregate in rape rhizosphere was mainly caused by the change of content of soil aggregate on 10-5 mm and 5-2 mm, while the soil micro-aggregate was mainly caused by soil aggregate on 0.25-0.053 mm. Intercropped Chinese milk vetch and straw mulching significantly increased soil organic carbon content after corn growing season, with increasing the content of soil organic carbon on 10-20 cm and 20-30 cm. Though intercropped Chinese milk vetch and straw mulching had less effect on soil total organic carbon in rape season, more and more significant effect on 0-10 cm, 10-20 cm, and 20-30 cm with rape growing, especially in stem elongation stage, flowering stage, and harvest stage. Our results showed that the characteristic of soil aggregate in rape rhizosphere could be changed by intercropped Chinese milk vetch, and that the content of soil organic carbon could be increased by Chinese milk vetch intercropped with rape under straw mul-ching.