Soil Aggregate Stability and Iron and Aluminium Oxide Contents Under Different Fertiliser Treatments in a Long-Term Solar Greenhouse Experiment

Abstract

Soil in greenhouses is likely to suffer a gradual decline in aggregate stability. Determination of the effects of different fertiliser practices on soil aggregate stability is important for taking advantage of solar greenhouses. Soil aggregate stability and iron (Fe) and aluminium (Al) oxide contents were investigated in a 26-year long-term fertilisation experiment in greenhouse in Shenyang, China, under eight fertiliser treatments: manure (M), fertiliser N (FN), fertiliser N with manure (MN), fertiliser P (FP), fertiliser P with manure (MP), fertiliser NP (FNP), fertiliser NP with manure (MNP), and control without any fertiliser (CK). A wet sieving method was used to determine aggregate size distribution and water-stable aggregates (WSA), mean weight diameter and geometric mean diameter as the indices of soil aggregate stability. Different fertiliser treatments had a statistically significant influence on aggregate stability and Fe and Al oxide contents. Long-term application of inorganic fertilisers had no obvious effects on the mass proportion of aggregates. By contrast, manure application significantly increased the mass proportion of macroaggregates at the expense of microaggregates. All treatments, with the exception of FNP, significantly increased the stability of macroaggregates but decreased that of microaggregates when compared with CK. Aggregation under MP and MN was better than that under M and MNP; however, no significant differences were found among inorganic fertiliser treatments (i.e., FN, FP, and FNP). A positive relation was found between pyrophosphate-extractable Fe and WSA (r = 0.269), but no significant relations were observed between other Fe and Al oxides and aggregate stability.