Soil respiration in cucumber field under crop rotation in solar greenhouse

Yinli Liang,Lan Mu,Caihong Bai,Maojuan Zhou

doi:10.1590/0103-9016-2013-0225

Yinli Liang, Lan Mu + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1590/0103-9016-2013-0225

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Abstract

Crop residues are the primary source of carbon input in the soil carbon pool. Crop rotation can impact the plant biomass returned to the soil, and influence soil respiration. To study the effect of previous crops on soil respiration in cucumber (Cucumis statirus L.) fields in solar greenhouses, soil respiration, plant height, leaf area and yield were measured during the growing season (from the end of Sept to the beginning of Jun the following year) from 2007 to 2010. The cucumber was grown following fallow (CK), kidney bean (KB), cowpea (CP), maize for green manure (MGM), black bean for green manure (BGM), tomato (TM), bok choy (BC). As compared with CK, KB, CP, MGM and BGM may increase soil respiration, while TM and BC may decrease soil respiration at full fruit stage in cucumber fields. Thus attention to the previous crop arrangement is a possible way of mitigating soil respiration in vegetable fields. Plant height, leaf area and yield had similar variation trends under seven previous crop treatments. The ratio of yield to soil respiration revealed that MGM is the crop of choice previous to cucumber when compared with CK, KB, CP, BGM, TM and BC.

Highlights

Soil microbial respiration is the major carbon dioxide (CO2) emission from soil released into the atmosphere and has vital importance in the global carbon budget (Schimel, 1995; Raich and Tufekcioglu, 2000)
The ratio of yield to soil respiration revealed that maize for green manure (MGM) is the crop of choice previous to cucumber when compared with CK, kidney bean (KB), CP, bean for green manure (BGM), TM and bok choy (BC)
Crop residues are the primary source of carbon input in the soil carbon pool but crop rotation can impact the plant biomass returned to the soil, thereby influencing soil quality, total microbial biomass, microbial activity, basal respiration, specific maintenance respiration, total organic carbon, active carbon, total nitrogen, aggregate stability, particulate organic matter, C:N ratio and soil organic matter decomposition (Adiku et al, 2008; Ferreira et al, 2010; Aziz et al, 2011)

Summary

Introduction

Soil microbial respiration is the major carbon dioxide (CO2) emission from soil released into the atmosphere and has vital importance in the global carbon budget (Schimel, 1995; Raich and Tufekcioglu, 2000). The respiratory activities of plant roots and their mycorrhizal fungi in soil as a proportion of the total soil respiration were estimated from 10 to 90 % (Hanson et al, 2000; Högberg et al, 2001; Raich and Tufekcioglu, 2000). Soil respiration is affected by several factors, such as soil temperature and moisture, root biomass, net primary productivity, litter inputs, microbial populations, fertility, soil organism, soil texture, substrate quantity and quality (Boone et al, 1998; Fang et al, 1998; Buchmann, 2000; Sánchez et al, 2003; Dilustro et al, 2005; Han et al, 2007; Iqbal et al, 2010). The influence of crop residues on soil respiration depends upon amount, type and size of the crop residues added

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