Soil Respiration under 90 Year-Old Rye Monoculture and Crop Rotation in the Climate Conditions of Central Poland

Tomasz Sosulski,Magdalena Szymańska,Ewa Szara,Piotr Sulewski

doi:10.3390/agronomy11010021

Tomasz Sosulski, Magdalena Szymańska + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11010021

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Abstract

This study, aimed at assessing the rate of soil respiration under different crop rotation and fertilization conditions, was carried out on long-term (since 1923) experimental plots with rye monoculture and 5-crop rotation in Skierniewice (Central Poland). The treatments included mineral-organic (CaNPK+M) and organic (Ca+M) fertilization (where M is farmyard manure). Soil respiration was measured in situ by means of infrared spectroscopy using a portable FTIR spectrometer Alpha. CO2 fluxes from CaNPK+M-treated soils under cereals cultivated in monoculture and crop rotations were not statically different. Respiration of soil under lupine cultivated in crop rotation was higher than under cereals. N-fertilization and its succeeding effect increased soil respiration, and significantly altered its distribution over the growing season. Our results indicate that in the climatic conditions of Central Europe, respiration of sandy soils is more dependent on the crop species and fertilization than on the crop rotation system. Omission of mineral fertilization significantly decreases soil respiration. The CO2 fluxes were positively correlated with soil temperature, air temperature, and soil content of NO3− and NH4+.

Highlights

Arable land plays a fundamental role in global carbon cyclical exchange between the lithosphere and atmosphere [1,2]
In both years of the study, under rye monoculture, the highest amount of CO2-C was released from soil in May (21.8 and 25.1% in 2013 and 2012, respectively) (Figure 3), soil respiration over the June-August period constituted 35.8 and 46.6% of cumulative soil respiration recorded over the measurement period in 2012 and 2013, respectively
Our results indicate that omission of mineral fertilization significantly decreases soil respiration

Summary

Introduction

Arable land plays a fundamental role in global carbon cyclical exchange between the lithosphere and atmosphere [1,2]. Higher content of soil organic carbon contributes to a higher rate of CO2 soil respiration [12]. An increase in soil organic carbon observed in mineral treated soil was lower than that observed by manure fertilization [18,19]. Sosulski and Korc [19] found that mineral fertilizers (no application of organic amendments) led to an increase in organic carbon content in soil. Mineral NPK fertilizers were applied, nitrogen was the main contributor to increase inorganic carbon content in the soil. Higher organic carbon content in the mineral fertilized soils resulted from greater input of crop residues in comparison to non-treated soils [20]. The negative influence of applying high nitrogen fertilizer rates on soil respiration was reported by Song and Zhang [13]. An increase in soil respiration after solid and liquid manure application has been observed in several studies [21,22,26,27]

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Conclusion