Susceptible soil organic matter, SOM, fractions to agricultural management practices in salt-affected soils

Abstract

In the recent decades, soil salinity became the main human-induced soil degradation causes in Egypt’s Nile Delta Valley (ENDV) by affecting the stabilization processes of soil organic matter (SOM). However, soil organic carbon (SOC) is highly conserved by aggregating the stabilized organic molecules under sound agricultural management. In particular, labile SOM fractions assumed to be dually influenced by salinity and agricultural management practices other than the stabilized fractions. This work aimed to study various labile and stable SOM fractions that are more susceptible to the current agricultural practices in salt-affected soils of the ENDV area. Three different agro-ecological sites were studied: Eastern (EH, EM soils) and Western (WM, WL soils) Delta regions dominated by Vertic Torrifluvents, and Coastal region (NCH, NCM soils) dominated by Typic Calcitorrerts of high CaCO3 contents. Two different salinity levels were detected in each site; low in WL soils, medium in WM, NCM, and EM soils, and high in EH and NCH soils. The least values in EM, WL, and NCM soils were due to the recurrent legume applications. The carbon content of glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP) (C-GRSP) was positively correlated with SOC and water-extractable organic carbon (WEOC) fraction confirming the contribution of GRSP to the stabilization of SOM. The lower soil β-glucosidase, phosphatase, and protease enzymes activities were in those soils with larger salinity levels in each site as NCH < NCM, WM < WL, and EH < EM reflecting the effect of soil salinity and CaCO3 contents on soil metabolic activities. Extracted organic carbon (EOC) in both humic and fulvic fractions was higher in EH, WM, WL, and EM soils than in NCH and NCM soils. The chemical composition of SOM obtained by the pyrolysis gas chromatography showed that lignocellulosic and condensed aromatic structures in SOM increased significantly with CaCO3 and salinity. In conclusion, the considered SOM fractions such as WEOC, EOC, GRSP, C-GRSP, together with the pyrolytic results can be considered as significant indicators in the dynamic stability of SOM. Intercropping with legumes may increase the stability of SOM fractions in salt-affected soils of degraded lands. In calcareous soils, severe alteration in SOC conservation was observed and negatively influenced the active constituents of SOM.