The impact of soil carbon management and environmental conditions on N mineralization

Abstract

Soil carbon (C) management is identified as a key element of sustainable agriculture, and an increase in nitrogen (N) mineralization rates is expected with an increase in soil C. However, any practical recommendation for using soil C management to substitute the application of synthetic N fertilizer needs to account simultaneously for other important agronomic variables and environmental conditions. For this purpose we investigated the simultaneous impact of soil C management, environmental conditions, and soil structure on N mineralization in two apple orchard systems in Havelock North, New Zealand. One system is an organic orchard using regular compost applications and the other is a neighboring integrated orchard with no external inputs of organic matter. The soil type, texture, and climate are identical in both orchards. We selected different temperatures (10°C, 15°C, and 20°C) and soil moistures (−30, −100, and −300 kPa) as the environmental conditions for N mineralization. Simultaneously, the hot-water extractable C (HWC) contents were measured and served as the indicator for the soil C management of the orchards. To analyze the impact of soil structure, the N mineralization of undisturbed cores was compared with that of disturbed samples. The net N mineralization of the soil in the organic orchard was on average six times higher than that in the integrated orchard. At the same time, in the organic orchard the HWC contents at the beginning of the N mineralization experiment were about two times higher than in the integrated orchard. In a multiple regression as a practical recommendation for the orchards of our case study, we could explain 84% of the variability of N mineralization rates using HWC and environmental conditions as the independent variables. The HWC content was the most significant variable in the multiple regression model and showed that soil C management has a more prominent role than the environmental conditions. Soil C management such as regular compost applications which increase the soil’s HWC contents can also be used to manage N mineralization. The significant difference between the undisturbed and disturbed samples showed the soil structure can have an effect on N mineralization.