The sensitivity of soil microbial respiration declined due to crop straw addition but did not depend on the type of crop straw.

Abstract

An incubation experiment was conducted to investigate whether the type of crop straw added to soil influenced the temperature sensitivity of soil microbial respiration. The soil for incubation was collected from a winter wheat-soybean rotation cropland. Five temperature levels (5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 °C), five crop straw types (soybean, peanut, rice, winter wheat, and maize), and a control (CK, no crop straw addition) were established. Soil microbial respiration rates were measured on days 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 14, 20, and 27 after crop straw addition using an infrared CO2 analyser. Soil enzyme activities of invertase, urea, and catalase and the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) content were measured after incubation. Estimated Q10 (temperature sensitivity of soil microbial respiration) ranged from 1.472 ± 0.045 to 1.970 ± 0.020 and showed no significant (P > 0.05) difference between straw addition treatments, but there was significantly (P < 0.001) higher temperature sensitivity (1.970 ± 0.020) for CK. A significant (P = 0.002) relationship was found between the Q10 of cumulative soil microbial respiration and basal soil microbial respiration (soil microbial respiration at 0 °C). Moreover, a marginally significant (P < 0.1) relationship was found between the Q10 at different incubation stages and basal soil microbial respiration. A quadratic function was used to explain the relationship between estimated basal microbial respiration and the lignin content. Soil microbial respiration was positively correlated with the activities of invertase, urease, and catalase and the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) content in all treatments. This study indicated that crop straw addition significantly (P < 0.001) reduced the Q10 of soil microbial respiration and that the types of crop straw added to soil did not significantly (P > 0.05) change the Q10 value.