Abstract
Information is needed on novel management practices to increase dryland C sequestration and soil quality in the northern Great Plains, USA. We evaluated the effects of tillage, crop rotation, and cultural practice on dryland crop biomass (stems and leaves) yield, surface residue, and soil C fractions at the 0-20 cm depth from 2004 to 2008 in a Williams loam in eastern Montana, USA. Treatments were two tillage (no-tillage [NT] and conventional tillage [CT]), two crop rotations (continuous spring wheat [Triticum aestivum L.] [CW] and spring wheat-barley [Hordeum vulgaris L.] hay-corn [Zea mays L.]-pea [Pisum sativum L.] [W-B-C-P]), and two cultural practices (regular [conventional seed rates and plant spacing, conventional planting date, broadcast N fertilization, and reduced stubble height] and ecological [variable seed rates and plant spacing, delayed planting, banded N fertilization, and increased stubble height]). Carbon fractions were soil organic C (SOC), particulate organic C (POC), microbial biomass C (MBC), and potential C mineralization (PCM). Crop biomass was 24% to 39% greater in W-B-C-P than in CW in 2004 and 2005. Surface residue C was 36% greater in NT than in CT in the regular practice. At 5 - 20 cm, SOC was 14% greater in NT with W-B-C-P and the regular practice than in CT with CW and the ecological practice. In 2007, POC and PCM at 0 - 20 cm were 23 to 54% greater in NT with CW or the regular practice than in CT with CW or the ecological practice. Similarly, MBC at 10 - 20 cm was 70% greater with the regular than with the ecological practice in NT with CW. Surface residue, PCM, and MBC declined from autumn 2007 to spring 2008. No-tillage with the regular cultural practice increased surface residue and soil C storage and microbial biomass and activity compared to conventional tillage with the ecological practice. Mineralization reduced surface residue and soil labile C fractions from autumn to spring.
Highlights
Sequestering atmospheric CO2 through plant photosynthesis in the soil as organic matter is getting increased attention, because reduction in CO2 concentration can reduce global warming [1,2]
We evaluated the effects of tillage, crop rotation, and cultural practice on dryland crop biomass yield, surface residue, and soil C fractions at the 0 - 20 cm depth from 2004 to 2008 in a Williams loam in eastern Montana, USA
ATillage practices are CT, conventional tillage; and NT, no-tillage; bCrop rotations are CW, continuous spring wheat; and W-B-C-P, spring wheat-barley hay-corn-pea.; cSee Table 2 for the description of cultural practices; dNumbers followed by different letters within a column in either cultural practice or year are significantly different at P ≤ 0.05 by the least square means test; eSignificance levels: *P ≤ 0.05; **P ≤ 0.01; ***P ≤ 0.001; NS, Not significant
Summary
Sequestering atmospheric CO2 through plant photosynthesis in the soil as organic matter is getting increased attention, because reduction in CO2 concentration can reduce global warming [1,2]. Incentives by governments and private companies for the compensation of C credit in agricultural soils have led to increased need for C sequestration and storage using novel management practices. Some of these practices are NT management, diversified crop rotations, and improved cultural practices. Studies have shown that NT with continuous cropping can increase dryland soil C storage compared to CT with crop-fallow [3,4,5]. In the northern Great Plains, NT with continuous cropping system can increase C sequestration by as much as 233 kg C ha−1·yr−1 compared to a loss of 141 kg·C·ha−1·yr−1 in CT with crop-fallow [9]. The NT management can increase annual crop yields due to efficient wa-
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