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Mulching Effects on Labile Soil Organic Nitrogen Pools under a Spring Maize Cropping System in Semiarid Farmland
Author(s) -
Luo Shasha,
Zhu Lin,
Liu Jianliang,
Bu Lingduo,
Yue Shanchao,
Shen Yufang,
Li Shiqing
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
agronomy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1435-0645
pISSN - 0002-1962
DOI - 10.2134/agronj14.0643
Subject(s) - agronomy , mulch , nitrogen , soil carbon , chemistry , cropping system , total organic carbon , field experiment , soil water , biomass (ecology) , zoology , environmental science , crop , biology , environmental chemistry , soil science , organic chemistry
Understanding the response of labile soil organic nitrogen (SON) pools to soil surface mulching is essential in identifying changes in soil N availability. Three treatments included non‐mulched (CK), gravel‐mulched (GM), and plastic film‐mulched (FM), based on a 5‐yr spring maize ( Zea mays L.) field experiment in northwestern China. Compared with the CK, the GM and FM treatments significantly increased the grain yield and aboveground biomass, while had no effect on the soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) contents after 5 yr of this study. Compared with the CK, the GM and FM treatments significantly decreased light fraction organic N by 12.2 and 6.5 mg kg −1 , respectively, and extractable organic N by 7.7 and 9.3 mg kg −1 in the 0‐ to 20‐cm layer; while significantly increased water soluble organic N by 1.6 and 1.5 mg kg −1 in the 0‐ to 20‐cm layer, respectively, and by 1.3 and 1.2 mg kg −1 in the 20‐ to 40‐cm layer after 4 yr of this study. Meanwhile, the FM treatment significantly increased the microbial biomass N by 19.5 mg kg −1 in the 0‐ to 20‐cm layer compared with the CK after 4 yr of this study. In general, the GM and FM treatments increased maize productivity without detriment to the SOC and TN balance compared with the CK. The FM treatment displayed greater effects on enhancing crop yield and increasing labile SON pools than GM. It is suitable to choose plastic film mulching over gravel mulching to have increases in crop yields and improvements in soil N availability in semiarid farmland.