Tillage Effect on Organic Carbon in a Purple Paddy Soil

The distribution and storage of soil organic carbon (SOC) based on a long-term experiment with various tillage systems were studied in a paddy soil derived from purple soil in Chongqing, China. Organic carbon storage in the 0-20 and 0-40 cm soil layers under different tillage systems were in an order: ridge tillage with rice-rape rotation (RT-rr) > conventional tillage with rice only (CT-r) > ridge tillage with rice only (RT-r) > conventional tillage with rice-rape rotation (CT-rr). The RT-rr system had significantly higher levels of soil organic carbon in the 0-40 cm topsoil, while the proportion of the total remaining organic carbon in the total soil organic carbon in the 0-10 cm layer was greatest in the RT-rr system. This was the reason why the RT-rr system enhanced soil organic carbon storage. These showed that tillage system type was crucial for carbon storage. Carbon levels in soil humus and crop-yield results showed that the RT-rr system enhanced soil fertility and crop productivity. Adoption of this tillage system would be beneficial both for environmental protection and economic development.

Effect of Different Fertilizer Treatments on Quantity of Soil Microbes and Structure of Ammonium Oxidizing Bacterial Community in a Calcareous Purple Paddy Soil

The quantity of soil microbes and the structure of ammonium oxidizing bacterial （AOB） community were analyzed using the dilution plate counting and most probable number method （MPN）, and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis （DGGE）, respectively. Fertilizer application tended to increase the number of soil microbes and alter the AOB community compared to the control with no fertilizer application （CK）. Among the eight fertilizer treatments, soil samples from the treatments of mineral fertilizers （e.g., N, P, K） in combination with farmyard manure （M） had greater number.s of soil microbes and more complex structure of AOB community than those receiving mineral fertilizers alone. The principal component analyses （PCA） for ammonium oxidizing bacterial community structure showed that the eight fertilizer treatments could be divided into two PCA groups （PCA1 and PCA2）. For the soil sampled after rice harvest, PCA1 included NP, NM, NPM and NPKM fertilizer treatments, while PCA2 was consisted of CK, N, M and NPK fertilizer treatments. For soil samples collected after wheat harvest, PCA1 was consisted of M, NM, NPM and NPKM fertilizer treatments, while PCA2 was composed of CK, N, NP and NPK fertilizer treatments. For a given rotation, the richness of AOB community in PCA1 was greater than that in PCA2. In addition, AOB community structure was more complex in the soil after rice harvest than that after wheat harvest. The results indicated that different fertilizer treatments resulted in substantial changes of soil microbe number and AOB community. Furthermore, mineral fertilizers （N, NP, NPK） combined with farmyard manure were effective for increasing the quantity of soil microbes, enriching AOB community, and improving the soil biofertility.

Characteristics of Organo－Mineral Complexing of Microaggregates in Paddy Soils Developed from Purple Soils

This paper deals with characteristics of organo-mineral complexing of microaggregates in the paddy soils developed from purple soils in Sichuan, China. Results show that the contents of organic matter in microaggregates are in the order of 1--0.25 mm > smaller than 0.05 mm > 0.05-0.25 mm. But the organic matter in 1-0.01 mm microaggregates accounts for 68.1%-78.7% of that in soil. The organic matter in<0.05 mm microaggregates is complexed humus on the whole, of which the degree of organo-mineral complexing varies between 96.1% and 99.5%, which is higher than that of the soil or>0.05 mm microaggregates. The contents of loosely combined humus and the ratios of loosely and tightly combined humus markedly decline with the size of microaggregates. Fresh soil humus formed from semi-decomposed organic material or organic manure added is combined first with<0.001 mm clay, and then aggregated with other organic and mineral particles to form larger microaggregates, in which the aging of humus happens at the same time; whereas organic matter of the light fraction is mainly involved in the formation of>0.05 mm microaggregates.