Long-term grazing exclusion influences arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and their association with vegetation in typical steppe of Inner Mongolia,China

It is not certain that long-term grazing exclusion influences arbuscular mycorrhizal （AM） fungi and their association with steppe vegetation. In this study, soil and plant samples were collected from two sites of grazing exclusion since 1983 （E83） and 1996 （E96）, and one site of free-grazing （FG） in the typical steppe of Xilinguole League, Inner Mongolia, China, and assayed for soil basic physicochemical properties, AM fungal parameters, aboveground biomass and shoot phosphorus （P） uptake as well. The results showed that long-term grazing exclusion of E83 and E96 led to less drastic seasonal changes and significant increases in spore density, hyphal length density and root colonization intensity of AM fungi and even soil alkaline phosphatase activity, by up to 300, 168, 110 and 102％, respectively, compared with those of FG site. In addition, the total aboveground biomass and shoot P uptake of E83 and E96 were 75-992％ and 58-645％, respectively, higher than those of FG. Generally, the root colonization intensity, spore density, and hyphal length density of AM fungi were all positively correlated with the aboveground biomass and even shoot P uptake of plant. These results may imply that grazing exclusion play a critical role in increasing the growth of AM fungi, and subsequently, may increase plant P uptake and aboveground biomass production. Moreover, the spore density could sensitively reflect the impacts of long-term grazing exclusion on AM fungi since survival strategy of spores in soil.

Spatial Interpolation of Soil Texture Using Compositional Kriging and Regression Kriging with Consideration of the Characteristics of Compositional Data and Environment Variables

The spatial interpolation for soil texture does not necessarily satisfy the constant sum and nonnegativity constraints. Meanwhile, although numeric and categorical variables have been used as auxiliary variables to improve prediction accuracy of soil attributes such as soil organic matter, they （especially the categorical variables） are rarely used in spatial prediction of soil texture. The objective of our study was to comparing the performance of the methods for spatial prediction of soil texture with consideration of the characteristics of compositional data and auxiliary variables. These methods include the ordinary kriging with the symmetry logratio transform, regression kriging with the symmetry logratio transform, and compositional kriging （CK） approaches. The root mean squared error （RMSE）, the relative improvement value of RMSE and Aitchison＇s distance （DA） were all utilized to assess the accuracy of prediction and the mean squared deviation ratio was used to evaluate the goodness of fit of the theoretical estimate of error. The results showed that the prediction methods utilized in this paper could enable interpolation results of soil texture to satisfy the constant sum and nonnegativity constraints. Prediction accuracy and model fitting effect of the CK approach were better, suggesting that the CK method was more appropriate for predicting soil texture. The CK method is directly interpolated on soil texture, which ensures that it is optimal unbiased estimator. If the environment variables are appropriately selected as auxiliary variables, spatial variability of soil texture can be predicted reasonably and accordingly the predicted results will be satisfied.

Steam explosion of crop straws improves the characteristics of biochar as a soil amendment

Five crop straws (wheat, rice, maize, oil-rape, and cotton) were first steam-exploded for 2 min at 210℃, 2.5 MPa and then pyrolyzed at 500℃ for 2 h. Steam explosion (SE) induced 47–95% and 5–16% reduction of hemicellulose and cellulose, respectively, in the crop straws. The biochars derived from SE-treated feedstocks had a lower specific surface area (SSA) and pore volume, compared to those from pristine feedstocks, with one exception that SE enhanced SSA of oil-rape straw biochar by approximately 16 times. After SE, biochars had significant higher anion exchange capacity (AEC) (6.88–11.44 cmol kg–1) and point of zero net charges (PZNC) (pH 3.61–5.32) values. It can thus be speculated that these biochars may have higher potential for anions adsorption. In addition, oil-rape straw might be suitable to SE pretreatment for preparing biochar as a soil amendment and sorbent as well. Further work is required for testing its application in soil.

Spatial distribution prediction and benefits assessment of green manure in the Pinggu District,Beijing,based on the CLUE-S model

Green manure use in China has declined rapidly since the 1980 s with the extensive use of chemical fertilizers.The deterioration of field environments and the demand for green agricultural products have resulted in more attention to green manure.Human intervention and policy-oriented behaviors likely have large impacts on promoting green manure planting.However,little information is available regarding on where,at what rates,and in which ways（i.e.,intercropping green manure in orchards or rotating green manure in cropland） to develop green manure and what benefits could be gained by incorporating green manure in fields at the county scale.This paper presents the conversion of land use and its effects at small region extent（CLUE-S） model,which is specifically developed for the simulation of land use changes originally,to predict spatial distribution of green manure in cropland and orchards in 2020 in Pinggu District located in Beijing,China.Four types of land use for planting or not planting green manure were classified and the future land use dynamics（mainly croplands and orchards） were considered in the prediction.Two scenarios were used to predict the spatial distribution of green manure based on data from 2011：The promotion of green manure planting in orchards（scenario 1） and the promotion of simultaneous green manure planting in orchards and croplands（scenario 2）.The predictions were generally accurate based on the receiver operating characteristic（ROC） and Kappa indices,which validated the effectiveness of the CLUE-S model in the prediction.In addition,the spatial distribution of the green manure was acquired,which indicated that green manure mainly located in the orchards of the middle and southern regions of Dahuashan,the western and southern regions of Wangxinzhuang,the middle region of Shandongzhuang,the eastern region of Pinggu and the middle region of Xiagezhuang under scenario 1.Green manure planting under scenario 2 occurred in orchards in the middle region of Wangxinzhuang,and croplands in most regions of Daxingzhuang,southern Pinggu,northern Xiagezhuang and most of Mafang.The spatially explicit results allowed for the assessment of the benefits of these changes based on different economic and ecological indicators.The economic and ecological gains of scenarios 1 and 2 were 175691 900 and143000 300 CNY,respectively,which indicated that the first scenario was more beneficial for promoting the same area of green manure.These results can facilitate policies of promoting green manure and guide the extensive use of green manure in local agricultural production in suitable ways.

Quantitative analysis of yield and soil water balance for summer maize on the piedmont of the North China Plain using AquaCrop

The North China Plain(NCP)is a major grain production area in China,but the current winter wheatsummer maize system has resulted in a large water deficit.This water-shortage necessitates the improvement of crop water productivity in the NCP.A crop water model,AquaCrop,was adopted to investigate yield and water productivity(WP)for rain-fed summer maize on the piedmont of the NCP.The data sets to calibrate and validate the model were obtained from a 3-year(2011–2013)field experiment conducted on the Yanshan piedmont of the NCP.The range of root mean square error(RMSE)between the simulated and measured biomass was 0.67–1.25 t·hm^(–2),and that of relative error(RE)was 9.4%–15.4%,the coefficient of determination(R^(2))ranged from 0.992 to 0.994.The RMSE between the simulated and measured soil water storage at depth of 0–100 cm ranged from 4.09 to 4.39 mm;and RE and R^(2) in the range of 1.07%–1.20%and 0.880–0.997,respectively.The WP as measured by crop yield per unit evapotranspiration was 2.50–2.66 kg·m^(–3).The simulated impact of long-term climate(i.e.,1980–2010)and groundwater depth on crop yield and WP revealed that the higher yield and WP could be obtained in dry years in areas with capillary recharge from groundwater,and much lower values elsewhere.The simulation also suggested that supplementary irrigation in areas without capillary groundwater would not result in groundwater over-tapping since the precipitation can meet the water required by both maize and ecosystem,thus a beneficial outcome for both food and ecosystem security can be assured.

Mapping Soil Electrical Conductivity Using Ordinary Kriging Combined with Back-propagation Network

Accurate mapping of soil salinity and recognition of its influencing factors are essential for sustainable crop production and soil health. Although the influencing factors have been used to improve the mapping accuracy of soil salinity, few studies have considered both aspects of spatial variation caused by the influencing factors and spatial autocorrelations for mapping. The objective of this study was to demonstrate that the ordinary kriging combined with back-propagation network(OK_BP), considering the two aspects of spatial variation, which can benefit the improvement of the mapping accuracy of soil salinity. To test the effectiveness of this approach, 70 sites were sampled at two depths(0–30 and 30–50 cm) in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China. Ordinary kriging(OK), back-propagation network(BP) and regression kriging(RK) were used in comparison analysis; the root mean square error(RMSE), relative improvement(RI) and the decrease in estimation imprecision(DIP) were used to judge the mapping quality. Results showed that OK_BP avoided the both underestimation and overestimation of the higher and lower values of interpolation surfaces. OK_BP revealed more details of the spatial variation responding to influencing factors, and provided more flexibility for incorporating various correlated factors in the mapping. Moreover, OK_BP obtained better results with respect to the reference methods(i.e., OK, BP, and RK) in terms of the lowest RMSE, the highest RI and DIP. Thus, it is concluded that OK_BP is an effective method for mapping soil salinity with a high accuracy.

Water and salt movement in different soil textures under various negative irrigating pressures

supported by the National High-Tech R＆D Program of China （2013AA102901）

Biochar application significantly increases soil organic carbon under conservation tillage:an 11-year field experiment

Biochar application and conservation tillage are significant for long-term organic carbon(OC)sequestration in soil and enhancing crop yields,however,their effects on native soil organic carbon(native SOC)without biochar carbon sequestration in situ remain largely unknown.Here,an 11-year field experiment was carried out to examine different biochar application rates(0,30,60,and 90 Mg ha^(−1))on native SOC pools(native labile SOC pool I and II,and native recalcitrant SOC)and microbial activities in calcareous soil across an entire winter wheat-maize rotation.The proportions of C_(3) and C_(4)-derived native SOC mineralization were quantified using soil basal respiration(SBR)combined with 13C natural isotope abundance measurements.The results showed that 39-51%of the biochar remained in the top 30 cm after 11 years.Biochar application rates significantly increased native SOC and native recalcitrant SOC contents but decreased the proportion of native labile SOC[native labile SOC pool I and II,dissolved organic carbon(DOC),and microbial biomass carbon(MBC)].Biochar application tended to increase the indicators of microbial activities associated with SOC degradation,such as SBR,fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis activity,and metabolic quotient(qCO_(2)).Meanwhile,higher biochar application rates(B60 and B90)significantly increased the C_(4)-derived CO_(2) proportion of the SBR and enhanced C_(4)-derived native SOC mineralization.The effect of the biochar application rate on the content and proportion of native SOC fractions occurred in the 0-15 cm layer,however,there were no significant differences at 15-30 cm.Soil depth also significantly increased native labile SOC pool Ⅰ and Ⅱ contents and decreased qCO_(2).In conclusion,the biochar application rate significantly increased native SOC accumulation in calcareous soil by enhancing the proportion of native recalcitrant SOC,and biochar application and soil depth collectively influenced the seasonal turnover of native SOC fractions,which has important implications for long-term agricultural soil organic carbon sequestration.

Shrinkage Characteristics of Lime Concretion Black Soil as Affected by Biochar Amendment

Studies have reported that biochar is a sustainable amendment that improves the chemical and physical properties of soil.In this study,an incubation experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of different application rates of biochar on the cracking pattern and shrinkage characteristics of lime concretion black soil after three wetting and drying cycles.Biochar derived from the corn straw and peanut shell mixture was applied to the soil at rates of 0,50,100,and 150 g kg^(-1)dry weight,representing the treatments T_(0),T_(50),T_(100),and T_(150),respectively.During the wetting and drying cycles,the cracking pattern and shrinkage characteristics of the unamended and amended soil samples were recorded.Application of biochar significantly increased soil organic carbon content in the samples.During soil desiccation,biochar significantly reduced the rate of water loss.Cracks propagated slowly and stopped due to the relatively higher water content in the soil applied with biochar.The cracking area density(ρ_c),equivalent width,fractal dimension,and cracking connectivity index decreased during the drying process with increasing application rate of biochar.Theρ_(c )value of the T_(50),T_(100),and T_(150) treatments decreased by 33.6%,52.1%,and 56.9%,respectively,after three wetting and drying cycles,whereas the T_(0) treatment exhibited a marginal change.The coefficient of linear extensibility,an index used to describe onedimentional shrinkage,of the unamended soil sample(T_(0))was approximately 0.23.Application of 100 and 150 g kg^(-1)biochar to the soil significantly reduced the shrinkage capacity by 41.45%and 45.54%,respectively.The slope of the shrinkage characteristics curve,which indicates the ralationship between soil void ratio and moisture ratio,decreased with increase in the application rate of biochar.Furthermore,compared with the T_(0) treatment,the proportional shrinkage zone of the shrinkage characteristic curve of the T_(50),T_(100),and T_(150) treatments decreased by 5.8%,13.1%,and 12.1%,respectively.Differences were not observed in the moisture ratio at the maximum curvature of the shrinkage characteristic curve among the treatments.The results indicate that biochar can alter the cracking pattern and shrinkage characteristics of lime concretion black soil.However,the effects of biochar on the shrinkage of lime concretion black soil are dependent on the number of wetting and drying cycles.

Effects of low molecular weight organic acids on aggregation behavior of biochar colloids at acid and neutral conditions

Low molecular weight organic acids(LMWOAs),as active components in the rhizosphere carbon cycling,may influence the environmental behaviors of biochar colloids.This study selected the pine-wood and wheat-straw biochars(PB and WB)as two typical biochars.The effects of typical LMWOAs(oxalic acid,citric acid,and malic acid)on aggregation kinetics of PB and WB colloids were investigated under pH 4 and 6 conditions.Critical coagulation concentrations(CCCs)of both PB and WB colloids were decreased with the LMWOAs regardless of the types of biochar and the solution pH,and the most significant effect occurred in pH 4 due to more LMWOAs sorption on the biochar colloids.The different types of LMWOAs caused various CCCs changes.For example,the CCC values of PB colloids decreased from 75 mM to 56,52,and 47 mM in the pH 4 NaCl solutions when 1 mM oxalic acid,citric acid,and malic acid were present in the suspensions,respectively.The chemical structure(functional groups)and molecular weight of LMWOAs,solution pH,and the electrophoretic mobility(EPM)of biochar co-influence the interactions between biochar colloids and LMWOAs,thus affecting the stability of biochar colloids in the presence of LMWOAs.The presence of LMWOAs accelerated the aggregation of colloidal biochar by increasing the interaction of surface bridging bonds(hydrogen bonding)and decreasing the repulsive force between colloidal biochar particles.This study showed that LMWOAs could accelerate the aggregation of biochar colloids in acidic or neutral environments and reduce the mobility of biochar colloids in soil rhizosphere.

K^(+)and Na^(+)fluxes in roots of two Chinese Iris populations

Maintenance of ion homeostasis,particularly the regulation of K^(+)and Na^(+)uptake,is important for all plants to adapt to salinity.Observations on ionic response to salinity and net fluxes of K^(+),Na^(+)in the root exhibited by plants during salt stress have highlighted the need for further investigation.The objectives of this study were to compare salt adaptation of two Chinese Iris(Iris lactea Pall.var.chinensis(Fisch.)Koidz.)populations,and to improve understanding of adaptation to salinity exhibited by plants.Plants used in this study were grown from seeds collected in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region(Xj)and Beijing Municipality(Bj),China.Hydroponicallygrown seedlings of the two populations were supplied with nutrient solutions containing 0.1(control)and 140 mmol·L^(–1) NaCl.After 12 days,plants were harvested for determination of relative growth rate and K^(+),Na^(+)concentrations.Net fluxes of K^(+),Na^(+)from the apex and along the root axis to 10.8 mm were measured using noninvasive micro-test technique.With 140 mmol·L^(–1) NaCl treatment,shoots for population Xj had larger relative growth rate and higher K^(+)concentration than shoots for population Bj.However,the Na^(+)concentrations in both shoots and roots were lower for Xj than those for Bj.There was a lower net efflux of K^(+)found in population Xj than by Bj in the mature zone(approximately 2.4^(–1)0.8 mm from root tip).However,no difference in the efflux of Na^(+)between the populations was obtained.Population Xj of I.lactea continued to grow normally under NaCl stress,and maintained a higher K^(+)/Na^(+)ratio in the shoots.These traits,which were associated with lower K^(+)leakage,help population Xj adapt to saline environments.