Acta Agriculturae Zhejiangensis ›› 2024, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (6): 1347-1356.DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1004-1524.20230320

• Environmental Science • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effect of straw returning and tillage method on soil aggregates and carbon, nitrogen content in double-season rice

XIONG Rui1,2(), OUYANG Ning1,2, OU Xi1,2, ZHONG Kangyu1,2, ZHOU Wentao1,2, WANG Hongrui1,2, LONG Pan1,2, XU Ying1,2, FU Zhiqiang1,2,*()   

  1. 1. College of Agronomy, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
    2. Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Molecular Biology, Changsha 410128, China
  • Received:2023-03-13 Online:2024-06-25 Published:2024-07-02

Abstract:

To assess the impact of straw returning in conjunction with different tillage techniques on soil macroaggregate composition, soil organic carbon content, and total nitrogen content in double-season rice in southern China, a split-plot field experiment was conducted in Hunan Province. The primary plots were divided into straw returning (S1) and no straw returning (S0), while the subplots were assigned to no-tillage (NT), shallow rotary tillage (RT), and deep tillage (TT). The results showed that, compared to the other treatments, the S1+TT treatment significantly (P<0.05) enhanced the soil macroaggregate mass fraction by 1.70%-9.03% and 4.48%-30.53%, respectively, in the 0-10 cm soil layer for the early rice and the late rice. The mean mass diameter and geometric mean diameter of soil aggregates in the 10-20 cm soil layer under S1+TT treatment were significantly higher than the other treatments except S0+TT by 7.23%-18.67% and 4.35%-10.77%, respectively, for the early rice, and 5.06%-23.88% and 4.94%-23.19%, respectively, for the late rice. Furthermore, the total nitrogen content in the 10-20 cm soil layer of early rice (excluding S1+NT) and the 0-10 cm soil layer of late rice was significantly elevated by 13.04%-23.81% and 10.14%-40.74%, respectively, under the S1+TT treatment, and the soil organic carbon content in the 10-20 cm soil layer of both early and late rice, as well as the 0-10 cm soil layer of early rice, was significantly increased by 4.36%-26.70%, 3.83%-21.71%, and 3.86%-10.92%, respectively. In conclusion, deep tillage in combination with straw returning could enhance the stability of soil aggregates and increase the contents of soil organic carbon and total nitrogen, thereby promoting the stabilization of soil aggregate structure in the tillage layer and improving soil quality.

Key words: double cropping rice, straw returning, tillage method, aggregate stability

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