Acta Agriculturae Zhejiangensis ›› 2026, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (4): 720-730.DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1004-1524.20250617

• Environmental Science • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of exogenous organic materials amendments on soil aggregate stability and accumulation of organic carbon and total nitrogen in yellow clayey paddy soil

SHI Qiwei1(), WU Shaofu2, TAO Juanhua1, WU Lianghuan3, MA Qingxu3, LIU Xiu3, HAN Kefeng3,*()   

  1. 1 Agricultural and Aquatic Technology Promotion Station in Keqiao District of Shaoxing City, Shaoxing 312030, Zhejiang, China
    2 Shaoxing Grain and Oil Crop Technology Promotion Center, Shaoxing 312000, Zhejiang, China
    3 Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, College of Environmental & Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
  • Received:2025-09-26 Online:2026-04-25 Published:2026-05-08
  • Contact: HAN Kefeng

Abstract:

To investigate the effects of long-term application of different organic materials on the stability of soil aggregates and the contents of organic carbon and total nitrogen in soil aggregates of yellow clayey paddy soil, a field plot experiment was carried out in a rice paddy field in Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province of China from 2011 to 2023. Three treatments were designed in the experiment, namely chemical fertilizer alone (NPK), combined application of chemical fertilizer and straw with rapid decomposer (RS), and combined application of controlled-release bulk-blended (BB) fertilizer and decomposed cow manure (CM). Topsoil (0-20 cm) samples were collected after the late rice harvest in 2023. Soil aggregates with different particle sizes were separated by the wet sieving method. The proportion (mass fraction), organic carbon content and total nitrogen content of aggregates in each particle size fraction were determined. The mean weight diameter (MWD), geometric mean diameter (GMD) and the proportion (mass fraction) of soil aggregates>0.25 mm (R0.25) were calculated, and the storages of organic carbon and total nitrogen in aggregates of each particle size fraction were estimated. The results showed that compared with the NPK treatment: the RS treatment significantly (p<0.05) reduced the proportion of aggregates with particle size ≤0.25 mm in the soil; the CM treatment significantly decreased soil bulk density and the proportion of aggregates with particle size ≤0.25 mm, and significantly increased the proportion of aggregates with particle sizes of >2.00 mm and >0.25-1.00 mm, as well as the values of MWD, GMD and R0.25. Compared with the NPK treatment, the CM treatment significantly increased the organic carbon storage and its contribution rate of aggregates with particle sizes of >2.00 mm by 66.91% and 11.23 percentage points, respectively, and significantly increased the total nitrogen storage of aggregates with particle sizes of >2.00 mm by 43.89%. Correlation analysis indicated that the stability of soil aggregates was mainly affected by aggregates with particle sizes of >2.00 mm and >0.25-1.00 mm. Overall, both the CM and RS treatments contributed to improving the stability of soil aggregates and the storages of organic carbon and total nitrogen in soil aggregates, and the effect of the CM treatment was superior to that of the RS treatment. Therefore, the combined application of controlled-release BB fertilizer and decomposed cow manure can be adopted as an effective measure to enhance the stability of soil aggregates and regulate the soil organic carbon pool and nitrogen pool in yellow clayey paddy soils in central Zhejiang.

Key words: yellow clayey paddy soil, organic material, organic carbon, total nitrogen, aggregate stability

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