TY - JOUR
T1 - Integrated agricultural management practice improves soil quality in Northeast China
AU - Sun, Luying
AU - Song, Fengbin
AU - Liu, Shengqun
AU - Cao, Qingjun
AU - Liu, Fulai
AU - Zhu, Xiancan
PY - 2018/12/6
Y1 - 2018/12/6
N2 - Sustainable agricultural management practices have attracted increasing attention due to their significant roles in benefiting the functions and sustainability of agro-ecosystems. An integrated agricultural practice (IP) in a maize cropping system was developed by changing row spacing, adopting no-tillage and residue return in the Northeast China. A 12-year field study was carried out to evaluate the effect of IP and conventional practice (CP) on soil physical properties, microbial biomass and enzyme activity during the cropping season. The results showed that soil organic matter under IP was increased by 17.4, 9.88 and 6.69% in June, August and October, respectively, than CP. IP enhanced microbial biomass C (by 31.7, 25.1 and 30.4% in June, August and October) and activities of invertase, urease and phosphatase (by 27.2–38.0, 78.9–182 and 9.8–29.0%) compared to CP, possibly attributing to an increase in the soil microbial community. Furthermore, the soil pH, water content, nitrogen and phosphorus contents, microbial biomass and some specific enzyme activities varied with sampling time. It is concluded that IP improved soil quality and health by increasing organic matter content and microbial biomass and activity in maize field in Northeast China, suggesting that IP is a feasible management technology for sustainable agriculture.
AB - Sustainable agricultural management practices have attracted increasing attention due to their significant roles in benefiting the functions and sustainability of agro-ecosystems. An integrated agricultural practice (IP) in a maize cropping system was developed by changing row spacing, adopting no-tillage and residue return in the Northeast China. A 12-year field study was carried out to evaluate the effect of IP and conventional practice (CP) on soil physical properties, microbial biomass and enzyme activity during the cropping season. The results showed that soil organic matter under IP was increased by 17.4, 9.88 and 6.69% in June, August and October, respectively, than CP. IP enhanced microbial biomass C (by 31.7, 25.1 and 30.4% in June, August and October) and activities of invertase, urease and phosphatase (by 27.2–38.0, 78.9–182 and 9.8–29.0%) compared to CP, possibly attributing to an increase in the soil microbial community. Furthermore, the soil pH, water content, nitrogen and phosphorus contents, microbial biomass and some specific enzyme activities varied with sampling time. It is concluded that IP improved soil quality and health by increasing organic matter content and microbial biomass and activity in maize field in Northeast China, suggesting that IP is a feasible management technology for sustainable agriculture.
KW - C remaining
KW - microbial biomass
KW - soil enzyme activity
KW - soil organic carbon
KW - sustainable agricultural ecosystem
U2 - 10.1080/03650340.2018.1468077
DO - 10.1080/03650340.2018.1468077
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85046042416
SN - 0365-0340
VL - 64
SP - 1932
EP - 1943
JO - Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science
JF - Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science
IS - 14
ER -
