Buildup of soil organic carbon and stable aggregates under conservation tillage in loess dryland soil

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Research Paper 01/01/2015
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Buildup of soil organic carbon and stable aggregates under conservation tillage in loess dryland soil

Muhammad Sharif, Shahzada Sohail Ijaz, Safdar Ali, Muhammad Ansar, Asma Hassan
J. Biodiv. & Environ. Sci. 6(1), 446-453, January 2015.
Copyright Statement: Copyright 2015; The Author(s).
License: CC BY-NC 4.0

Abstract

The identification of sensitive soil organic carbon (SOC) fractions can be crucial for an understanding of SOC dynamics and stabilization in soil. This study was conducted during 2012-14 in fallow-wheat cropping system at loess dryland Pothwar, Pakistan to assess the effect of minimum tillage (MT), reduced tillage (RT), zero tillage (ZT) and conventional tillage (CT), with residue retuned (R+) and removed (R) on SOC fractions and aggregate stability. The results showed that the ZT with residue returned provided the highest amount of SOC (7.80g kg-1), microbial biomass carbon (MBC, 473 µg kg-1), particulate organic carbon (POC, 2.27 g kg-1) and water stable aggregates (WSA, 36%). On the other hand, CT with residue removed gave the least amounts of SOC (5.35 g kg-1), MBC (130 µg kg-1), POC (1.25 g kg-1) and aggregate stability (24%). The trend among tillage treatments was ZT > RT > MT > CT for studied parameters. Among residue treatments, residue return (+R) had higher SOC content and aggregate stability than residue removed (-R). These results clearly demonstrate that ZT and RT with residue returned are potential alternatives to conventional tillage for enhancing soil organic carbon and structural stability in loess dryland soils.

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