MICROBIAL NECROMASS WITHIN AGGREGATES STABILIZES PHYSICALLY-PROTECTED C RESPONSE TO CROPLAND MANAGEMENT

Highlights

● The contribution of fungal necromass C to SOC increased with aggregate sizes.

● Bacterial necromass had a higher proportion to SOC in silt and clay.

● Cropland management increased microbial necromass in macro- and microaggregates.

● Greater fungal necromass increases were found in macroaggregates under manure input and no or reduced tillage.

● Cover crops increased bacterial necromass in small macroaggregates.

Abstract

The interactions of soil microorganisms and structure regulate the degradation and stabilization processes of soil organic carbon (SOC). Microbial necromass is a persistent component of SOC, and its magnitude of accumulation dependent on management and aggregate sizes. A meta-analysis of 121 paired measurements was conducted to evaluate the management effects on contributions of microbial necromass to SOC depending on aggregate fractions. Results showed that the contribution of fungal necromass to SOC increased with aggregate sizes, while bacterial necromass had a higher proportion in silt and clay. Cropland management increased total and fungal necromass in large macroaggregates (47.1% and 45.6%), small macroaggregates (44.0% and 44.2%), and microaggregates (38.9% and 37.6%). Cropland management increased bacterial necromass independent of aggregate fraction sizes. Greater fungal necromass was increased in macroaggregates in response to manure (26.6% to 28.5%) and no or reduced tillage (68.0% to 73.5%). Cover crops increased bacterial necromass by 25.1% in small macroaggregates. Stimulation of microbial necromass was proportional to the increases of SOC within soil aggregates, and the correlation was higher in macroaggregates. Increasing microbial necromass accumulation in macroaggregates can, therefore, be considered as a central component of management strategies that aim to accelerate C sequestration in agricultural soils.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

cropland management / microbial necromass / soil aggregates / soil carbon sequestration / soil organic matter

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Supplementary materials

The online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.15302/J-FASE-2023498 contains supplementary material (Table S1)

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32071629), Agricultural Carbon Neutral Account Establishment Program in Quzhou (202127), the National Key R&D Program of China (2022YFD1901300), and the 2115 Talent Development Program of China Agricultural University.

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Ranran Zhou, Jing Tian, Zhengling Cui, and Fusuo Zhang declare that they have no conflict of interest or financial conflicts to disclose. This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

The Author(s) 2023. Published by Higher Education Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)