Evaluation of the occluded carbon within husk phytoliths of 35 rice cultivars

Abstract

Rice is a well-known silicon accumulator. During its periods of growth, a great number of phytoliths are formed by taking up silica via the plant roots. Concurrently, carbon in those phytoliths is sequestrated by a mechanism of long-term biogeochemical processes within the plant. Phytolith occluded C (PhytOC) is very stable and can be retained in soil for longer than a millennium. In this study, we evaluated the carbon bio-sequestration within the phytoliths produced in rice seed husks of 35 rice cultivars, with the goal of finding rice cultivars with relatively higher phytolith carbon sequestration efficiencies. The results showed that the phytolith contents ranged from 71.6 mg·g^‒1 to 150.1 mg·g^‒1, and the PhytOC contents ranged from 6.4 mg·g^‒1 to 38.4 mg·g^‒1, suggesting that there was no direct correlation between the PhytOC content and the content of rice seed husk phytoliths (R= 0.092, p>0.05). Of all rice cultivars, six showed a higher carbon sequestration efficiency in phytolith seed husks. Additionally, the carbon bio-sequestration within the rice seed husk phytoliths was approximately 0.45‒3.46 kg-e-CO₂·ha^‒1·yr^‒1. These rates indicate that rice cultivars are a potential source of carbon biosequestration which could contribute to the global carbon cycle and climate change.

Keywords

carbon sequestration / seed husks / PhytOC / phytolith / rice cultivars

References

[1] Anthoni P M, Freibauer A, Kolle O, Schulze E (2004). Winter wheat carbon exchange in Thuringia, Germany. Agric Meteorol, 121(1‒2): 55–67

[2] Ball T B, Brotherson J D, Gardner J S (1993). A typologic and morphometric study of variation in phytoliths from einkorn wheat (Triticum monococcum). Can J Bot, 71(9): 1182–1192

[3] Ball T B, Gardner J S, Brotherson J D (1996). Identifying phytoliths produced by the inflorescence bracts of three species of Wheat (Triticum monococcum L., T. dococcon Schrank., and T. aestivum L.) using computer-assisted image and statistical analyses. J Archaeol Sci, 23(4): 619–632

[4] Bowdery D (2007). Phytolith analysis: sheep, diet and fecal material at Ambathala Pastoral Station, Queensland, Australia. In: Madella M, Débora Z, eds. Plant, People and Places–recent Studies in Phytolith Analysis. Oxford: Oxbow

[5] Drees L R, Wilding L P, Smeck N E, Senkayi A L (1989). Silica in soils: quartz and disordered silica polymorphs. In: Dixon J B, Weed S B, eds. Minerals in Soil Environments.Madison Wisconsin: Soil Society of America

[6] Gu Y S, Wang H L, Huang X Y, Peng H X, Huang J H (2012). Phytolith records of the climate change since the past 15000 years in the middle reach of the Yangtze River in China. Front Earth Sci, 6(1): 10–17

[7] Hart D M, Humphreys G S (1997). Plant opal phytoliths: an Australian perspective. Quatern Aust, 15: 17–25

[8] International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) (2011) http:// beta.irri.org/

[9] Jones L, Handreck K (1967). Silica in soils, plants and animals. Adv Agron, 19: 107–149

[10] Jones L H P, Milne A A (1963). Studies of silica in the oat plant. Plant Soil, 18(2): 207–220

[11] Lal R (2004). Soil carbon sequestration impacts on global climate change and food security. Science, 304(5677): 1623–1627

[12] Li Z, Song Z, Parr J F, Wang H (2013). Occluded C in rice phytoliths: implications to biogeochemical carbon sequestration. Plant Soil, 370(1‒2): 615–623

[13] Linquist B, Groenigen K, Adviento‐Borbe M APittelkow CKessel C, (2012). An agronomic assessment of greenhouse gas emissions from major cereal crops. Glob Change Biol, 18(1): 194–209

[14] Liu B, Xu H, Lan J H, Sheng E G, Che S, Zhou X Y (2014). Biogenic silica contents of Lake Qinghai sediments and its environmental significance. Front Earth Sci, 8(4): 573–581

[15] Lux A, Luxová M, Hattori T, Inanaga S, Sugimoto Y (2002). Silicification in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) cultivars with different drought tolerance. Physiol Plant, 115(1): 87–92

[16] McCarl B A, Metting F B, Rice C (2007). Soil carbon sequestration. Clim Change, 80(1–2): 1–3

[17] Mulholland S C, Prior C A (1993). AMS radiocarbon dating of phytoliths. In: Pearsall D M, Piperno D R, eds. MASCA Research Papers in Science and Archaeology. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 21–23

[18] Parr J F (2006). Effect of fire on phytolith coloration. Geoarchaeology, 21(2): 171–185

[19] Parr J F, Sullivan L A (2005). Soil carbon sequestration in phytoliths. Soil Biol Biochem, 37(1): 117–124

[20] Parr J F, Sullivan L A (2011). Phytolith occluded carbon and silica variability in wheat cultivars. Plant Soil, 342(1‒2): 165–171

[21] Parr J F, Sullivan L A, Chen B, Ye G, Zheng W (2010). Carbon bio-sequestration within the phytoliths of economic bamboo species. Glob Change Biol, 16(10): 2661–2667

[22] Parr J F, Sullivan L A, Quirk R (2009). Sugarcane phytoliths: encapsulation and sequestration of a long-lived carbon fraction. Sugar Tech, 11(1): 17–21

[23] Pathak H, Li C, Wassmann R (2005). Greenhouse gas emissions from Indian rice fields: calibration and upscaling using the DNDC model. Biogeosciences Discuss, 2: 113–123

[24] Pearsall D M (1989). Paleoethnobotany: A Handbook of PROcedures. London: Academic

[25] Perry C C, Williams R J P, Fry S C (1987). Cell wall biosynthesis during silicification of grass hairs. J Plant Physiol, 126(4‒5): 437–448

[26] Piperno D R (1988). Phytolith analysis: an archaeological and geological perspective. London: Academic

[27] Sangster A G, Parry D W (1981). Ultrastructure of silica deposits in higher plants. In: Simpson T L, Volcani B E, eds. Silicon and Siliceous Structures in Biological Systems. New York: Springer, 383–407

[28] Schlesinger W H (1990). Evidence from chronosequence studies for a low carbon-storage potential of soils. Nature, 348(6298): 232–234

[29] Song Z L, Liu H Y, Si Y, Yin Y (2012a). The production of phytoliths in China’s grasslands: implications to the biogeochemical sequestration of atmospheric CO₂. Glob Change Biol, 18(12): 3647–3653

[30] Song Z L, Müller K, Wang H L (2014a). Biogeochemical silicon cycle and carbon sequestration in agricultural ecosystems. Earth Sci Rev, 139: 268–278

[31] Song Z L, Wang H L, Strong P J, Guo F S (2014b). Phytolith carbon sequestration in China’s croplands. Eur J Agron, 53: 10–15

[32] Song Z L, Wang H L, Strong P J, Li Z M, Jiang P K (2012b). Plant impact on the coupled terrestrial biogeochemical cycles of silicon and carbon: Implications for biogeochemical carbon sequestration. Earth Sci Rev, 115(4): 319–331

[33] Walkley A, Black I A (1934). An examination of the Degtjareff method for determining soil organic matter, and a proposed modification of the chromic acid titration method. Soil Sci, 37(1): 29–38

[34] Wang S M, Zhang C H, Hu F X, Zeng K, Zhang W H, Wang W J (2008). The quantitative analysis of rice aboveground biomass and net primary productivity. Chinese Agr Sci Bull, 24: 201–205 (in Chinese)

[35] Wang Y J (1998). A study on the chemical compostion of phytolths. J Oceano Huanghai Bohai Seas, 16: 33–38 (in Chinese)

[36] Wilding L P (1967). Radiocarbon dating of biogenetic opal. Science, 156(3771): 66–67

[37] Wilding L P, Brown R E, Holowaychuk N (1967). Accessibility and properties of occluded carbon in biogenetic opal. Soil Sci, 103(1): 56–61

[38] Wilding L P, Drees L R (1974). Contributions of forest opal and associated crystalline phases to fine silt and clay fractions of soils. Clays Clay Miner, 22(3): 295–306

[39] Yoshida S, Ohnishi Y, Kitagishi K (1962). Histochemistry of silicon in rice plant II: localization of silicon within rice tissues. Soil Sci Plant Nutr, 8(1): 36–41

[40] Zhang W J, Wang X J ,Xu M G, Huang S M, Liu H, Peng C (2010). Soil organic carbon dynamics under long-term fertilizations in arable land of northern China. Biogeosciences, 7(2): 409–425

[41] Zuo X X, Lü H Y (2011). Carbon sequestration within milletphytoliths from dry-farming of crops in China. Chin Sci Bull, 56(32): 3451–3456

Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41271208), the Jiangsu Planned Projects for Postdoctoral Research Funds (No. 1301061C), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation funded project (No. 2013M541744), and the Key Projects in the National Science & Technology Pillar Program during the Twelfth Five-year Plan Period (2013BAD11B00). We also express our sincere thanks to Ms. Yanan Zhang and Ms. Yilan Liu for their kind help with the sampling.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2015 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg