Earthworms promote the accumulation of rhizodeposit carbon to soil macroaggregate in a Mollisol of northeast China, primarily in long-term no-till soil

Highlights

•Ÿ Earthworms increased soil macroaggregate (>2 mm and 0.25–2 mm) formation

•Ÿ Maize roots and earthworms interact to produce soil macroaggregate

•Ÿ Earthworms were effective in transferring rhizodeposit carbon into macroaggregate, especially in soil derived from a long-term no-till system

•Ÿ Rhizodeposits were protected during soil aggregation

Abstract

As soil ecosystem engineers, earthworms are the main promoters of soil aggregation, a process that drives the production of ecosystem services by soils. A crucial factor in the ecosystem service of carbon sequestration is rhizodeposit carbon, which is the main energy source of soil food webs. The effects of earthworms on the distribution of rhizodeposit-carbon in soil aggregates remain unclear. Here, we conducted a ¹³CO₂ labeling experiment to determine the effects of earthworms on maize rhizodeposit carbon in soil aggregates after 14 years (2002–2016), in both conventional tillage (CT) and conservation tillage (no tillage, NT) soils. Four treatments were established in total: NTE (no tillage soil with earthworms), CTE (conventional tillage soil with earthworms), NTC (control, no tillage soil without earthworms), and CTC (control, conventional tillage soil without earthworms). Earthworms significantly enhanced the abundance of soil macroaggregates (>2000 μm and 250–2000 μm) on day 30 compared with day 2 (after labeling), especially in the NT soils. On day 30, in the presence of earthworms, the amounts of rhizodeposit carbon in the>2000 μm and 250–2000 μm soil aggregates in the NT soils were significantly higher than in those in the CT soils (P<0.05), and higher d¹³C signatures in the same size aggregates were observed in the NT soils than in the CT soils (P<0.05). These findings indicated that compared with the CT soils, with the involvement of earthworm activity, the NT soils promoted more rhizodeposit carbon transformation to the soil macroaggregates. Our results clearly indicate that soil macroaggregates formed in different tillage soils in the presence of 2 different engineers (earthworms and roots) significantly differ from those formed in the presence of only one organism (roots) in the long term.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Earthworms / Root-derived carbon / Soil aggregation / Isotope labeling / Rhizodeposotion / Tillage

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41430857; 41501263), the Foundation for University Young Key Teacher of Henan Province (2017GGJS141), Science and Technology Project of Henan Province (172102410054), the Program of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities (No.B16011), National Science & Technology Fundamental Resources Investigation Program of China (2018FY100300) and sponsored by Program for Science & Technology Innovation Talents in Universities of Henan Province (21HASTIT015). The authors also wish to thank the editors and anonymous reviewers for their useful comments and suggestions on this manuscript.

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