[en] Rice production in the Yangtze River Basin accounts for 44.4 % of China's total rice production. Exploring the response of crop yields to soil organic carbon (SOC) storage under various fertilisation treatments for maintaining high and sustainable crop yields is an urgent issue. A database containing information on crop yields, SOC content, environmental factors (climate and soil properties), and nutrient input from fertilisation was established from seven long-term experimental sites located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Basin (operational since the 1980s/1990s) in two lowland rice-based cropping systems (i.e., rice–wheat rotation and rice–rice rotation systems). The study considered four treatments: no fertiliser application (CK); application of chemical nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilisers (NPK); application of manure (M); and a combination of NPK and M (NPKM). Results showed that the NPKM treatment produced the highest crop yields, followed by the NPK/M and CK treatments. The NPK and NPKM treatments generally had higher sustainable yield indices (SYI, 0.34–0.74) and lower coefficients of variation (CV, 11–32 %) than the M and CK treatments (SYI: 0.29–0.62 and CV: 15–44 %) in both cropping systems across all sites. Crop grain yields were significantly increased with increasing SOC storage (0–20 cm) and followed a logarithmic regression in both systems, suggesting that a further increase in SOC content could lead to higher yields. Structural equation modelling indicated that fertilisation, soil properties, and climate together explained 75–77 % of the variance in crop yield in the two systems. The primary contributing factors were fertilisation and its associated changes in soil nutrients. Chemical fertilisers mainly had direct effects on crop yields, while manure had both direct and indirect (through improvements in soil properties) effects on crop yields. In the rice–rice system, SOC alone had both direct and indirect (through the improved availability of soil nutrients) positive effects on crop yields. Our findings emphasise the potential benefits of sequestering SOC not only for enhancing crop production but also for improving the stability and sustainability of crop yield from paddy fields.
Disciplines :
Agriculture & agronomy
Author, co-author :
Wang, Shuhui ; Université de Liège - ULiège > TERRA Research Centre ; State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Arid and Semi-arid Arable Land in Northern China, Key Laboratory of Arable Land Quality Monitoring and Evaluation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs/Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
Sun, Nan; State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Arid and Semi-arid Arable Land in Northern China, Key Laboratory of Arable Land Quality Monitoring and Evaluation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs/Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
Zhang, Shuxiang; State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Arid and Semi-arid Arable Land in Northern China, Key Laboratory of Arable Land Quality Monitoring and Evaluation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs/Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
Longdoz, Bernard ; Université de Liège - ULiège > TERRA Research Centre > Biosystems Dynamics and Exchanges (BIODYNE)
Meersmans, Jeroen ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département GxABT > Echanges Eau - Sol - Plantes
Colinet, Gilles ; Université de Liège - ULiège > TERRA Research Centre > Echanges Eau - Sol - Plantes
Wu, Lianhai; Net zero and resilient farming, Rothamsted Research, Okehampton, United Kingdom ; School of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, Royal Agricultural University, United Kingdom
Xu, Minggang; State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Arid and Semi-arid Arable Land in Northern China, Key Laboratory of Arable Land Quality Monitoring and Evaluation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs/Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China ; Institute of Eco-Environment and Industrial Technology, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taiyuan, China
Language :
English
Title :
Soil organic carbon storage impacts on crop yields in rice-based cropping systems under different long-term fertilisation
This study was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2021YFD1901205), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42177341), S. Wang was supported by the China Scholarship Council (No. 202103250053). We acknowledge the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences\u2014Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech joint PhD program and all the colleagues from the long-term fertilisation experimental sites for their unremitting assistance.
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