Responses of Soil Particulate Organic Carbon and Mineral-bound Organic Carbon to Four Kinds of Tillage Practices
Particulate organic carbon(POC) and mineral-bound organic carbon(MOC) were investigated in a long-term tillage experiment located in Guanzhong Plain,Shaanxi province.Soil were disturbed by sub-soiling(ST),rotray tillage(RT),no-tillage(NT) and conventional tillage(CT) with and without straw returning.The results indicated that ST,RT and NT were aggressive in increasing contents of POC and MOC under both straw returning conditions in comparison to CT,but the increase effects were better when straw was returned.Specifically,the increase of POC ranged from 20.71% to 69.25% and ranked by ST RT NT CT.Little increase of POC was detected in 10-20 cm,20-30 cm and 30-40 cm soil layer.When the same tillage practice was considered,straw returning increased the content of POC ranging from 9.17% to 26.61%.Among the present tillage treatments,CT was observed with the highest increase of POC when straw was returned.With out straw returning,the variation in content of MOC in different treatments was small,but under the condition of straw returning,RT improved the content of MOC of 22.98% compared with CT.From the perspective of carbon sequestration,ST and RT with straw returning are suitable tillage practices under the local soil condition in Guanzhong plain.