Do cover crops change the lability of phosphorus in a clayey subtropical soil under different phosphate fertilizers?

Plants have developed different mechanisms to absorb and solubilize phosphorus (P) in the soil, especially in environments with low P availability. This study evaluated the effects of different winter cover crops on soil P availability in a clayey subtropical (Hapludox) soil receiving soluble P fertilizer and a rock phosphate applied to the summer crop, under no‐tillage. The experiment was carried out over 3 yrs (2009–2011) with five different cover crop species: common vetch, fodder radish, ryegrass, black oat, white clover and fallow as control. The soil was sampled after the third year of cover crop cultivation and analysed for inorganic and organic P forms according to the well‐established Hedley fractionation procedure. Phosphate fertilizers promoted accumulation of both labile and nonlabile P pools in soil in the near surface layer, especially under rock phosphate. Fertilizer applications were not able to change P fractions in deeper layers, emphasizing that the Brazilian clayey soils are a sink of P from fertilizer and its mobility is almost nil. Although the cover crops recycled a great amount of P in tissue, in a short‐term evaluation (3 yrs) they only changed the content of moderately labile P in soil, indicating that long‐term studies are needed for more conclusive results.     

Long-term application of animal slurries to grassland alters soil cation balance

Abstract. Soil samples from a 32-year grassland field experiment were taken from 0–5, 5–10, and 10–15 cm soil depths in February 2002. Plots received annual treatments of unamended control, mineral fertilizer, three rates of pig slurry and three rates of cow slurry, each with six replicates. Samples were analysed for cation exchange capacity (CEC), exchangeable cations (Na⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺), pH and Olsen P. Exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) was calculated as a sodicity indicator. Mean ESP was generally greater for slurry treatments than the control, with a trend of increasing ESP with application rate. This was particularly marked for cow slurry. At 0–5 cm depth ESP increased from 1.18 in the control to 1.75 at the highest rate of pig slurry and 5.60 at the highest rate of cow slurry. Similar trends were shown for CEC, exchangeable Na⁺, K⁺ and Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺ and Olsen P. The build-up of soil P due to slurry applications, together with this combination of physical and chemical factors, may increase the risk of P loss to surface waters, particularly from soils receiving high rates of cow slurry.     

Limited effects of land use on soil dissolved organic matter chemistry as assessed by excitation–emission fluorescence spectroscopy and molecular weight fractionation

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) in soil solution represents a complex mixture of organic molecules and plays a central role in carbon and nitrogen cycling in plant–microbial–soil systems. We tested whether excitation–emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy can be used to characterize DOM and support previous findings that the majority of DOM is of high molecular weight (MW). EEM fluorescence spectroscopy was used in conjunction with MW fractionation to characterize DOM in soil solution from a grassland soil land management gradient in North Wales, UK. Data analysis suggested that three distinct fluorescence components could be separated and identified from the EEM data. These components were identified as being of humic‐like or fulvic‐like origin. Contrary to expectations, the majority of the fluorescence signal occurred in the small MW (<1 kDa) fraction, although differences between soils from the differently managed grasslands were more apparent in larger MW fractions. We conclude that following further characterization of the chemical composition of the fluorophores, EEM has potential as a sensitive technique for characterizing the small MW phenolic fraction of DOM in soils.     

The combined effects of cover crops and symbiotic microbes on phosphatase gene and organic phosphorus hydrolysis in subtropical orchard soils

P deficiency is a major obstacle for crop production in subtropical red soils in South China, and the hydrolysis of organic P (Po) is of great significance in these soils due to the immobilization of P by Fe and Al. Cover cropping in orchards and symbiotic microbial inoculation are considered to improve soil quality, including P status, however, their effects on the hydrolysis of Po is little known. In this study, five soil managements were established in a guava orchard in South China for two and a half years, including clean culture (CC), cover cropping with Paspalum natatu (PN), PN with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal inoculation (PNA), cover cropping with Stylosanthes guianensis (SG), SG with rhizobial inoculation (SGR). Soil chemical, biochemical and microbial properties were analyzed. Results indicate that soil pH and SOM content tended to increase following cover cropping alone or with microbial inoculation. Po content was significantly elevated in PNA. Po fractionation revealed that cover cropping alone or with microbial inoculation significantly affected the contents of moderately labile Po (MLPo) and moderately resistant Po (FAPo). Enzyme assay indicated that cover cropping with microbial inoculation increased the activities of acidic phosphomonoesterase (ACP), neutral phosphomonoesterase (NP) and alkaline phosphomonoesterase (ALP), with ALP the most sensitive, although ACP activity dominated in red soils. Correlation analysis suggested a significantly positive relationship between ALP activity and MLPo or FAPo. PCR-DGGE profile of the alp-harboring bacterial community showed that cover cropping with S. guianensis and mycorrhizal inoculation to P. natatu promoted the bacterial diversity and/or species richness. For almost all the measured parameters, PN and SG were comparable, however, PNA was superior to SGR, indicating the stronger additive effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus than that of rhizobia. Cat-PCA indicated that MLPo was the most influential factor on phosphomonoesterase. In general, this study suggests that, in subtropical orchards with red soil, cover cropping with microbial inoculation can improve the Po hydrolysis via the promoted alp-harboring bacterial community and then ALP activity. Our results also suggest that the combination of P. natatu and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus is better than S. guianensis and rhizobia, which possesses practical significance for sustainable production in these orchards.     

Mass balanced based LCA of a common carp-lettuce aquaponics system

An aquaponics system (AS) is an integrated system that combines a recirculating aquaculture system and a hydroponics system (HS). It is designed to recover nutrients released from fish and transfer them to plants to provide a system more environmentally-friendly than the two systems working separately. As a result, several AS are under development, but little information is available about their overall performances. The aim of this study was to assess nutrient-use efficiency and environmental impacts of an AS, specifically a common carp-lettuce AS located in a greenhouse. Nutrient budgets of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) were calculated and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was performed for the AS and for a lettuce Individual Hydroponics System (IHS), similar to the HS of the AS, operating in the greenhouse at the same time. The experiment was performed over a 52-day cycle, which corresponds to the growing time required to harvest marketable lettuce. The nutrient budgets were well balanced, with 24.6% of the N unaccounted-for, most likely due to N2 gas emission, and 6.6% of the P unaccounted-for, most likely due to having underestimated the quantity of sediment. At the beginning of the experiment, N represented 55.9%, 37.1% and 0.1% of the total N input in the formulated feed, stocked fish and lettuce seedlings, respectively. At the end of the experiment, N represented 47.6% and 0.4% of the total N input in the harvested fish and lettuce, respectively. At the beginning of the experiment, P represented 56.94%, 40.20% and 0.03% of the total P input in the formulated feed, stocked fish and lettuce seedlings, respectively. At the end of the experiment, P represented 51.52% and 0.42% of the total P input in the harvested fish and lettuce, respectively. LCA clearly indicated two environmental impact hotspots: the origin of nutrients and energy use. One kg of lettuce growth in the AS clearly had lower environmental impacts than that in the IHS for climate change, acidification, eutrophication, land competition and cumulative energy demand; however, a decrease in water dependence was not observed. The indicator for net primary production use highlighted the dependence of the AS on natural resources, especially fish meal and fish oil. Compared to the use of chemical nutrients in the IHS, the use of nutrients from formulated feed in the AS decreased climate change impact but increased the use of natural resources.     

Can differences in 15N natural abundance be used to quantify the transfer of nitrogen from legumes to neighbouring non-legume plant species?

Natural variations in the stable isotope ¹⁵N are often exploited in studies of N cycling in ecosystems. Lower ¹⁵N natural abundance in non-legume plants growing in association with legumes, compared with the non-legume grown alone in pure stands have been observed in cropping, forage, and agroforestry systems. Such observations have frequently been attributed to the transfer of biologically-fixed nitrogen (N) from the legume to the companion non-legume, and various methodologies have been employed to calculate the extent of the N transfer. While some of these ¹⁵N natural abundance-based estimates of N transfer were within the range previously reported using equivalent ¹⁵N-enriched techniques (<20% of non-legume plant N and <10 kg N ha⁻¹ derived from fixed N contributed by neighbouring legumes), many of the values obtained using natural abundance were much higher (30%–83% of the non-legume N derived from fixed N representing up to 30–40 kg N ha⁻¹) than generally measured by ¹⁵N-enriched methods; with even greater estimates being determined where data were available to allow N transfer to be re-calculated on the basis of total legume N rather than fixed N (42% to >100%, and up to 110 kg N ha⁻¹ per year). This review raises concerns about the assumptions behind the natural abundance approach, and provides some alternative interpretations for the observed differences in natural ¹⁵N abundance between plants grown in the presence and absence of legumes. It was concluded that simple comparative measures of non-legume δ¹⁵N alone cannot provide a quantitative estimate of N transfer between plant species if the dominant source and the isotopic identity of the transferred N cannot be validated, and if the extent of any isotopic fractionation associated with relevant N transformations occurring during transfer cannot be defined. To date this information is not forthcoming. There is a need to greatly improve our understanding of the transfer processes before the real value of the δ¹⁵N technology can be realized. In the first instance this will primarily be achieved by carefully executed experiments under controlled conditions, and in the field, employing both ¹⁵N natural abundance and enrichment approaches so estimates of transfer can be compared, and the data interrogated using modelling approaches to explore isotopic fractionation.     

5个竹种林下土壤营养元素含量比较

[目的]比较不同竹种林下土壤的营养元素含量。[方法]在福建农林大学百竹园内选取大明竹、牡竹、角竹、花巨竹和大木竹5个竹种,分别于春、夏、秋、冬4个季节对其林下土壤进行"S"型多点采样,对其氮、磷、钾含量进行测定。[结果]大明竹、牡竹、角竹、花巨竹和大木竹5个竹种林下土壤的营养元素含量皆较高,但各竹种之间的营养元素含量有显著差异,且各竹种在不同季节的营养元素含量也有明显差异。其中大明竹林下土壤的营养元素含量最高,且最为稳定,牡竹相对较差。[结论]在福建地区,大明竹对营养元素的产生及维系稳定具有良好的能力,可成为该地区城市观赏用竹及发展林下经济的优良竹种。     

Predicting the degree of phosphorus saturation using the ammonium acetate–EDTA soil test

As a result of the important role played by phosphorus (P) in surface water eutrophication, the susceptibility of soils to release P requires evaluation. The degree of phosphorus saturation, assessed by oxalate extraction (DPS_ox), has been used as an indicator. However, most laboratories do not include DPS_ox in routine soil tests because of cost and time. This study evaluates the suitability of the ammonium acetate extraction in the presence of EDTA (AAEDTA), the standard soil test P (STP) in Wallonia (Southern Belgium), to predict DPS_ox; we also compared it with the Mehlich 3 extraction. Ninety‐three topsoil samples were collected in agricultural soils throughout Wallonia. Good correlations were found between the AAEDTA and the Mehlich 3 methods for P, Fe and Al (r = 0.85, 0.77 and 0.86, respectively). An exponential relationship was found between P_AAEDTA and DPS_ox. Results of principal component analysis and regression demonstrated that STP can be used to predict DPS_ox (r = 0.93) after logarithmic transformation. Soil test Al was also a good indicator of the P sorption capacity (PSC_ox) of soils (r = 0.86). Including the clay fraction in regression equations only slightly improved the prediction of PSC_ox (r = 0.90), while other readily available data (such as pH or organic carbon) did not significantly improve either DPS_ox or PSC_ox predictions.     

Importance of Noncrystalline Hydroxide Phases in Sequential Extractions to Fractionate Antimony in Acid Soils

Abstract

Sequential extraction techniques have been used to make inferences about speciation of phosphorus (P) and to a lesser extent arsenic (As) in soils. However, sequential extraction studies on the less‐abundant group V element, antimony (Sb), are limited. In this work, a widely used P sequential extraction scheme was modified and used to extract P, As, and Sb from two acidic soils from the Macleay River floodplain, NSW, that were enriched with Sb (26.9 and 23.0 mg kg^?1). An ammonium oxalate–oxalic acid step was included in the extraction sequence to dissolve the noncrystalline iron (Fe) and aluminium (Al) hydroxide phase. It extracted 30 to 47% of Sb, indicating the importance of this fraction, which may be mobilized in the floodplain by acid sulfate soil processes and periodic waterlogging. The original method overestimated P, As, and Sb in the residual fraction (30–71%). Relative efficiency values of extracts for P, As, and Sb were compared, and inferences about phase distributions were made. The results suggest some potential in using extractions to assess bioavailability of Sb in soil.