Soil Water Retention as Affected by Management Induced Changes of Soil Organic Carbon: Analysis of Long-Term Experiments in Europe

Land

Pavel Čermak¹  Helena Kusá¹  Antonio Berti²  Ilaria Piccoli²  Ioanna S. Panagea³  Jean Poesen³  Guido Wyseure³  Jan Diels³  Chris Stoate⁴  Zoltan Toth⁵  Mia Tits⁶  Annemie Elsen⁶ 

[1] Crop Research Institute, Prague 6-Ruzyne, 16100 Prague, Czech Republic;DAFNAE Department, University of Padova, 35122 Legnaro, Italy;Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium;Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, Allerton Project, Loddington, Leicester LE7 9XE, UK;Georgikon Campus Keszthely, Institute of Agronomy, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary;Soil Service of Belgium (BDB), 3001 Heverlee, Belgium;

关键词: soil organic carbon;    soil-water content;    no-till;    reduced tillage;    manure;    compost;   

DOI  :  10.3390/land10121362

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Soil water retention (SWR) is an important soil property related to soil structure, texture, and organic matter (SOM), among other properties. Agricultural management practices affect some of these properties in an interdependent way. In this study, the impact of management-induced changes of soil organic carbon (SOC) on SWR is evaluated in five long-term experiments in Europe (running from 8 up to 54 years when samples were taken). Topsoil samples (0–15 cm) were collected and analysed to evaluate the effects of three different management categories, i.e., soil tillage, the addition of exogenous organic materials, the incorporation of crop residues affecting SOC and water content under a range of matric potentials. Changes in the total SOC up to 10 g C kg⁻¹ soil (1%) observed for the different management practices, do not cause statistically significant differences in the SWR characteristics as expected. The direct impact of the SOC on SWR is consistent but negligible, whereas the indirect impact of SOC in the higher matric potentials, which are mainly affected by soil structure and aggregate composition, prevails. The different water content responses under the various matric potentials to SOC changes for each management group implies that one conservation measure alone has a limited effect on SWR and only a combination of several practices that lead to better soil structure, such as reduced soil disturbances combined with increased SOM inputs can lead to better water holding capacity of the soil.

【 授权许可】

Unknown