Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 109517 |
| Journal | Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment |
| Volume | 383 |
| Publication status | Accepted/In press - 25 Jan 2025 |
Abstract
Building soil organic nitrogen (SON) pools and improving N cycling between soil and crops can reconcile the global need for increased food production and environmental sustainability. We combined a global database and a 40-year field experiment in South China to demonstrate the beneficial effects of traditional green manure on rice yield and soil N cycling in paddy ecosystems. Covering green manure increased rice yield by up to 24 % in China and by 25 % globally mainly due to activated microbial activity, increased SON cycling, and available N content, compared with winter fallow treatment. Soil catabolic processes, such as enzyme activities were stimulated, thus increasing the rate of gross protein depolymerization by 2.3–3.8 times. This led to an increase in the amount of active SON fractions, e.g. of hydrolyzable amino acid N by 32 %–44 %. Concurrently, green manure increased the rate of gross amino acid consumption by microorganisms by 1.1–2.0 times. One part of the N ingested by microorganisms was used for growth to increase microbial biomass N and subsequently dead residues, and the other part increased soil NH4+-N content through catabolism. Ultimately, the utilization of soil original N by rice plants was improved by 31 %–42 % under covering green manure treatments. This study provides an agricultural management strategy to improve soil N supply for crops by increasing organic N cycling in paddy ecosystems and thus saving mineral N fertilizer.
Keywords
- Green manure, Paddy ecosystem, Soil microbes, Soil organic nitrogen cycling
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Environmental Science(all)
- Ecology
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)
- Animal Science and Zoology
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)
- Agronomy and Crop Science
Sustainable Development Goals
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In: Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, Vol. 383, 109517, 01.05.2025.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Covering green manure increases rice yields via improving nitrogen cycling between soil and crops in paddy fields
AU - Xia, Yinhang
AU - Gao, Peng
AU - Lei, Wenshuo
AU - Gao, Jusheng
AU - Luo, Yu
AU - Peng, Fuxi
AU - Mou, Tingsen
AU - Zhao, Ziwei
AU - Zhang, Kai
AU - Guggenberger, Georg
AU - Zhang, Huimin
AU - Zhang, Zhenhua
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2025 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2025/1/25
Y1 - 2025/1/25
N2 - Building soil organic nitrogen (SON) pools and improving N cycling between soil and crops can reconcile the global need for increased food production and environmental sustainability. We combined a global database and a 40-year field experiment in South China to demonstrate the beneficial effects of traditional green manure on rice yield and soil N cycling in paddy ecosystems. Covering green manure increased rice yield by up to 24 % in China and by 25 % globally mainly due to activated microbial activity, increased SON cycling, and available N content, compared with winter fallow treatment. Soil catabolic processes, such as enzyme activities were stimulated, thus increasing the rate of gross protein depolymerization by 2.3–3.8 times. This led to an increase in the amount of active SON fractions, e.g. of hydrolyzable amino acid N by 32 %–44 %. Concurrently, green manure increased the rate of gross amino acid consumption by microorganisms by 1.1–2.0 times. One part of the N ingested by microorganisms was used for growth to increase microbial biomass N and subsequently dead residues, and the other part increased soil NH4+-N content through catabolism. Ultimately, the utilization of soil original N by rice plants was improved by 31 %–42 % under covering green manure treatments. This study provides an agricultural management strategy to improve soil N supply for crops by increasing organic N cycling in paddy ecosystems and thus saving mineral N fertilizer.
AB - Building soil organic nitrogen (SON) pools and improving N cycling between soil and crops can reconcile the global need for increased food production and environmental sustainability. We combined a global database and a 40-year field experiment in South China to demonstrate the beneficial effects of traditional green manure on rice yield and soil N cycling in paddy ecosystems. Covering green manure increased rice yield by up to 24 % in China and by 25 % globally mainly due to activated microbial activity, increased SON cycling, and available N content, compared with winter fallow treatment. Soil catabolic processes, such as enzyme activities were stimulated, thus increasing the rate of gross protein depolymerization by 2.3–3.8 times. This led to an increase in the amount of active SON fractions, e.g. of hydrolyzable amino acid N by 32 %–44 %. Concurrently, green manure increased the rate of gross amino acid consumption by microorganisms by 1.1–2.0 times. One part of the N ingested by microorganisms was used for growth to increase microbial biomass N and subsequently dead residues, and the other part increased soil NH4+-N content through catabolism. Ultimately, the utilization of soil original N by rice plants was improved by 31 %–42 % under covering green manure treatments. This study provides an agricultural management strategy to improve soil N supply for crops by increasing organic N cycling in paddy ecosystems and thus saving mineral N fertilizer.
KW - Green manure
KW - Paddy ecosystem
KW - Soil microbes
KW - Soil organic nitrogen cycling
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85216507637&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.agee.2025.109517
DO - 10.1016/j.agee.2025.109517
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85216507637
VL - 383
JO - Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment
JF - Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment
SN - 0167-8809
M1 - 109517
ER -