Abstract:
Objectives Iron oxides are important inorganic aggregating agents for the formation and stability of soil aggregates. We studied the change of iron oxide content in soil aggregates under long-term straw returning, to explain the beneficial roles of straw returning in improving soil textures.
Methods A field experiment of double-cropping rice was conducted in Qiyang, Hunan Province since 2012. In 2023, soil samples were collected from the plots of NPK (no straw returning), NPKRS1 (early rice straw returning), and NPKRS2 (both early and late rice straw returning) treatments for the analysis of the contents of >2 mm, 0.25−2 mm, 0.053−0.25 mm, and <0.053 mm aggregates, and the contents of iron oxides, including complex iron (Fepp), amorphous iron oxides (FeHH), and crystalline iron oxides (FeDH) in soil aggregates, and the relationship between soil aggregates stability and the three kinds of iron oxides was discussed.
Results Compared with the NPK, NPKRS1 and NPKRS2 treatments significantly increased the proportion of >2 mm aggregates and decreased the proportion of 0.25−2 mm aggregates, enhanced the mean weight diameter (MWD) of soil aggregates by 41.8% and 57.2%, and the geometric mean diameter (GMD) by 32.8% and 36.3%, respectively (P<0.05). After long-term straw returning, the contents of FeHH were not significantly changed in silt and clay particles, but significantly increased by 13.9%−56.0% in other particles, and the contents of all iron oxides in 0.053−0.25 mm aggregates were significantly increased. FeHH content in >0.053 mm aggregates and the FePP and FeDH contents in 0.053−0.25 mm aggregates were significantly positively correlated with MWD (P<0.05), while the FePP content in <0.053 mm aggregates and FeDH content in 0.25−2 mm aggregate were negatively correlated with aggregate MWD. The effects of FeHH in >2 mm, FeDH in 0.25−2 mm, FePP in 0.053−0.25 mm, FeHH in 0.25−2 mm, FeDH in 0.053−0.25 mm and FePP in <0.053 mm on the stability of aggregates were the highest, explaining 5.8%, 5.7%, 5.7%, 5.4%, 5.3%, and 4.5% of the variability in aggregate MWD, respectively.
Conclusions Long-term straw returning may promote the enrichment of FePP and FeDH in 0.053−0.25 mm aggregates and FeHH in >0.053 mm aggregates, which is conducive to the formation of >2 mm aggregates and improve the stability of soil aggregates.