Stover management modifies soil organic carbon dynamics in the short-term under semiarid continuous maize
Jorge Álvaro‐Fuentes, Samuel Franco‐Luesma, Victoria Lafuente, Pablo Sen, Asun Usón, Carlos Cantero‐Martínez, José Luis Arrúe
Abstract
In croplands, the adoption of certain management practices may increase soil organic carbon (SOC) levels. In this study, we evaluated the short-term impact of crop stover management and the interaction between crop stover and irrigation method on SOC change in a continuous maize (Zea mays L.) system in Spain. Four years after the beginning of the experiment, total SOC and C fractions (particulate organic matter carbon, POM-C; and mineral-associated organic matter carbon, Min-C) contents, SOC stocks and SOC stock changes were measured in four different soil layers (0−5, 5−10, 10−25 and 25−50 cm) in an experiment with two irrigation methods (sprinkler and flood) and three stover management systems (conventional tillage with all the stover incorporated, CT; no-tillage maintaining the stover, NTr; and no-tillage removing the stover, NT). Stover management resulted in significant differences in SOC and POM-C but not in Min-C. In particular, NT reduced SOC and POM-C contents compared with CT and NTr (about 10 and 60 %, respectively). After 4 years, SOC change was not affected by the interaction between stover management and irrigation. Concurrently, both CT and NT showed SOC losses, reaching 0.11 and 1.22 Mg ha−1 yr−1 in CT and NT, respectively. However, NTr showed SOC gains at a rate of 0.09 Mg ha−1 yr−1. Consequently, the removal of crop stover has been demonstrated as a detrimental strategy to store SOC in the short-term in irrigated continuous maize systems.