The microbial mechanism of maize residue decomposition under different temperature and moisture regimes in a Solonchak

authored by

Fan Huang, Wan Zhang, Lihua Xue, Bahar Razavi, Kazem Zamanian, Xiaoning Zhao

Abstract

Soil salinization becomes serious under climate change and human activities. Although the residue decomposition contributes lots to soil carbon storage and fertility, the decomposition process and microbial mechanisms on saline-alkali soils are still vague facing climate change. We measured the mass loss of residue (0, 4, 8, 15, 30, 60 and 90 days), CO

2 emission (every two days), and the microbial community structure (0, 4, 15 and 90 days) by using the litter bag method, gas chromatography and high-throughput sequencing technology during the residue decomposition (90 days) in a saline-alkali soil from the Tarim River Basin, China under various temperatures (15 °C, 25 °C, 35 °C) and soil moisture levels (20%, 40%, 60% water holding capacity). The decomposition stage consisted of fast (0-15 days) and slow periods (15-90 days). Using the double exponential equation, the decomposition rates of labile and recalcitrant components, the labile component and cumulative CO

2 emissions increased faster with increased moisture than with temperature. The Q

10 was greater at 15-25 °C than at 25-35 °C, which increased with the increased soil moisture in the leaf but with decreased soil moisture in the stem at 15-25 °C. Proteobacteria increased from 0 to 15 days on leaves (25-43%) and stems (25-29%) and showed no changes thereafter. Proteobacteria increased with increased soil moisture but decreased temperature. Actinomycetes was the opposite and more abundant on the stem than on the leaf. Bacteroidetes increased after 15 days and increased with increased soil moisture. Firmicutes were the main bacterial groups at 0-15 days, but decreased at 15-90 days (leaf: 44 - 15%, stem: 49 - 13%). In conclusion, warming, especially 15-25 °C, contributes to the decomposition of stems and wetting, especially 20-40% WHC, contributes to that of leaves within the first 15 days, afterwards wetting played an important role. Our results could also provide the adopting strategies for residue return to increase the soil carbon content while decreasing CO

2 emissions facing climate change.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Earth System Sciences
Soil Science Section

External Organisation(s)

Hunan Women's University
Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences (XAAS)
Kiel University
Shaanxi University of Science and Technology

Type

Article

Journal

Scientific reports

Volume

Pages

2215

ISSN

2045-2322

Publication date

17.01.2025

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 13 - Climate Action

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-81292-3 (Access: Open)