Open Access
ARTICLE
Effects of Fertilization on Soil CO2 Efflux in Chinese Hickory (Carya cathayensis) Stand
Juan Liu1,2,*, Meiqun Zheng1, Xueshuang Chen1
1
Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Carbon Cycling in Forest Ecosystems and Carbon Sequestration, Zhejiang A&F University,
Hangzhou, 311300, China
2
State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008,
China
* Corresponding Author: Juan Liu. Email:
(This article belongs to this Special Issue: The Effect of Soil Quality Degradation on the Plant Growth, Quality and Food Safety in Subtropical Agroforestry Ecosystems)
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2023, 92(1), 271-283. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2022.023397
Received 24 April 2022; Accepted 20 May 2022; Issue published 06 September 2022
Abstract
Chinese hickory (
Carya cathayensis Sarg.) is a popular nut tree in China, but there is little information about the
influences of fertilization on soil CO
2 efflux and soil microbial biomass. This study evaluated the short-term
effects of different fertilizer applications on soil CO
2 efflux and soil microbial biomass in Chinese hickory stands.
Four fertilizer treatments were established: control (CK, no fertilizer), inorganic fertilizer (IF), organic fertilizer
(OF), and equal parts organic and inorganic N fertilizers (OIF). A field experiment was conducted to measure
soil CO
2 effluxes using closed chamber and gas chromatography techniques. Regardless of the fertilization practices, soil CO
2 effluxes of all the treatments showed a similar temporal pattern, with the highest value in summer
and the lowest in winter. The mean annual soil CO
2 efflux in the IF treatment was significantly higher than that in
the CK, OIF, and OF treatments. There was no significant difference in soil CO
2 efflux between the OIF, OF, and
CK treatments. Soil CO
2 effluxes were significantly affected by soil temperature. Soil dissolved organic carbon
(DOC) was positively correlated with soil CO
2 efflux only in the CK treatment. Regression analysis, including soil
temperature, moisture, and DOC, showed that soil temperature was the primary factor influencing soil CO
2
effluxes. Both OF and OIF treatments increased concentrations of soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and
microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN), but decreased the ratio of MBC:MBN. These results reveal that applying
organic fertilizer, either alone or combined with inorganic fertilizer, may be the optimal strategy for mitigating
soil CO
2 emission and improving soil quality in Chinese hickory stands.
Keywords
Cite This Article
Liu, J., Zheng, M., Chen, X. (2023). Effects of Fertilization on Soil CO
2 Efflux in Chinese Hickory (
Carya cathayensis) Stand.
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, 92(1), 271–283.