Long-term organic fertilizer-induced carbonate neoformation increases carbon sequestration in soil

authored by

Enke Liu, Jie Zhou, Xiao Yang, Tao Jin, Bingqiang Zhao, Lili Li, Yanchen Wen, Evgeniya Soldatova, Kazem Zamanian, Subramaniam Gopalakrishnan, Xurong Mei, Yakov Kuzyakov

Abstract

Soil carbon is major driver of climate in the long term because soil can either decrease global warming by carbon sequestration or increase warming by emissions of greenhouse gases. Soil inorganic carbon is mainly composed of carbonates and represents globally more than half of the total soil carbon stock up to a 2-m depth. The dissolution of carbonates by fertilization-induced acidification may offset the global efforts aimed at organic carbon sequestration, yet this process is poorly understood. Here, we evaluated the effects of fertilization strategies on inorganic carbon contents and stocks to 120 cm soil depth by using natural δ¹³C signature of organic and inorganic carbon in 32- and 40-year field experiments. Results show that long-term application of mineral nitrogen and phosphorous fertilizers acidified soils by 0.2 pH units. This caused inorganic carbon dissolution and carbon dioxide emissions of 9–12 Mg C per hectare, representing 12–18% of the initial stock in the top 60 cm. By contrast, manure application increased inorganic carbon stock by 8.9–11 Mg C per hectare, representing 4.8–17% of the initial stock up to 120 cm depth. The main pathway of inorganic carbon accumulation under organic fertilization is the neoformation of pedogenic carbonates and the conservation of lithogenic carbonates. Manure combined with mineral fertilizers did not affect inorganic carbon and therefore provides an optimal solution to mitigate carbon losses from soil.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Soil Science

External Organisation(s)

Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
State Key Laboratory of Hulless Barley and Yak Germplasm Resources and Genetic Improvement
University of Göttingen
Pingliang Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Tyumen State University
Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
Ministry of Agriculture of the People's Republic of China
Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (RUDN)
Kazan Volga Region Federal University

Type

Article

Journal

Environmental chemistry letters

Volume

21

Pages

663-671

No. of pages

9

ISSN

1610-3653

Publication date

04.2023

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Environmental Chemistry

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 2 - Zero Hunger, SDG 13 - Climate Action, SDG 15 - Life on Land

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-023-01568-4 (Access: Closed)