Topsoil organic carbon mineralization and CO2 evolution of three paddy soils from South China and the temperature dependence

Carbon mineralization and its response to climatic warming have been receiving global attention for the last decade. Although the virtual influence of temperature effect is still in great debate, little is known on the mineralization of organic carbon （SOC） of paddy soils of China under warming. SOC mineralization of three major types of China＇s paddy soils is studied through laboratory incubation for 114 d under soil moisture regime of 70% water holding capacity at 20℃ and 25℃ respectively. The carbon that mineralized as CO2 evolved was measured every day in the first 32 d and every two days in the following days. Carbon mineralized during the 114 d incubation ranged from 3.51 to 9.22 mg CO2-C/gC at 20℃ and from 4.24 to 11.35 mg CO2-C/gC at 25℃ respectively; and a mineralizable C pool in the range of 0.24 to 0.59 gC/kg, varying with different soils. The whole course of C mineralization in the 114 d incubation could be divided into three stages of varying rates, representing the three subpools of the total mineralizable C： very actively mineralized C at 1-23 d, actively tnineralized C at 24--74 d and a slowly mineralized pool with low and more or less stabilized C mineralization rate at 75-114 d. The calculated Q10 values ranged from 1.0 to 2.4, varying with the soil types and N status. Neither the total SOC pool nor the labile C pool could account for the total mineralization potential of the soils studied, despite a well correlation of labile C with the shortly and actively mineralized C, which were shown in sensitive response to soil warming. However, the portion of microbial C pool and the soil C/N ratio controlled the C mineralization and the temperature dependence. Therefore, C sequestration may not result in an increase of C mineralization proportionally. The relative control of C bioavailability and microbial metabolic activity on C mineralization with respect to stabilization of sequestered C in the paddy soils of China is to be further studied.     

Treated wastewater irrigation effect on soil, crop and environment： Wastewater recycling in the loess area of China

A study was carried out at the Loess Plateau in Dongzhi,China,to test the feasibility of using secondary treatment sewage effluent and to determine whether the water quality would then meet the recommended irrigation norm.Seven crops,including celery,wheat, maize,millet,apples,rapeseed and yellow beans,were tested in the study.Physical and chemical properties of the soil,crop yield and quality and leachate at different soil depths were measured.In most cases,the quality of the crops that made use of treated sewage was not distinctively different from those that did not use treated sewage.However,yields for the former were much higher than they were for the latter.Leachates at different soil depths were analyzed and the results did not show alarming levels of constituents.For a period of approximately 14 months,the treated sewage irrigation had no significant effect on the loess soil and no cases of illness resulting from contact with the treated sewage were reported.With treated sewage irrigation,a slight increase in the organic content of the soil was observed.     

Imazaquin degradation and metabolism in a sandy loam soil amended with farm litters

Irnazaquin applied in legume crops has a long residual time in soil, which often impacts safety of the susceptible crops. To increase safety of imazaquin application, two composted litters, bovine manure （BM） and chicken manure （CM）, were used to determine their effects on imazaquin environmental behavior by incorporating each kind of manure into the tested sandy loam soil at 10% （w/w）. The degradation of imazaquin in BM- and CM-amended soil was about 2.4 and 1.5 times, respectively, faster than that in unamended soil. The half-lives of imazaquin in BM-amended soil varied between 6.7 and 15.4 d over the temperature range of 20 to 40℃, and the degradation rate constant （k） increased by a factor of about 1.5 for every 10℃ change. Higher mix ratio did not significantly increase the degradation, and the optimal active degradation of imazaquin was observed approximately at the mix ratio of 10：1 of soil to BM. The different moisture levels had negligible effect on imazaquin degradation. In both unamended and BM-amended treatments, two metabolites were observed at 5, 10 and 30 d after treatment. One metabolite at retention time （RT） of 8.4 rain was identified as 2-（4- hydroxyl-5-oxo-2-imidazolin-2-yl） quinoline acid, originating from the loss of isopropyl group and hydroxylation at the 4-position of imidazolinone ring. The other at RT of 12.9 rain was identified as quinoline-2,3-dicarboxylic anhydride, resulting from detachment of imidazolinone ring and the forming of dicarboxylic anhydride. This finding suggested that the addition of farm litters into soil might be a good management option since it can not only increase soil fertility but also contribute to increase safety of imazaquin application to the following susceptible crops.     

三峡库区坡耕地利用与水土保持种植制

三峡库区耕地资源十分有限,且坡耕地占有相当大的比重,陡坡地多,在不良的耕作方式下肥力低下,水土流失十分严重在分析三峡库区自然条件与坡耕地资源特点的基础上,讨论了坡耕地种植制度与土壤侵蚀的关系,提出通过合理搭配作物种类进行多熟制间套作,一年生农作物与多年生经饲作物间作及农作物与木本植物等高间作等手段来建立坡耕地水土保持种植制,从而达到减轻土 蚀之目的。     

红壤稻田系统有机物循环再利用潜力及增产作用

10年田间试验结果表明：红墩妥田系统有机养分循环再利用潜力大，水稻收获，年均从稻田系统中输出NPK的总量最大可达到224.7,53.0和271.4kg/hm^2，有机物循环再利用，年均可归N，P，K量最大分别为115.1,35.8和231.5kg/hm^2，占系统输总量的51.2%,67.5%g和85.3%，保持稻田系统内有机物循环再利用可提高系统生产力，在不施化肥的情况下，增产3056kg/hm^2，增施N肥，增产2753kg/hm^2，增施N，P肥，增产1543kg/hm^2；NPK配合，增产984kg/hm^2；有机物循环再利用还可增强稻田系统的稳产性能，降低稻谷产量的年际变异系数；有机物循环再利用对水稻的增产有着明显的残效叠加作用，在施用N，P，K化肥基础上圾机物养分循环再利用水稻增产率在试验期间的前5年为7．2％，后5年平均为9．4％。     

鄱阳湖生态区长期施肥对稻田土壤碳汇效应与固碳潜力的影响

在施肥条件下确定平衡状态时,土壤有机碳含量水平对于正确评价土壤的固碳潜力和制定合理的有机物质分配措施具有重要意义。分析了前人研究的江西省有机碳储量数据并采用Jenny模型对长期不同施肥下有机碳动态数据进行模拟。结果表明,鄱阳湖生态区有机碳储量占全省的46%,以鹰潭地区最高,九江地区最低。施肥明显增强了土壤的碳汇作用,单施有机肥或有机无机肥配施（70F+30M、50F+50M、30F+70M、NPKM、NPK+S、NPK+P和NPK+C）处理的土壤有机碳含量明显高于施化肥处理,以南昌县的30F+70M、进贤县的NPKM和余江县的NPK+P处理最高,其平衡时有机碳含量和固碳潜力分别较施化肥处理提高了3061%和6115%、3017%和5496%、3826%和7479%。因此,提高鄱阳湖生态区农田有机碳密度和固碳潜力最有效方法是有机无机肥配施,其配施方式以猪粪配施化肥相对最好,配施比例以70%有机肥配施30%化肥为宜     

降雨过程中红壤团聚体粒径变化对溅蚀的影响

为揭示团聚体粒径动态变化对溅蚀的影响,通过室内人工模拟降雨试验,以第四纪粘土、泥质页岩发育红壤为研究对象,研究了酒精预湿润后的2~5 mm团聚体在降雨过程中粒径动态变化及溅蚀率的变化。试验结果表明：在60 mm/h雨强下,团聚体受雨滴机械打击破碎主要发生在降雨的最初阶段,团聚体＞0.25 mm百分含量（P＞0.25）及平均重量直径（M）均随降雨时间（T）增加呈幂函数减小,溅蚀率（Dr）随降雨时间（T）增加呈幂函数增加,而溅蚀率（Dr）随团聚体平均重量直径（M）减小呈幂函数增大。为揭示不同土样在降雨溅蚀过程中溅蚀率的变化规律,利用团聚体稳定性特征参数-机械破碎指数（R）及降雨时间（T）,建立了不同团聚体稳定性土样溅蚀率随降雨时间变化的经验方程,且方程可决系数较高（R2=0.82）,揭示出团聚体稳定性越好,其破碎过程越缓慢,溅蚀率越小。研究结果为红壤区土壤侵蚀的防治及侵蚀机理研究提供了新思路     

Soil erosion vulnerability under scenarios of climate land-use changes after the development of a large reservoir in a semi-arid area

Climate and land-use/cover changes (LUCC) influence soil erosion vulnerability in the semi-arid region of Alqueva, threatening the reservoir storage capacity and sustainability of the landscape. Considering the effect of these changes in the future, the purpose of this study was to investigate soil erosion scenarios using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model. A multi-agent system combining Markov cellular automata with multi-criteria evaluation was used to investigate LUCC scenarios according to delineated regional strategies. Forecasting scenarios indicated that the intensive agricultural area as well as the sparse and xerophytic vegetation and rainfall-runoff erosivity would increase, consequently causing the soil erosion to rise from 1.78 Mg ha^?1 to 3.65 Mg ha^?1 by 2100. A backcasting scenario was investigated by considering the application of soil conservation practices that would decrease the soil erosion considerably to an average of 2.27 Mg ha^?1. A decision support system can assist stakeholders in defining restrictive practices and developing conservation plans, contributing to control the reservoir's siltation.     

Benchmarking Optical/Thermal Satellite Imagery for Estimating Evapotranspiration and Soil Moisture in Decision Support Tools

Generally, one expects evapotranspiration (ET) maps derived from optical/thermal Landsat and MODIS satellite imagery to improve decision support tools and lead to superior decisions regarding water resources management. However, there is lack of supportive evidence to accept or reject this expectation. We “benchmark” three existing hydrologic decision support tools with the following benchmarks: annual ET for the ET Toolbox developed by the United States Bureau of Reclamation, predicted rainfall‐runoff hydrographs for the Gridded Surface/Subsurface Hydrologic Analysis model developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the average annual groundwater recharge for the Distributed Parameter Watershed Model used by Daniel B. Stephens & Associates. The conclusion of this benchmark study is that the use of NASA/USGS optical/thermal satellite imagery can considerably improve hydrologic decision support tools compared to their traditional implementations. The benefits of improved decision making, resulting from more accurate results of hydrologic support systems using optical/thermal satellite imagery, should substantially exceed the costs for acquiring such imagery and implementing the remote sensing algorithms. In fact, the value of reduced error in estimating average annual groundwater recharge in the San Gabriel Mountains, California alone, in terms of value of water, may be as large as $1 billion, more than sufficient to pay for one new Landsat satellite.     

17 β-estradiol mineralization in human waste products and soil in the presence and the absence of antimicrobials

Natural steroidal estrogens, such as 17 β-estradiol (E2), as well as antimicrobials such as doxycycline and norfloxacin, are excreted by humans and hence detected in sewage sludge and biosolid. The disposal of human waste products on agricultural land results in estrogens and antibiotics being detected as mixtures in soils. The objective of this study was to examine microbial respiration and E2 mineralization in sewage sludge, biosolid, and soil in the presence and the absence of doxycycline and norfloxacin. The antimicrobials were applied to the media either alone or in combination at total rates of 4 and 40 mg kg^?1, with the 4 mg kg^?1 rate being an environmentally relevant concentration. The calculated time that half of the applied E2 was mineralized ranged from 294 to 418 days in sewage sludge, from 721 to 869 days in soil, and from 2,258 to 14,146 days in biosolid. E2 mineralization followed first-order and the presence of antimicrobials had no significant effect on mineralization half-lives, except for some antimicrobial applications to the human waste products. At 189 day, total E2 mineralization was significantly greater in sewage sludge (38 ±0.7%) > soil (23 ±0.7%) > biosolid (3 ±0.7%), while total respiration was significantly greater in biosolid (1,258 mg CO₂) > sewage sludge (253 mg CO₂) ≥ soil (131 mg CO₂). Strong sorption of E2 to the organic fraction in biosolid may have resulted in reduced E2 mineralization despite the high microbial activity in this media. Total E2 mineralization at 189 day was not significantly influenced by the presence of doxycycline and/or norfloxacin in the media. Antimicrobial additions also did not significantly influence total respiration in media, except that total CO₂ respiration at 189 day was significantly greater for biosolid with 40 mg kg^?1 doxycycline added, relative to biosolid without antimicrobials. We conclude that it is unlikely for doxycycline and norfloxacin, or their mixtures, to have a significant effect on E2 mineralization in human waste products and soil. However, the potential for E2 to be persistent in biosolids, with and without the presence of antimicrobials, is posing a challenge for biosolid disposal to agricultural lands.