CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 81Soil Carbon and Nitrogen DynamicsSoil Management and Crop YieldSoil erosion and sediment transport

Organic carbon stocks in topsoil and subsoil in long-term ley and cereal monoculture rotations

Open access
Börjesson, Gunnar, Bolinder, Martin A., Kirchmann, Holger, Kätterer, Thomas·2018·Biology and Fertility of Soils
DOI 10.1007/s00374-018-1281-x
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Soil organic C (SOC) in agricultural soils is affected by cropping system. In order to compare the impact of ley-dominated and cereal monoculture rotations on soil properties, a series of experiments was started in Sweden in the early 1980s. This study quantified the effect of rotations and N fertilisation on SOC stocks and microbial community composition. After 35 years, soil samples taken down to 50-cm depth at two sites with contrasting soil texture (clay and loam) were analysed for soil C and N, bulk density and phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) content. Significant increases in SOC concentrations and stocks were found in the ley-dominated rotation compared with the cereal monoculture rotation, the difference being 0.36 and 0.59 Mg C ha −1 year −1 in the topsoil (0–20 cm) for sites with the clay and loam texture, respectively, in average over N fertiliser levels. Nitrogen fertilisation increased SOC stocks significantly in the cereal monoculture, but not in the ley-dominated rotation. In the loam, SOC responses in the subsoil were almost as high as those in the topsoil, but they were insignificant in the clay soil. These results indicate that soil texture and structure can have a great impact on the potential of subsoils to sequester C, which requires attention when scaling up SOC sequestration rates for regional or global assessments.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1007/s00374-018-1281-x

Cites

5 of 5 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 51

  1. Adolfsson R (2005) A review of Swedish crop residue statistics used in the greenhouse gas inventory. SMED report No 65. URL: Bhttp:// www.smed.se/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/A-review-of-Swedish- crop-residue.pdf^Accessed 2017-08-17
  2. Andersson H, Bergström L, Djodjic F, Ulén B, Kirchmann H (2013) Topsoil and subsoil properties influence phosphorus leaching from four agricultural soils. J Environ Qual 42:455-463. https://doi.org/ 10.2134/jeq2012.0224 · DOI
  3. Alvarez R (2005) A review of nitrogen fertilizer and conservation tillage effects on soil organic carbon storage. Soil Use Manag 21:38-52. https://doi.org/10.1079/SUM2005291 · DOI
  4. Andrén O, Kätterer T, Karlsson T, Eriksson J (2008) Soil C balances in Swedish agricultural soils 1990-2004, with preliminary projections. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 81:129-144. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10705-008-9177-z · DOI
  5. Bolinder MA, Janzen HH, Gregorich EG, Angers DA, VandenBygaart AJ (2007) An approach for estimating net primary productivity and annual carbon inputs to soil for common agricultural crops in Canada. Agric Ecosyst Environ 118:29-42. https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.agee.2006.05.013 · DOI
  6. Bolinder MA, Kätterer T, Andren O, Parent LE (2012) Estimating C inputs to soil in forage-based crop rotations and modelling the ef- fects on soil carbon dynamics in a Swedish long-term field experi- ment. Can J Soil Sci 92:821-833. https://doi.org/10.4141/ CJSS2012-036 · DOI
  7. Börjesson G, Kirchmann H, Kätterer T (2014) Four Swedish long- term field experiments with sewage sludge reveal a limited effect on soil microbes and on metal uptake by crops. J Soils Sediments 14:164-177. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-013- 0800-5 · DOI
  8. Carter MR, Gregorich EG (2010) Carbon and nitrogen storage by deep- rooted tall fescue (Lolium arundinaceum) in the surface and subsur- face soil of a fine sandy loam in eastern Canada. Agric Ecosys Environ 136:125-132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2009.12.005 · DOI
  9. Chirinda N, Olesen JE, Porter JR, Per Schjønning P (2010) Soil properties, crop production and greenhouse gas emissions from organic and inorganic fertilizer-based arable cropping systems. Agric Ecosys Environ 139:584-594. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.agee.2010.10.001 · DOI
  10. Crowther TW, Todd-Brown KEO, Rowe CW, Wieder WR, Carey JC, Machmuller MB, Snoek BL, Fang S, Zhou G, Allison SD, Blair JM, Bridgham SD, Burton AJ, Carrillo Y, Reich PB, Clark JS, Classen AT, Dijkstra FA, Elberling B, Emmett BA, Estiarte M, Frey SD, Guo J, Harte J, Jiang L, Johnson BR, Kröel-Dulay G, Larsen KS, Laudon H, Lavallee JM, Luo Y, Lupascu M, Ma LN, Marhan S, Michelsen A, Mohan J, Niu S, Pendall E, Peñuelas J, Pfeifer-Meister L, Poll C, Reinsch S, Reynolds LL, Schmidt IK, Sistla S, Sokol NW, Templer PH, Treseder KK, Welker JM, Bradford MA (2016) Quantifying glob- al soil carbon losses in response to warming. Nature 540:104-108. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature20150 · DOI
  11. Dungait JAJ, Kemmitt SJ, Michallon L, Guo S, Wen Q, Brookes PC, Evershed RP (2011) Variable responses of the soil microbial bio- mass to trace concentrations of 13 C-labelled glucose, using 13 C- PLFA analysis. Eur J Soil Sci 62:117-126. https://doi.org/10.1111/ j.1365-2389.2010.01321.x · DOI
  12. DuPont ST, Beniston J, Glover JD, Hodson A, Culman SW, Lal R, Ferris H (2014) Root traits and soil properties in harvested perennial grass- land, annual wheat, and never-tilled annual wheat. Plant Soil 381: 405-420. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-014-2145-2 · DOI
  13. Eriksson AK, Hillier S, Hesterberg D, Klysubun W, Ulén B, Gustafsson JP (2016) Evolution of phosphorus speciation with depth in an ag- ricultural soil profile. Geoderma 280:29-37. https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.geoderma.2016.06.004 · DOI
  14. Fan J, McConkey B, Wang H, Janzen HH (2016) Root distribution by depth for temperate agricultural crops. Field Crops Res 189:68-74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2016.02.013 · DOI
  15. Ghafoor A, Poeplau C, Kätterer T (2017) Fate of straw-and root-derived carbon in a Swedish agricultural soil. Biol Fertil Soils 53:257-267. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-016-1168-7 · DOI
  16. Hansson AC, Andrén O (1987) Root dynamics in barley, lucerne and meadow fescue investigated with a mini-rhizotron technique. Plant Soil 103:33-38. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02370664 · DOI
  17. Hansson AC, Pettersson R, Paustian K (1987) Shoot and root production and nitrogen uptake in barley, with and without nitrogen fertiliza- tion. J Agron Crop Sci 158:163-171. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439- 037X.1987.tb00258.x · DOI
  18. Hartemink AE, Gerzabek MH, Lal R, McSweeney K (2014) Soil carbon research priorities. In: Hartemink AE, McSweeney K (Eds) Soil Carbon. Springer, Cham, Switzerland, pp 483-490. https://doi.org/ 10.1007/978-3-319-04084-4 · DOI
  19. Heikinen J, Ketoja E, Nuutinen V, Regina K (2013) Declining trend of carbon in Finnish cropland soils in 1974-2009. Glob Change Biol 19:1456-1469. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12137 · DOI
  20. Jenkinson D, Poulton PR, Bryant C (2008) The turnover of or- ganic carbon in subsoils. Part 1. Natural and bomb radiocar- bon in soil profiles from the Rothamsted long-term field ex- periments. Eur J Soil Sci 59:391-399. https://doi.org/10.1111/ j.1365-2389.2008.01025.x · DOI
  21. Jobbágy EG, Jackson RB (2000) The vertical distribution of soil organic carbon and its relation to climate and vegetation. Ecol Appl 10:423-436. https://doi.org/10.1890/1051- 0761(2000)010[0423:TVDOSO]2.0.CO;2 · DOI
  22. Karlsson T (2013) Soil carbon, pH and yield development in a long-term humus balance trial. Master's Thesis in Soil Science 2013:19. Department of Soil and Environment, SLU, Uppsala, Sweden. URL: Bhttps://stud.epsilon.slu.se/6247/^
  23. Kätterer T, Hansson A-C, Andrén O (1993) Wheat root biomass and nitrogen dynamics-effects of daily irrigation and fertilization. Plant Soil 151:21-30. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00010782 · DOI
  24. Kätterer T, Andrén O, Jansson P-E (2006) Pedotransfer functions for estimating plant available water and bulk density in Swedish agri- cultural soils. Acta Agric Scand B 56:263-276. https://doi.org/10. 1080/09064710500310170 · DOI
  25. Kätterer T, Bolinder MA, Andrén O, Kirchmann H, Menichetti L (2011) Roots contribute more to refractory soil organic matter than above- ground crop residues, as revealed by a long-term field experiment. Agric Ecosys Environ 141:184-192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee. 2011.02.029 · DOI · Paper page
  26. Kätterer T, Bolinder MA, Berglund K, Kirchmann H (2012) Strategies for carbon sequestration in agricultural soils in northern Europe. Acta Agriculturae Scand Section A 62:1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 09064702.2013.779316 · DOI
  27. Kätterer T, Börjesson G, Kirchmann K (2014a) Changes in organic carbon in topsoil and subsoil and microbial community composition caused by repeated additions of organic amendments and N fertilisation in a long-term field experiment in Sweden. Agric Ecosys Environ 189: 110-118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2014.03.025 · DOI
  28. Kätterer T, Kirchmann H, Börjesson G, Bolinder MA (2014b) Carbon sequestration in cropland-management strategies evaluated in long-term field experiments in northern Europe. In: Halldórsson G, et al. (eds) Soil carbon sequestration for climate food security and ecosystem services-proceedings of the international confer- ence 27-29 May 2013 Reykjavik Iceland. JRC science and policy reports. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, pp. 21-26. https://doi.org/10.2788/17815 · DOI
  29. Kirchmann H, Eriksson J (1993) Properties and classification of soils of the Swedish long-term fertility experiments: 2. Sites at Örja and Orup. Acta Agric Scand B 43:193-205. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 09064719309411242 · DOI
  30. Kirchmann H, Börjesson G, Schön M, Hamnér K, Kätterer T (2013) Properties and classification of soils of the Swedish long-term fer- tility experiments. VII. Changes in subsoil properties after 50 years of nitrogen fertilizer application. Acta Agric Scand B 63:25-36. https://doi.org/10.1080/09064710.2012.711352 · DOI
  31. Ladd JN, Foster R, Nannipieri P, Oades JM (1996) Soil structure and biological activity. In: Stotzky G, Bollag J-M (eds) Soil biochemis- try, vol 9. Marcel Dekker, New York, pp 23-78
  32. Lal R (2013) Intensive agriculture and the soil carbon pool. J Crop Improv 27:735-751. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427528.2013.845053 · DOI
  33. Lehtinen T, Schlatter N, Baumgarten A, Bechini L, Krüger J, Grignani C, Zavattaro L, Costamagna C, Spiegel H (2014) Effect of crop residue incorporation on soil organic carbon and greenhouse gas emissions in European agricultural soils. Soil Use Manage 30:524-538. https://doi.org/10.1111/sum. 12151 · DOI
  34. Lorenz K, Lal R (2005) The depth distribution of soil organic carbon in relation to land use and management and the potential of carbon sequestration in subsoil horizons. Adv Agron 88:35-66. https:// doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2113(05)88002-2 · DOI
  35. Maillard E, Angers DA (2014) Animal manure application and soil or- ganic carbon stocks: a meta-analysis. Glob Change Biol 20:666- 679. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12438 · DOI
  36. Menichetti L, Ekblad A, Kätterer T (2015) Contribution of roots and amendments to soil carbon accumulation within the soil profile in a long-term field experiment in Sweden. Agric Ecosys Environ 200: 79-87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2014.11.003 · DOI
  37. Merante P, Dibari C, Ferrise R, Sánchez B, Iglesias A, Lesschen JP, Kuikman P, Yeluripati J, Smith P, Bindi M (2017) Adopting soil organic carbon management practices in soils of varying quality: implications and perspectives in Europe. Soil Till Res 165:95-106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2016. 08.001 · DOI
  38. Meurer KHE, Haddaway NR, Bolinder MA, Kätterer T (2018) Tillage intensity affects total SOC stocks in boreo-temperate regions only in the topsoil-a systematic review using an ESM approach. Earth Sci Rev 177:613-622. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2017.12.015 · DOI
  39. Poeplau C, Bolinder MA, Eriksson J, Lundblad M, Kätterer T (2015a) Positive trends in organic carbon storage in Swedish agricultural soils due to unexpected socio-economic drivers. Biogeosciences 12:3241-3251. https://doi.org/10.5194/bgd-12-3991-2015 · DOI
  40. Poeplau C, Kätterer T, Bolinder MA, Börjesson G, Berti A, Lugato E (2015b) Low stabilization of aboveground crop residue carbon in sandy soils of Swedish long-term experiments. Geoderma 237-238: 246-255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2014.09.010 · DOI
  41. Poeplau C, Kätterer T (2017) Is soil texture a major controlling factor of root:shoot ratio in cereals? Eur J Soil Sci 68:964-970. https://doi. org/10.1111/ejss.12466/full · DOI
  42. Poeplau C, Vos C, Don A (2017) Soil organic carbon stocks are systematically overestimated by misuse of the parameters bulk density and rock fragment content. Soil 3:61-66. https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-3-61-2017 · DOI · Paper page
  43. Rasse DP, Rumpel C, Dignac M-F (2005) Is soil carbon mostly root carbon? Mechanisms for a specific stabilisation. Plant Soil 269: 341-356. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-004-0907-y · DOI · Paper page
  44. Rumpel C, Kögel-Knabner I (2011) Deep soil organic matter-a key but poorly understood component of terrestrial C cycle. Plant Soil 338: 143-158. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-010-0391-5 · DOI · Paper page
  45. Soussana JF, Tallec T, Blanfort V (2010) Mitigating the greenhouse gas balance of ruminant production systems through carbon sequestra- tion in grasslands. Animal 43:334-350. https://doi.org/10.1017/ S1751731109990784 · DOI
  46. Swift RS (2001) Sequestration of carbon by soil. Soil Sci 166(11):858- 871. https://doi.org/10.1097/00010694-200111000-00010 · DOI
  47. Taghizadeh-Toosi A, Olesen JE, Kristensen K, Elsgaard L, Østergaard HS, Lægdsmand M, Greve MH, Christensen BT (2014) Changes in carbon stocks of Danish agricultural mineral soils between 1986 and 2009. Eur J Soil Sci 65:730-740. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.12169 · DOI
  48. Tarnocai C, Canadell JG, Schuur EAG, Kuhry P, Mazhitova G, Zimov S (2009) Soil organic carbon pools in the northern circumpolar per- mafrost region. Glob Biogeochem Cycles 23:GB2023. https://doi. org/10.1029/2008GB003327 · DOI
  49. Trögl J, Jirková I, Kuráň P, Akhmetshina E, Brovdyová T, Sirotkin A, Kirilina T (2015) Phospholipid fatty acids as physiological indica- tors of Paracoccus denitrificans encapsulated in silica sol-gel hydrogels. Sensors 15:3426-3434. https://doi.org/10.3390/ s150203426 · DOI
  50. Welbank PJ, Williams ED (1968) Root growth of a barley crop estimated by sampling with portable powered soil-coring equipment. J Appl Ecol 5:477-481. https://doi.org/10.2307/2401574 · DOI
  51. Williams A, Börjesson G, Hedlund K (2013) The effects of 55 years of different inorganic fertiliser regimes on soil properties and microbial community composition. Soil Biol Biochem 67:41-46. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2013.08.008 · DOI

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Börjesson, G., Bolinder, M. A., Kirchmann, H., & Kätterer, T.
Affiliations
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE)
Corresponding author
Börjesson, Gunnar
ORCID
Venue
Biology and Fertility of Soils
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2018-04-20
Volume
54
Issue
4
Pages
549-558
ISSN
  • 0178-2762 (ISSN-L)
  • 1432-0789
DOI
10.1007/s00374-018-1281-x
OpenAlex
W2799618837
Cited by
81
References
5
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 1
FWCI
5.61
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Biology and Fertility of Soils (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Epsilon Open Archive (Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet biblioteket (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences)) (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Stiftelsen Svensk Växtnäringsforskning (H142-0005)
  • Swedish Farmers' Foundation for Agricultural Research
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Management and Crop Yield
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil erosion and sediment transport
Keywords
soil organic carbon stocks, cereal monoculture, crop rotation, nitrogen fertilization, soil texture, phospholipid fatty acids, microbial community composition, bulk density, long-term field experiment

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review