Soil organic matter content and quality: effects of fertilizer applications, burning and trash retention on a long-term sugarcane experiment in South Africa
Abstract
The effects of crop residue management and fertilizer applications on soil organic matter (SOM) content and labile soil organic fractions were examined on a long-term (59 years) field trial under sugarcane situated at Mount Edgecombe, South Africa. Treatments at the site included pre-harvest burning with harvest residues removed (Bto), burning with harvest residues left at the soil surface (Bt) and green cane harvesting with retention of a trash blanket (T). Plots are either fertilized annually with N, P and K or unfertilized. Soil organic matter content in the surface 10 cm increased with increasing inputs of crop residues (Bto < Bt < T) and with annual fertilizer applications. There were no significant treatment effects on organic C or total N content below 10 cm but for microbial biomass C and N, readily mineralizable C and N, K2SO4-extractable and light fraction C, treatment effects were evident in the 10-20 and 20-30 cm layers. Changes in soil N content were more marked than those for organic C and, as a result, the C-to-N ratios of total SOM, the readily mineralizable fraction and the microbial biomass were all decreased by both increasing crop residue returns and fertilizer additions. By contrast, both crop residue and fertilizer inputs increased the microbial quotient since microbial biomass C was increased to a greater extent than total soil organic C. The results demonstrate that greater inputs of organic matter due to either increased returns of above-ground crop r…
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In sugarcane, fields burned before harvest have lower SOC than unburned fields where harvest residue is retained.
“In the case of sugarcane, fields burned before harvest have lower SOC than unburned fields where the harvest residue is retained on the fields (Blair et al., 1998;Graham et al., 2002), and our models likewise revealed that retention of harvest residue resulted in faster SOC accumulation (Tables B1 and B2).”
From Changes in soil organic carbon under biofuel crops (2009) · cites this paper as Graham et al., 2002
Fertilization consistently increased SOC gains or decreased SOC losses in perennial grasses, although its effects often were not significant.
“Fertilization -which boosts productivity but decreases belowground C allocation (Ma et al., 2001;Bonifas et al., 2005) and may increase soil respiration (Bauhus & Khanna, 1994) -consistently increased SOC gains or decrease SOC losses in perennial grasses, although its effects often were not significant (Ma et al., 2000;Graham et al., 2002;Thomason et al., 2005;Lee et al., 2007).”
From Changes in soil organic carbon under biofuel crops (2009) · cites this paper as Graham et al., 2002
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References 33 · Cited by 261
- Authors
- Graham, M. H., Haynes, R. J., & Meyer, J. H.
- Affiliations
- University of KwaZulu-Natal (ZA)
- South African Sugar Association (ZA)
- Corresponding author
- Haynes, R.J.
- Venue
- Soil Biology and Biochemistry
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2002-01
- Volume
- 34
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 93-102
- ISSN
- 0038-0717 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2016726237
- Cited by
- 261
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 24 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 12
- FWCI
- 20.28
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Soil Biology and Biochemistry (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Research Foundation
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Agricultural Science and Fertilization
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Management and Crop Yield
- Keywords
- soil organic matter, crop residue management, sugarcane, pre-harvest burning, fertilizer use, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilization, long-term field experiment
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