Special Issue "Soil Carbon and Nitrogen in Agricultural Systems"

A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Agricultural Soils".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 September 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Laura Zavattaro
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Torino, 2, Largo Paolo Braccini, IT10095 Grugliasco, Torino, Italy
Interests: nitrogen cycling; nitrate leaching; carbon cycling; organic matter decomposition; crop management practices; forage crops; forage system design; fertilization
Dr. José Alfonso Gómez
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, CSIC, Córdoba, Spain
Interests: soil management; cover crops; modeling; erosion; water; landscape; desertification; GIS
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Soil organic matter plays a fundamental role in making the soil what it is: a place where plants, microbes, and animals can live and benefit from each other. Without it, nutrient flows would not close into cycles. The stability and turnover of soil carbon pools and inputs (such as crop residues, green manure, roots, manures, organic fertilizers, and composts) are strongly influenced by their nitrogen contents. Conversely, soil mineral nitrogen availability to plants and micro-organisms depends on the type and amount of carbon to which organic N is associated, leading to mineralization and immobilization processes. The contemporary availability of C and N sources dominates the processes that produce greenhouse gases (GHGs). The complex interconnections between C and N in soil need particular attention in modern agriculture, which is aimed not only at production but also at providing agroecosystem services. This is particularly true in production methods that put soil organic matter (SOM) preservation and soil health enhancement at the core of farmers’ attention, such as conservation agriculture, agroecology, integrated crop–livestock production, and agroforestry.

This Special Issue is focused on carbon and nitrogen interaction in soils. Its aim is to provide insights into the complex interconnections between the cycles of the two elements in the soil. Manuscripts dealing with C and N turnover, C sequestration, mineralization of crop residues, green manure, added manures, or organic fertilizers, influence of mineral fertilization on SOM turnover, microbial transformations, GHG emissions, N availability, C and N modeling, or DSTs, at various study scales and using various approaches, will be considered.

Dr. Laura Zavattaro
Dr. José Alfonso Gómez
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agriculture is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

  • soil organic matter turnover
  • nutrient cycling
  • soil health
  • carbon transformations
  • N availability
  • agricultural systems

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Article
Wheat Straw Incorporation Affecting Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Fractions in Chinese Paddy Soil
Agriculture 2021, 11(8), 803; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture11080803 - 23 Aug 2021
Viewed by 337
Abstract
Soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (N) fractions greatly affect soil health and quality. This study explored the effects of wheat straw incorporation on Chinese rice paddy fields with four treatments: (1) a control (CK), (2) a mineral NPK fertilizer (NPK), (3) the [...] Read more.
Soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (N) fractions greatly affect soil health and quality. This study explored the effects of wheat straw incorporation on Chinese rice paddy fields with four treatments: (1) a control (CK), (2) a mineral NPK fertilizer (NPK), (3) the moderate wheat straw (3 t ha−1) plus NPK (MSNPK), and (4) the high wheat straw (6 t ha−1) plus NPK (HSNPK). In total, 0–5, 5–10, 10–20, and 20–30 cm soil depths were sampled from paddy soil in China. Compared with the CK, the HSNPK treatment (p < 0.05) increased the C fraction content (from 13.91 to 53.78%), mainly including SOC, microbial biomass C (MBC), water-soluble organic C (WSOC), and labile organic C (LOC) in the soil profile (0–30 cm), and it also (p < 0.05) increased the soil N fraction content (from 10.70 to 55.31%) such as the soil total N (TN) at 0–10 cm depth, microbial biomass N (MBN) at 0–20 cm depth, total water-soluble N (WSTN) at 0–5 and 20–30 cm depths, and total labile N (LTN) at 0–30 cm depth. The primary components of soil LOC and LTN are MBC and MBN. Various soil C and N fractions positively correlated with each other (p < 0.05). The HSNPK treatment promoted the soil MBC, WSOC, and LOC to SOC ratios, and also promoted MBN, WSTN, and LTN to soil TN ratios at a depth of 0–20 cm. To summarize, the application of HSNPK could maintain and improve rice paddy soil quality, which leads to increased rice grain yields. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Carbon and Nitrogen in Agricultural Systems)
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Article
Effect of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles on Nitrous Oxide Emissions in Agricultural Soil
Agriculture 2021, 11(8), 730; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture11080730 - 31 Jul 2021
Viewed by 393
Abstract
Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) are widely used and exposed to the soil environment, but their effect on soil nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions remains unclear. In this study, a microcosm experiment was conducted to explore the effects of different ZnO NPs [...] Read more.
Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) are widely used and exposed to the soil environment, but their effect on soil nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions remains unclear. In this study, a microcosm experiment was conducted to explore the effects of different ZnO NPs concentrations (0, 100, 500, and 1000 mg kg−1) on N2O emissions and associated functional genes related to N2O amendment with carbon (C) or nitrogen (N) substrates. Partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) was used to explore possible pathways controlling N2O emissions induced by ZnO NPs. In the treatment without C or N substrates, 100 and 500 mg kg−1 ZnO NPs did not affect N2O production, but 1000 mg kg−1 ZnO NPs stimulated N2O production. Interestingly, compared with the soils without ZnO NPs, the total N2O emissions in the presence of different ZnO NPs concentrations increased by 2.36–4.85-, 1.51–1.62-, and 6.28–8.35-fold following C, N and both C & N substrate amendments, respectively. Moreover, ZnO NPs increased the functional genes of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB amoA) and nitrite reductase (nirS) and led to the exhaustion of nitrate but reduced the gene copies of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA amoA). In addition, the redundancy analysis results showed that the AOB amoA and nirS genes were positively correlated with total N2O emissions, and the PLS-PM results showed that ZnO NPs indirectly affected N2O emissions by influencing soil nitrate content, nitrifiers and denitrifiers. Overall, our results showed that ZnO NPs increase N2O emissions by increasing nitrification (AOB amoA) and denitrification (nirS), and we highlight that the exposure of ZnO NPs in agricultural fields probably results in a high risk of N2O emissions when coupled with C and N substrate amendments, contributing to global climate warming. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Carbon and Nitrogen in Agricultural Systems)
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