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Agronomy
Special Issues
Soil Carbon Decomposition and Management: Experimental Insights for Sustainable Agroecosystems
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Soil Carbon Decomposition and Management: Experimental Insights for Sustainable Agroecosystems

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Agroecology Innovation: Achieving System Resilience".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 May 2026 | Viewed by 1038

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Guangsheng Zhou

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Interests: terrestrial ecosystem carbon cycle; NPP; climate change impact; simulation model
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Jinyang Zheng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor Assistant
Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA
Interests: soil carbon; soil carbon cycle; climate change; biogeochemistry; carbon model; carbon management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Managing agroecosystems sustainably requires understanding how soil organic carbon decomposes while nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients cycle in tandem. Consequently, this Special Issue highlights experimental insights across a range of scales—from enzyme kinetics and microbial carbon use efficiency to field trials and long‑term networks—that reveal mechanisms controlling stabilization, mineral association, and greenhouse gas fluxes. We seek to emphasize interactions among residue quality, mineralogy, moisture and redox dynamics, and plant–microbe–fauna processes within the rhizosphere and deeper horizons. Contributions integrating isotopic tracers, spectroscopic imaging, and multi‑omics with process‑based models are especially welcome. We seek studies that test management strategies such as cover crops, reduced tillage, organic amendments, biochar, precision fertilization, and diversified rotation, quantifying trade‑offs among soil carbon gains, nutrient use efficiency, yields, and environmental outcomes. By synthesizing mechanistic experiments and model–data fusion, the Special Issue aims to define actionable pathways toward climate‑smart, nutrient‑efficient agroecosystems under intensifying climate variability. We also invite cross-site syntheses to benchmark indicators and protocols.

Prof. Dr. Guangsheng Zhou
Guest Editor

Dr. Jinyang Zheng
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • soil carbon decomposition
  • biogeochemistry
  • sustainable managements

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 2183 KB  
Article
National-Scale Soil Organic Carbon Change in China’s Paddy Fields: Drivers, Spatial Patterns, and a New Long-Term Estimate (1980–2018)
by Jianfei Sun, Xiaoting Jie, Sujuan Chen, Peiyu Zhang, Jibing Zhang, Yunpeng Li, Li Xiong, Cheng Liu, Yanqiu Huang, Mei Chen, Longjiang Zhang and Yuan Zeng
Agronomy 2025, 15(12), 2901; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15122901 - 17 Dec 2025
Viewed by 783
Abstract
Robust, national-scale quantification of soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics in China’s paddy fields has been hindered by widely divergent estimates and a lack of comprehensive driver attribution. To address this, we developed a new empirical model from a comprehensive database of 746 long-term [...] Read more.
Robust, national-scale quantification of soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics in China’s paddy fields has been hindered by widely divergent estimates and a lack of comprehensive driver attribution. To address this, we developed a new empirical model from a comprehensive database of 746 long-term field observations (125 sites) to identify predominant drivers and quantify national-scale SOC stock dynamics from 1980 to 2018. The model explained 43% of the variance in topsoil SOC change. Organic matter input was the dominant driver (21.83% variance), with livestock manure demonstrating the highest C sequestration efficiency, followed by green manure and straw. Soil pH, latitude (as a climate proxy), and initial SOC content were also critical controllers. We estimate that China’s paddy topsoils (0–20 cm) acted as a significant C sink from 1980 to 2018, accumulating 242.51 ± 85.80 Tg C (an average rate of 6.65 Tg C yr−1), bringing the 2018 national stock to 1220.48 ± 85.80 Tg C. Spatially, sequestration was highest in central (e.g., Hunan) and northeastern (e.g., Heilongjiang) China, while Chongqing experienced a net SOC loss. Crucially, our study provides a new long-term benchmark that reconciles previous, higher estimates from shorter timeframes, empirically demonstrating that sequestration rates are non-linear and diminish over time. These findings confirm that the C sequestration potential of paddy soils, while substantial, is finite and requires spatially targeted management of organic inputs and soil pH to maintain. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Carbon Decomposition and Management: Experimental Insights for Sustainable Agroecosystems)
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