Responses of soil properties and crop yields to different inorganic and organic amendments in a Swiss conventional farming system

In agro-ecosystems, fertilization practices are crucial for sustaining crop productivity. Here, based on a 50-year long-term experiment, we studied the influence of fertilization practices (inorganic and/or organic) and nitrogen (N) application rates on (i) soil physicochemical properties, (ii) microbial and earthworm communities and (iii) crop production. Our results showed that soil organic carbon content was increased by incorporation of crop residues (+2.45%) and farmyard manure application (+6.40%) in comparison to the use of mineral fertilizer alone. In contrast, soil carbon stock was not significantly affected by these fertilization practices. Overall, only farmyard manure application improved soil physicochemical properties compared to mineral fertilization alone. Soil microbial population was enhanced by the application of organic amendments as indicated by microbial biomass and phospholipid-derived fatty acids contents. The fertilization practices and the N application rates affected significantly both the biomass and composition of earthworm populations, especially the epigeic and endogeic species. Finally, farmyard manure application significantly increased crop yield (+3.5%) in comparison to mineral fertilization alone. Crop residue incorporation rendered variable but similar crop yields over the 50-year period. The results of this long-term experiment indicate that the use of organic amendments not only reduces the need for higher amount of mineral N fertilizer but also improves the soil biological properties with direct effects on crop yield. (C) 2016 Agroscope. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Sensitivity and resistance of soil fertility indicators to land-use changes: New concept and examples from conversion of Indonesian rainforest to plantations

Thomas Guillaume

Tropical forest conversion to agricultural land leads to a strong decrease of soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks. While the decrease of the soil C sequestration function is easy to measure, the impacts of SOC losses on soil fertility remain unclear. Especially the assessment of the sensitivity of other fertility indicators as related to ecosystem services suffers from a lack of clear methodology. We developed a new approach to assess the sensitivity of soil fertility indicators and tested it on biological and chemical soil properties affected by rainforest conversion to plantations. The approach is based on (non-)linear regressions between SOC losses and fertility indicators normalized to their level in a natural ecosystem. Biotic indicators (basal respiration, microbial biomass, acid phosphatase), labile SOC pools (dissolved organic carbon and light fraction) and nutrients (total N and available P) were measured in Ah horizons from rainforests, jungle rubber, rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) and oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) plantations located on Sumatra. The negative impact of land-use changes on all measured indicators increased in the following sequence: forest < jungle rubber < rubber < oil palm. The basal respiration, microbial biomass and nutrients were resistant to SOC losses, whereas the light fraction was lost stronger than SOC. Microbial C use efficiency was independent on land use. The resistance of C availability for microorganisms to SOC losses suggests that a decrease of SOC quality was partly compensated by litter input and a relative enrichment by nutrients. However, the relationship between the basal respiration and SOC was non-linear; i.e. negative impact on microbial activity strongly increased with SOC losses. Therefore, a small decrease of C content under oil palm compared to rubber plantations yielded a strong drop in microbial activity. Consequently, management practices mitigating SOC losses in oil palm plantations would strongly increase soil fertility and ecosystem stability. We conclude that the new approach enables quantitatively assessing the sensitivity and resistance of diverse soil functions to land-use changes and can thus be used to assess resilience of agroecosystems with various use intensities. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Elsevier Science Bv2016

Land-use change affects phosphorus fractions in highly weathered tropical soils

Thomas Guillaume

Deforestation and land-use change in tropics have increased over the past decades, driven by the demand for agricultural products. Although phosphorus (P) is one of the main limiting nutrients for agricultural productivity in the tropics, the effect of land-use change on P availability remains unclear. The objective was to assess the impacts of land-use change on soil inorganic and organic P fractions of different availability (Hedley sequential fractionation) and on P stocks in highly weathered tropical soils. We compared the P availability under extensive land-use (rubber agroforest) and intensive land-use with moderate fertilization (rubber monoculture plantations) or high fertilization (oil palm monoculture plantations) in Indonesia. The P stock was dominated by inorganic forms (60 to 85%) in all land-use types. Fertilizer application increased easily-available inorganic P (i.e., H2O-Pi, NaHCO3-Pi) in intensive rubber and oil palm plantations compared to rubber agroforest However, the easily-available organic P (NaHCO3-extractable Po) was reduced by half under oil palm and rubber. The decrease of moderately available and non-available P in monoculture plantation means that fertilization maintains only the short-term soil fertility that is not sustainable in the long run due to the depletion of P reserves. The mechanisms of this P reserve depletion are: 1) soil erosion (here assessed by C/P ratio), 2) mineralization of soil organic matter (SOM) and 3) P export with yield products. Easily-available P fractions (i.e., H2O-Pi, NaHCO3-Pi and Po) and total organic P were strongly positively correlated with carbon content, suggesting that SOM plays a key role in maintaining P availability. Ecologically based management is therefore necessary to mitigate SOM losses and thus increase the sustainability of agricultural production in P-limited, highly weathered tropical soils. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Elsevier Science Bv2017

Drivers of soil carbon stabilization in oil palm plantations

Alexandre Buttler, Thomas Guillaume, Juan Carlos Quezada Rivera, Johanna Katharina Rüegg, Mathieu Raymond Santonja

Increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) in agroecosystems is necessary to mitigate climate change and soil degradation. Management practices designed to reach this goal call for a deeper understanding of the processes and drivers of soil carbon input stabilization. We identified main drivers of SOC stabilization in oil palm plantations using the well-defined spatial patterns of nutrients and litter application resulting from the usual management scheme. The stabilization of oil palm-derived SOC (OP-SOC) was quantified by delta C-13 from a shift of C4 (savanna) to C3 (oil palm) vegetations. Soil organic carbon stocks under frond piles were 20% and 22% higher compared with harvest paths and interzones, respectively. Fertilization and frond stacking did not influence the decomposition of savanna-derived SOC. Depending on management zones, net OP-SOC stabilization equalled 16-27% of the fine root biomass accumulated for 9 years. This fraction was similar between frond piles and litter-free interzones, where mineral NPK fertilization is identical, indicating that carbon inputs from dead fronds did not stabilize in SOC. A path analysis confirmed that the OP-SOC distribution was largely explained by the distribution of oil palm fine roots, which itself depended on management practices. SOC mineralization was proportional to SOC content and was independent on phosphorus availability. We conclude that SOC stabilization was driven by C inputs from fine roots and was independent of alteration of SOC mineralization due to management. Practices favouring root growth of oil palms would increase carbon sequestration in soils without necessarily relying on the limited supply of organic residues.

WILEY2019

Sensitivity and resistance of soil fertility indicators to land-use changes: New concept and examples from conversion of Indonesian rainforest to plantations

Thomas Guillaume

Elsevier Science Bv2016

Land-use change affects phosphorus fractions in highly weathered tropical soils

Thomas Guillaume

Elsevier Science Bv2017