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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2025, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (9): 53-64.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2024415

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Soil carbon mineralization in an orchard with and without interplanted ground cover species and its temperature sensitivity under long-term conditions

Jun-ling CHEN2,3(), Sha-sha WANG2,3, Jing YE1,3, Yi LIN1,3, Yi-xiang WANG1,3()   

  1. 1.Institute of Resources,Environment and Soil Fertilizer,Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences,Fuzhou 350013,China
    2.College of Resources and Environment,Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University,Fuzhou 350002,China
    3.Fujian Province Key Laboratory of Agro-Ecological Processes in Hilly Red Soil,Fuzhou 350003,China
  • Received:2024-10-22 Revised:2024-12-16 Online:2025-09-20 Published:2025-07-02
  • Contact: Yi-xiang WANG

Abstract:

Establishing ground cover is an eco-friendly orchard management method, but it is still poorly understood how different types of cover affect soil carbon mineralization and its temperature sensitivity. Based on a 28-year long-term monitoring experiment in Yuchi Village, Youxi County, Fujian Province, we investigated the changes in the soil mineralization rate and its temperature sensitivity in orchards with three different ground cover management strategies; clear tillage, and orchard interplanting with the legumes round-leaf cassia (Chamaecrista rotundifolia) or Arachis pintoi. The overall aim of this work was to provide a theoretical basis for reducing emissions of carbon sequestered in soil and for the scientific management of orchards in subtropical regions under climate change. The results showed that, compared with clear tillage, the interplanting treatments led to increased soil organic carbon content (SOC) (by 19.20%-30.04%) after 28 years. Across both interplanting modes, the cumulative mineralization of SOC was positively correlated with the incubation time and temperature. At 35 ℃, the highest cumulative mineralization of SOC was in the A. pintoi interplanting treatment (633.41 mg·kg-1), followed by the C. rotundifolia interplanting treatment; their SOC values were 72.75% and 61.27% higher than that of the cleartillage treatment, respectively. The potential mineralization was increased by 2.98 times in the A. pintoi interplanting treatment and by 1.14 times in the C. rotundifolia interplanting treatment, compared with the clear tillage treatment. Under high-temperature conditions (>25 ℃), the soil mineralization temperature sensitivity coefficient (Q10) of the A. pintoi interplanting treatment and the C. rotundifolia interplanting treatment were 35.20% and 47.37% lower, respectively, than that of the clear tillage treatment. In conclusion, long-term ground cover increased the SOC content of soil, and with increasing temperatures (>25 ℃), the temperature sensitivity of SOC mineralization in the soil decreased, and the response of the soil carbon pool to temperature change increased. Among the tested treatments, the A. pintoi interplanting treatment was more beneficial than the C. rotundifolia interplanting treatment.

Key words: orchard grass cover, soil organic carbon, mineralization rate, temperature sensitivity