Burning crop residues under no-till in semi-arid land, Northern Spain—effects on soil organic matter, aggregation, and earthworm populations
Iñigo Virto A C , Maria José Imaz A , Alberto Enrique A , Willem Hoogmoed B and Paloma Bescansa AA Departamento Ciencias del Medio Natural, E.T.S.I. Agrónomos, Universidad Pública de Navarra, Campus Arrosadia. 31006 Pamplona, Spain.
B Farm Technology Group, Wageningen University, The Netherlands.
C Corresponding author. Present address: Equipe M.O.S. Unité Mixte de Recherche ‘Biogéochimie des Milieux Continentaux’, Bât. EGER. Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon. 78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France. Email: inigo.virto@unavarra.es or ivirto@grignon.inra.fr
Australian Journal of Soil Research 45(6) 414-421 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR07021
Submitted: 6 February 2007 Accepted: 26 July 2007 Published: 20 September 2007
Abstract
Stubble burning has traditionally been used in semi-arid land for pest and weed control, and to remove the excess of crop residues before seeding in no-tillage systems. We compared differences in soil properties in a long-term (10 years) tillage trial on a carbonated soil in semi-arid north-east Spain under no-tillage with stubble returned and stubble burnt, with the conventional tillage system (mouldboard plough, stubble returned) as a reference.
Differences in total soil organic C and C in particulate organic matter, mineralisation potential, soil physical properties (bulk density, penetration resistance, and aggregate size distribution and stability), and earthworm populations were quantified. The effect of stubble burning was absent or insignificant compared with that of tillage in most of the parameters studied. The most significant effect of stubble burning was the change in soil organic matter quality in the topsoil and penetration resistance. No-till plus stubble burning stocked an amount of organic C in the soil similar to no-till without burning, but the particulate organic matter content and mineralisation potential were smaller. Earthworm activity was similar under the 2 no-till systems, although a trend towards bigger earthworms with increasing penetration resistance was observed under the system with burning.
Our results indicate that the role of burnt plant residues and earthworms in organic matter accumulation and soil aggregation in Mediterranean carbonated soils under no tillage is of major importance, meriting further attention and research.
Additional keywords: conservation tillage, stubble burning, aggregate stability, Mediterranean soils.
Acknowledgments
The support of the Gobierno de Navarra and of the Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria INIA, Spanish Agency (Project no. SC98-020-C4-3) is acknowledged as well as the technical assistance of J. J. Perez de Ciriza and the staff of the Instituto Técnico y de Gestión Agrícola-ITGA. We are grateful to Prof. M. J. Briones (Universidade de Vigo, Spain) for her assistance and suggestions on earthworm sampling and handling, and O. Fernandez and I. del Río for carbonate analyses.
Bescansa P,
Imaz MJ,
Virto I,
Enrique A, Hoogmoed WB
(2006) Soil water retention as affected by tillage and residue management in semiarid Spain. Soil & Tillage Research 87, 19–27.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Cambardella CA, Elliot ET
(1992) Particulate soil organic-matter changes across a grassland cultivation sequence. Soil Science Society of America Journal 56, 777–783.
Carter MR, Mele PM
(1992) Changes in microbial biomass and structural stability at the surface of a duplex soil under direct drilling and stubble retention in north-eastern Victoria. Australian Journal of Soil Research 30, 493–503.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Chan KY, Heenan DP
(1993) Surface hydraulic properties of a red earth under continuous cropping with different management practices. Australian Journal of Soil Research 31, 13–24.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Chan KY, Heenan DP
(2005) The effects of stubble burning and tillage on soil carbon sequestration and crop productivity in southeastern Australia. Soil Use and Management 21, 427–431.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Chan KY,
Heenan DP, Oates A
(2002) Soil carbon fractions and relationship to soil quality under different tillage and stubble management. Soil & Tillage Research 63, 133–139.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Chan KY,
Heenan DP, So HB
(2003) Sequestration of carbon and changes in soil quality under conservation tillage on light-textured soils in Australia: a review. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 43, 325–334.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Conway KE
(1996) An overview of the influence of sustainable agricultural systems on plant diseases. Crop Protection 15, 223–228.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Haines PJ, Uren NC
(1990) Effects of conservation tillage farming on soil microbial biomass, organic matter and earthworm populations, in north-eastern Victoria. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 30, 365–371.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Heenan DP,
McGhie WJ,
Thomson FM, Chan KY
(1995) Decline in soil organic carbon and total nitrogen in relation to tillage, stubble management, and rotation. Australian Journal of Experimental Research 35, 877–884.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Ismail I,
Blevins RL, Frye WW
(1994) Long-term no-tillage effects on soil properties and continuous corn yields. Soil Science Society of America Journal 58, 193–198.
Lopez MV,
Arrue JL,
Alvaro-Fuentes J, Moret D
(2005) Dynamics of surface barley residues during fallow as affected by tillage and decomposition in semiarid Aragon (NE Spain). European Journal of Agronomy 23, 26–36.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Marriott E, Wander MM
(2006) Total and labile soil organic matter in organic and conventional farming systems. Soil Science Society of America Journal 70, 950–959.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Masiello CA
(2004) New directions in black carbon organic geochemistry. Marine Chemistry 92, 201–213.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Mele PM, Carter MR
(1999) Impact of crop management factors in conservation tillage farming on earthworm density, age structure and species abundance in south-eastern Australia. Soil & Tillage Research 50, 1–10.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Muneer M, Oades JM
(1989) The role of Ca-organic interactions in soil aggregate stability. III. Mechanisms and models. Australian Journal of Soil Research 27, 411–423.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Powlson DS,
Brookes PC, Christensen BT
(1987) Measurement of soil microbial biomass provides an early indication of changes in total soil organic matter due to straw incorporation. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 19, 159–164.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Pulleman MM,
Six J,
Uyl A,
Marinissen JCY, Jongmans AG
(2005) Earthworms and management affect organic matter incorporation and microaggregate formation in agricultural soils. Applied Soil Ecology 29, 1–15.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Rasmussen PE
(1995) Effects of fertilizer and stubble burning on downy brome competition in winter-wheat. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis 26, 951–960.
Rasmussen PE,
Allmaras RR,
Rohde CR, Roager NC
(1980) Crop residue influences on soil carbon and nitrogen in a wheat–fallow system. Soil Science Society of America Journal 44, 596–600.
Rasmussen PE, Collins CH
(1991) Long-term impacts of tillage, fertilizer, and crop residue on soil organic matter in temperate semiarid regions. Advances in Agronomy 45, 93–134.
Rasse DP,
Rumpel C, Dignac MF
(2005) Is soil carbon mostly soil carbon? Mechanisms for a specific stabilisation. Plant and Soil 269, 341–356.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Rovira AD,
Smettem KRJ, Lee KE
(1987) Effects of rotation and conservation tillage on earthworms in a red-brown earth under wheat. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 38, 829–834.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Rumpel C,
Alexis M,
Chabbi A,
Chaplot V,
Rasse DP,
Valentin C, Mariotti A
(2006) Black carbon contribution to soil organic matter composition in tropical sloping land under slash and burn agriculture. Geoderma 130, 35–46.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Six J,
Bossuyt H,
Degryze S, Denef K
(2004) A history of research on the link between (micro)aggregates, soil biota and soil organic matter dynamics. Soil & Tillage Research 79, 7–31.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Six J,
Elliott ET, Paustian K
(1999) Aggregate and soil organic matter dynamics under conventional and no-tillage systems. Soil Science Society of America Journal 63, 1350–1358.
Skjemstad JO,
Reicosky DC,
Wilts AR, McGowan JA
(2002) Charcoal carbon in U.S. agricultural soils. Soil Science Society of America Journal 66, 1249–1255.
Skjemstad JO,
Swift RS, McGowan JA
(2006) Comparison of the particulate organic carbon and permanganate oxidation methods for estimating labile soil organic carbon. Australian Journal of Soil Research 44, 255–263.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Tebrügge F, Düring RA
(1999) Reducing tillage intensity: a review of results from a long-term study in Germany. Soil & Tillage Research 53, 15–28.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Valzano FP,
Greene RSB, Murphy BW
(1997) Direct effects of stubble burning on soil hydraulic and physical properties in a direct drill tillage system. Soil & Tillage Research 42, 209–219.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Zhang GS,
Chan KY,
Oates A,
Heenan DP, Huang GB
(2007) Relationship between soil structure and runoff/soil loss after 24 years of conservation tillage. Soil & Tillage Research 92, 122–128.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
