Effects of land management practices on labile organic carbon fractions in rice cultivation

A research trial with four land management practices, i.e., traditional tillage-fallow (TTF), traditional tillage-wheat (TTW), conservation tillage-fallow (CTF) and conservation tillage-wheat (CTW), was sampled in the 15th year after its establishment to assess the effects of different management practices on labile organic carbon fractions (LOCFs), such as easily oxidizable organic carbon (EOC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), particulate organic carbon (POC) and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) in a typical paddy soil, Chongqing, Southwest China. The results indicated that LOCFs were significantly influenced by the combination of no-tillage, ridge culture and crop rotation. And, different combination patterns showed different effectiveness on soil LOCFs. The effects of no-tillage, ridge culture and wheat cultivation on EOC, DOC, POC and MBC mainly happened at 0–10cm. At this depth, soil under CTW had higher EOC, DOC, POC and MBC contents, compared to TTF, TTW and CTF, respectively. Moreover, the contents of LOCFs for different practices generally decreased when the soil depth increased. Our findings suggest that the paddy soil in Southwest China could be managed to concentrate greater quantities of EOC, DOC, POC and MBC. Foundation item: Under the auspices of Key Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40231016)