Once-Middle Amount of Straw Deep Returning as an Interlayer Improves Soil Quality and Sunflower Yield in Saline Soil: Evidence from a Four-Year Experiment

31 Pages Posted: 9 May 2023

See all articles by Fangdi Chang

Fangdi Chang

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Hongyuan Zhang

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Jiashen Song

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Ru Yu

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Xia Zhang

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Haoruo Li

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Jing Wang

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Zhengrong Kan

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Yuyi Li

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Abstract

Straw deep returning as an interlayer is a novel practice to enhance soil carbon and nutrients. However, the impact of applying various amounts of straw as an interlayer on soil quality still remain unclear in the saline soil. Therefore, a field experiment was carried out over four years (2015-2018) in Hetao Irrigation District, China. The aim was to evaluate the impact of four straw interlayer rates (i.e., 0, 6, 12, and 18 Mg ha-1) applied at 40 cm depth on soil quality index (SQI) and its relationship to sunflower yield in saline soil. Our results showed that, in comparison to no straw interlayer (CK), straw interlayers applied at rates of 6, 12, and 18 Mg ha-1 improved SQI on average by 2.0, 2.7, and 3.0 times in four years, respectively (p < 0.05). This suggested that straw deep returning as an interlayer improved SQI, especially for middle and high amounts (12 and 18 Mg ha-1). Partial least squares path model (PLSPM) illustrated that the improvement of SQI was due to the high-moisture and low-salt environment created by straw interlayer in the early two years (2015-2016), while the higher soil nutrients released from straw decomposition in the subsequent years (2017-2018). The improvement of SQI under straw interlayers contributed to sunflower yield. The sunflower yield was increased by 8.7-13.4% under straw interlayers (p < 0.05), following the order of 18 =12 >6 >0 Mg ha-1. The greater increment of yield was detected during the initial phase of burying straw interlayers, which indicated that straw as an interlayer played a more important role than nutrient supply from straw decomposition. The findings highlighted that appropriate straw return amount (i.e., 12 Mg ha-1) as an interlayer is an economic practice to benefit soil quality and crop yield synchronously in salt-affected soils.

Keywords: straw interlayer, soil quality index, sunflower yield, saline soil

Suggested Citation

Chang, Fangdi and Zhang, Hongyuan and Song, Jiashen and Yu, Ru and Zhang, Xia and Li, Haoruo and Wang, Jing and Kan, Zhengrong and Li, Yuyi, Once-Middle Amount of Straw Deep Returning as an Interlayer Improves Soil Quality and Sunflower Yield in Saline Soil: Evidence from a Four-Year Experiment. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4442953 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4442953

Fangdi Chang

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

No Address Available

Hongyuan Zhang

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

No Address Available

Jiashen Song

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

No Address Available

Ru Yu

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

No Address Available

Xia Zhang

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

No Address Available

Haoruo Li

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

No Address Available

Jing Wang

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

No Address Available

Zhengrong Kan

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

No Address Available

Yuyi Li (Contact Author)

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

No Address Available

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
9
Abstract Views
115
PlumX Metrics