Long-term effects of crop rotation, manure and mineral fertilisation on carbon sequestration and soil fertility

• Deeper ploughing and cultivation of catch crop brings about a rapid decrease of soil organic matter.
• A high soil organic matter level can be maintained both with manure supply and with a high N fertilization.
• Crop rotation influences the C sequestration in the soil.
• The highest content of C in the soil was obtained with a 9-year rotation, for the presence of 3 years of alfalfa ley, and with a wheat continuous crop, for the higher C/N ratio of its residues.
• The highest soil organic matter content favoured the build up of more stable form of N in the soil.

Carbon sequestration, recently advocated to mitigate climate change, needs a thorough knowledge of the dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC), whose study requires long-term experiments. A field trial started in 1967 is still in progress in the Southeast Po valley (Italy). It compares a 9-year rotation (corn–wheat–corn–wheat–corn–wheat–alfalfa–alfalfa–alfalfa), two 2-year successions (corn–wheat and sugarbeet–wheat), continuous corn and continuous wheat. During the first 18 years (up to 1984) wheat crops were always followed by catch crops of silage corn. Within each rotation, three rates of cattle manure have been factorially combined with three mineral NP rates. In 1984 the highest manure application was stopped. Wheat straw and corn stalks have always been removed from the field. Since 1972 up to now every year we have determined the organic C and total N contents in soil samples collected from 0.40-m depth. During the first 18 years (in the presence of the catch crop) SOC exponentially declined, probably as a consequence of the intensification of tillage depth and crop succession with respect to the previous conventional agriculture. The intensification regarded ploughing, which became deeper, the number of cropped species that in most treatments was reduced, and mineral N application, which, on average, increased. The drop was faster in the sugarbeet–wheat succession than in the 9-yr rotation and continuous wheat. After 1985, without the catch crop, SOC linearly increased, faster in the 9-yr rotation and continuous wheat than in sugarbeet–wheat. The results can be ascribed to the amount and C/N ratio of debris remaining in the field after each crop, even after having taken away wheat straw and corn stalks. The debris consisted of sugarbeet tops, with a low C/N ratio, and of roots and basal culms of the two cereal crops with higher C/N ratio. Mineral fertilizers significantly increased SOC, probably for the greater amount of cereal roots and sugarbeet tops in more fertilized plots. The influence of manure was less intense, but its benefits lasted longer than 18 years after its interruption. Soil N content was more related to accumulated organic matter than to mineral N fertilisation. In conclusion the highest C sequestration was obtained with manure addition, with the highest rate of mineral fertilizers, and in the rotation containing the alfalfa ley. The effects of these factors were not additive.