Switchgrass cropping systems affect soil carbon and nitrogen and microbial diversity and activity on marginal lands

0559209 - MBÚ 2023 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Li, X. - Petipas, R. H. - Antoch, A. A. - Liu, Y. - Stel, H. - Bell-Dereske, Lukas Patrick - Smercina, D. N. - Bekkering, C. - Evans, S. E. - Tiemann, L. K. - Friesen, M. L.
Switchgrass cropping systems affect soil carbon and nitrogen and microbial diversity and activity on marginal lands.
Global Change Biology Bioenergy. Roč. 14, č. 8 (2022), s. 918-940. ISSN 1757-1693. E-ISSN 1757-1707
Institutional support: RVO:61388971
Keywords : bioenergy * enzyme activity * microbial richness and diversity * N fertilization * soil fertility * switchgrass
OECD category: Microbiology
Impact factor: 5.6, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Open access
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcbb.12949

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), as a dedicated bioenergy crop, can provide cellulosic feedstock for biofuel production while improving or maintaining soil quality. However, comprehensive evaluations of how switchgrass cultivation and nitrogen (N) management impact soil and plant parameters remain incomplete. We conducted field trials in three years (2016-2018) at six locations in the North Central Great Lakes Region to evaluate the effects of cropping systems (switchgrass, restored prairie, undisturbed control) and N rates (0, 56 kg N ha(-1) year(-1)) on biomass yield and soil physicochemical, microbial, and enzymatic parameters. Switchgrass cropping system yielded an aboveground biomass 2.9-3.3 times higher than the other two systems (Jayawardena et al., unpublished data) but our study found that this biomass accumulation did not reduce soil dissolved organic C, total dissolved N (TDN), or bacterial diversity. The annual aboveground biomass removal for bioenergy feedstock, however, reduced soil microbial biomass C (MBC) and microbial biomass N (MBN) and bacterial richness in the second and third years, despite this, continuous monocropping of switchgrass improved soil TDN, inorganic N, bacterial diversity, and shoot biomass in the second and/or third years compared with the first year. N fertilization increased aboveground biomass yield by 1.2 times and significantly increased soil TDN, MBN, and the shoot biomass of switchgrass compared with the unfertilized control. Locations with higher C and N contents and lower C:N ratio had higher aboveground biomass, MBC, MBN, and the activity of BG, CBH, and UREA enzymes, by contrast, locations with higher pH had higher soil TDN and activity of NAG and LAP enzymes. Our research demonstrates that switchgrass cultivation could improve or maintain soil N content and N fertilization can increase plant biomass yield.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0333779