Dynamics of soil organic matter in a cultivation chronosequence of paddy fields were studied in subtropical China.Mineralization of soil organic matter was determined by measuring CO2 evolution from soil during 20 days of laboratoryincubation. In the first 30 years of cultivation, soil organic C and N contents increased rapidly. After 30 years, 0-10 cmsoil contained 19.6 g kg-1 organic C and 1.62 g kg-1 total N, with the corresponding values of 18.1 g kg-1 and 1.50g kg-1 for 10-20 cm, and then remained stable even after 80 years of rice cultivation. During 20 days incubation themineralization rates of organic C and N in surface soil (0-10 cm) ranged from 2.2% to 3.3% and from 2.8% to 6.7%,respectively, of organic C and total N contents. Biologically active C size generally increased with increasing soil organicC and N contents. Soil dissolved organic C decreased after cultivation of wasteland to 10 years paddy field and thenincreased. Soil microbial biomass C increased with number of years under cultivation, while soil microbial biomass Nincreased during the first 30 years of cultivation and then stabilized. After 30 years of cultivation surface soil (0-10 cm)contained 332.8 mg kg-1 of microbial biomass C and 23.85 mg kg-1 of microbial biomass N, which were 111% and 47%higher than those in soil cultivated for 3 years. It was suggested that surface soil with 30 years of rice cultivation insubtropical China would have attained a steady state of organic C content, being about 19 g kg-1.
LI Zhong-PeiZHANG Tao-LinHAN Feng-XiangP. FELIX-HENNINGSEN
A field experiment, involving lime N (calcium cyanamide, CaCN2) fertilization as a control measure, was conducted to study environmental problems induced by long-term heavy N application in Japanese tea fields. Long-term tea cultivation caused serious soil acidification. Seventy-seven percent of the 70 tea fields investigated had soil pH values below 4.0, and 9% below 3.0, with the lowest value of 2.7. Moreover, excess N application in tea fields put a threat to plant growth, induced serious nitrate contamination to local water, and caused high nitrous oxide loss. Compared with the conventional high N application treatment (1100 kg N ha-1) without lime N, the low N application (400 kg N ha-1) with calcium cyanamide effectively stopped soil acidification as well as achieved the same or slightly higher levels in tea yield and in total N and amino acid contents of tea shoots. The application of calcium cyanamide could be a suitable fertilization for the prevention of environmental problems in tea cultivation.
Changes in soil biological and biochemical properties under different land uses in the subtropical region of China were investigated in order to develop rational cultivation and fertilization management. A small watershed of subtropical region of China was selected for this study. Land uses covered paddy fields, vegetable farming, fruit trees, upland crops, bamboo stands, and forestry. Soil biological and biochemical properties included soil organic C and nutrient contents, mineralization of soil organic C, and soil microbial biomass and community functional diversity. Soil organic C and total N contents, microbial biomass C and N, and respiration intensity under different land uses were changed in the following order: paddy fields (and vegetable farming) > bamboo stands > fruit trees (and upland). The top surface (0-15 cm) paddy fields (and vegetable farming) were 76.4 and 80.8% higher in soil organic C and total N contents than fruit trees (and upland) soils, respectively. Subsurface paddy soils (15-30 cm) were 59.8 and 67.3% higher in organic C and total N than upland soils, respectively. Soil microbial C, N and respiration intensity in paddy soils (0-15 cm) were 6.36, 3.63 and 3.20 times those in fruit tree (and upland) soils respectively. Soil microbial metabolic quotient was in the order: fruit trees (and upland) > forestry > paddy fields. Metabolic quotient in paddy soils was only 47.7% of that in fruit tree (and upland) soils. Rates of soil organic C mineralization during incubation changed in the order: paddy fields > bamboo stands > fruit trees (and upland) and soil bacteria population: paddy fields > fruit trees (and upland) > forestry. No significant difference was found for fungi and actinomycetes populations. BIOLOG analysis indicated a changing order of paddy fields > fruit trees (and upland) > forestry in values of the average well cell development (AWCD) and functional diversity indexes of microbial community. Results also showed that the conversion from paddy fields to vegetable farming for 5 ye
