Soil Biology & Biochemistry最新文献

{"title":"Let’s get functional: relationship between earthworm traits and physicochemical cast properties","authors":"Yacouba ZI, Nicolas BOTTINELLI, Malalatiana RAZAFINDRAKOTO, Yvan CAPOWIEZ, Alessandro FLORIO, Chao SONG, Cornelia RUMPEL, D.I.G.N.A.C. Marie-France","doi":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109809","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109809","url":null,"abstract":"Although earthworms play a crucial role in soil biogeochemical processes, the importance of their traits in shaping the physicochemical properties of their casts remain poorly understood. This study aimed (1) to evaluate the influence of earthworm species and soil types on cast properties and (2) investigate the relationship between earthworm morphological, anatomical, physiological and behavioral traits and the physicochemical properties of their casts. Nine temperate earthworm species were studied under controlled conditions in two contrasting soil types (Luvisol and Cambisol), and 21 traits were determined for each species. Casts were analyzed for their physicochemical properties, total and available organic carbon and nitrogen, and compared to control soil incubated under similar conditions without earthworms. Results showed that earthworm activity modulated soil pH depending on soil type, increasing pH in Cambisol while decreasing pH in Luvisol. Species-specific effects on cast properties revealed a physicochemical gradient: <em>L. castaneus</em> and <em>L. terrestris</em> produced casts with the highest nitrate, dissolved organic carbon, total organic carbon, and moisture levels, whereas endogeic species had the lowest values. Moreover, earthworm species exerted a stronger overall influence on cast properties than soil type (59% vs. 24%), underscoring the dominant role of species-specific traits in shaping cast characteristics. We identified nine key traits related to the earthworm’s morphology, anatomy, physiology and behavior, that influenced cast properties directly or indirectly. Direct effect traits included mouth area, gizzard size and location, typhlosole complexity, intestinal mucus and cast production. Indirect effect traits, such as pigmentation, litter ingestion and litter-to-cast ratio, reflected the ecological behavior of earthworm species. This trait-based approach provides a promising avenue to future studies of the role of earthworms in soil biogeochemical cycling and a framework for advancing our understanding of their impact on soil organic matter dynamics.","PeriodicalId":21888,"journal":{"name":"Soil Biology & Biochemistry","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143775932","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Validation of the traditional calorespirometric procedure using external respirometry to quantify the calorespirometric ratio of soil microbial metabolism.","authors":"Verónica Piñeiro, Yago Lestido-Cardama, César Pérez-Cruzado, Nieves Barros","doi":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109812","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109812","url":null,"abstract":"The calorespirometric ratio is a metabolic indicator that can be useful in soil science for understanding thermodynamics and the carbon use efficiency of soil microbial metabolism. Calculating calorespirometric ratios for soil microbial metabolism involves the development of calorespirometric procedures using calorimeters of the heat conduction type. The calorespirometric measurements for soil microbial metabolism are recent and their calculation requires sensitive calorimeters and accurate measurements. Their interpretation for soils has been developing during the last years, but accuracy of the methods involved in their calculation are still under question. This paper analyses the precision of the traditional calorespirometric method to yield these calorespirometric ratios by comparison with analysis of respiration measured in parallel using chromatography. Results indicated that the CO₂ data obtained by chromatography and calorespirometry are significantly correlated with each other and with the heat rate of the soil microbial metabolism. The comparison of the CO₂ data from both methods by the paired sample Wilcoxon signed rank test yielded no statistically significant differences. Nevertheless, small changes in the CO₂ determinations, due to the method of measurement or to the reproducibility of these indices in the soil replicates, affected the experimental quantitative values of the calorespirometric ratios. Differences in the quantitative values were large enough in some of the samples to yield distinct interpretations of the results.","PeriodicalId":21888,"journal":{"name":"Soil Biology & Biochemistry","volume":"73 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143776160","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Decoupling of heat and CO2 release during decomposition of cellulose and its building blocks in soil","authors":"Fatemeh Dehghani, Thomas Reitz, Steffen Schlüter, Matthias Kästner, Evgenia Blagodatskaya","doi":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109801","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109801","url":null,"abstract":"The degradation of large biopolymers, such as cellulose, in soil requires several enzymatic hydrolysis steps to produce simpler substrates for microbial uptake. The synthesis of these enzymes requires energy and takes time until they are fully expressed. However, the heat release associated with enzymatic hydrolysis and the temporal delay between this initial heat release and the final carbon mineralization to CO₂ is largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the dynamics of heat and CO₂ release during the sequential decomposition of cellulose to its building blocks, cellobiose and glucose, in soil and related these processes to activities of cellobiohydrolase and β-glucosidase driving the corresponding steps of cellulose decomposition. Moreover, we estimated catabolic heat release during the stepwise enzymatic production of oligo- and monomers in soil by employing fluorogenically labeled substrates. This amounted to the absolute value of 26.5 kJ mol C^-1, approximately 6.5% of the total combustion enthalpy stored in the applied cellulose.By three complementary approaches, we confirmed that cellobiohydrolase rather than ß-glucosidase is the bottleneck step of enzymatic hydrolysis. First, a 36 h temporal decoupling between the heat and CO₂ formation peaks occurred during step-wise enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose performed by cellobiohydrolase and ß-glucosidase towards final mineralization. This decoupling was not observed in the next sequential step of cellobiose hydrolysis by ß-glucosidase. Remarkably, heat and CO₂ release evolved more slowly during cellulose degradation compared to that of its building blocks, cellobiose and glucose. Second, the enzyme activity of ß-glucosidase more than doubled that of cellobiohydrolase during cellulose degradation. Third, heat release after the addition of flurogenically labeled substrate to soil, which mimics the steps of cellulose degradation, was faster in the step of glucose production than that of cellobiose production. This study highlights the novel mechanistic insights facilitated by calorespiroemetric monitoring of carbon decomposition at high temporal resolution.","PeriodicalId":21888,"journal":{"name":"Soil Biology & Biochemistry","volume":"216 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143758410","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Elevated temperature promotes methane-dependent arsenate reduction in paddy soils","authors":"Yujie Zhou, Zhaofeng Yuan, Ouyuan Jiang, Dan Chen, Williamson Gustave, Jianming Xu, Xianjin Tang","doi":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109800","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109800","url":null,"abstract":"Elevated temperature significantly impacts arsenic (As) bioavailability and speciation in soils. Methane (CH₄)-dependent arsenate reduction (M-AsR), a process in which As(V) reduction coupled with aerobic or anaerobic methane oxidation, has been extensively demonstrated in paddy soils. However, the intricacies of M-AsR under future global warming scenarios remain unclear. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of elevated temperature on M-AsR by conducting incubations with soil inocula and microcosm. Our findings indicated that M-AsR was highly sensitive to elevated temperature. Specifically, the generation rates of ¹³CO₂ and As(III) increased by 72.6% and 36.1%, respectively, when the temperature rose from 28 °C (the average daytime temperature in the rice-growing regions) to 33 °C (the future temperature condition). Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis revealed a positive correlation between temperature and the abundance of the <em>arrA</em> gene, the <em>pmoA2</em> gene and the ANME-<em>mcrA</em> gene. Additionally, microbial community composition at 33 °C differed markedly from 28 °C. It was characterized by a greater relative abundance of type II methanotrophs (e.g., <em>Beijerinckiaceae</em>) and anaerobic methanotrophic archaea (e.g., <em>Methanosarcinaceae</em>), and by a decrease in type I methanotrophs (e.g., <em>Methylomonaceae</em>). Overall, our results highlight the importance of temperature in regulating M-AsR in paddy soils. Elevated temperature has the potential to significantly enhance the M-AsR pathway by changing the abundance of functional microorganisms and reshaping the microbial community. Nevertheless, a detailed and comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms of how elevated temperature promoted the M-AsR in paddy soils requires further investigation.","PeriodicalId":21888,"journal":{"name":"Soil Biology & Biochemistry","volume":"183 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143745151","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Root Exudate Lipids: Uncovering Chemodiversity and Carbon Stability Potential","authors":"Sneha P. Couvillion, Isabella H. Yang, Dylan Hermosillo, Damon Leach, Josie Eder, Sheryl Bell, Kirsten S. Hofmockel","doi":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109799","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109799","url":null,"abstract":"Root-derived carbon has been shown to contribute more to soil carbon stocks than aboveground litter. Yet the molecular chemodiversity of root exudates remains poorly understood due to limited characterization and annotation. In this study, we characterized the molecular chemodiversity and production of metabolites and lipids in root exudates from field grown mature tall wheatgrass (<em>Thinopyrum ponticum</em>). We discovered a diversity of lipids, including substantial levels of triacylglycerols (∼19 μg/g fresh root per min), fatty acyls, sphingolipids, sterol lipids, and glycerophospholipids, some of which have not been previously documented in root exudates. By integrating tandem mass spectral library searching and deep learning-based chemical class assignment, our metabo-lipidomics approach significantly expanded the known molecular diversity of root exudates. Rates of lipid derived carbon production were approximately double that of polar metabolites (lipids: 81.52 ± 13.81 vs polar metabolites: 38.41 ± 5.93 μg C g^-1 fresh root mass min^-1) with an order of magnitude higher carbon to nitrogen ratios (lipids: 459 ± 90 vs polar metabolites: 14.40 ± 0.58). Exudate lipids displayed highly negative nominal oxidation state of carbon (-1.182 to -1.909), indicating that these compounds may be less favorable for microbial decomposition. Together our results suggest the potential of root exudate lipids to contribute to stable carbon pools in soil, supporting long-term carbon storage. This work advances understanding of plant-derived lipid inputs to soil and underscores the need for future studies on the functional roles of lipids in shaping root-microbe-soil interactions, microbial activity, soil structure, and nutrient availability – contributing to soil health.","PeriodicalId":21888,"journal":{"name":"Soil Biology & Biochemistry","volume":"49 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143745231","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The spatial distribution of soil microbial necromass affects nutrient mobilization and beech nutrition on silicate and calcareous forest soils","authors":"Sebastian Loeppmann ,&nbsp;Marius Schmitt ,&nbsp;Klaus Jarosch ,&nbsp;Michaela A. Dippold ,&nbsp;Sandra Spielvogel","doi":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109798","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109798","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Only a little information is available about how the spatial heterogeneity (homogenous vs. patchy distribution) of microbial necromass affects microbial and plant phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) nutrition in the rhizosphere of forest soils. Therefore, a rhizotron experiment using soil from two silicate and one calcareous forest site of contrasting nutrient scarcity and P forms was conducted to investigate N and P uptake strategies of microbes and <em>Fagus sylvatica [L.]</em> roots depending on (i) site-specific physico-chemical properties and (ii) availability of ³³P and ¹⁵N-labeled microbial necromass. The microbial necromass ³³P uptake into soil microbial biomass and beech leaves decreased with increasing heterogeneity of necromass. This indicates an improved mobilization of P with a homogeneous necromass distribution especially for P-deficient silicate and calcareous soil. This was in line with increasing effect sizes of alkaline phosphatase activity with rising heterogeneity of microbial necromass. Moreover, we demonstrate site-specific N and P mobilization patterns. Up to 2-fold higher enrichment of residue-derived ¹⁵N in leaves and stems for the calcareous than for the silicate soils which reflected a faster mobilization, farther transportation, and greater distribution of ¹⁵N into the above-ground biomass, indicating an enhanced beech N nutrition. The different mechanisms governing small-scale necromass N and P distribution are affecting nutrient acquisition strategies of plants and of soil microorganisms in temperate forest ecosystems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":21888,"journal":{"name":"Soil Biology & Biochemistry","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 109798"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143713605","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Soil health assessment of urban forests in Nanchang, China: Establishing a minimum data set model","authors":"Fei Huang ,&nbsp;Jiamei Tu ,&nbsp;Foyi Zhang ,&nbsp;Jingwang Ran ,&nbsp;Yi Wang ,&nbsp;Wei Liu ,&nbsp;Wenxuan Chen ,&nbsp;Xinyao Wang ,&nbsp;Qiong Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109795","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109795","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil health plays an important role in environmental and ecosystem sustainability. Urban forest soil health has been gradually deteriorating, resulting in several challenges. Here, a soil health index was employed to explore the soil health conditions and spatial differences in urban forests. We assessed soil health in urban forests in Nanchang, China, by establishing a minimum data set model using 20 soil indicators. The results suggested that the minimum data set included soil organic carbon, clay, pH, soil moisture content, nitrate nitrogen, and mean weight diameter, which could be key indicators for assessing soil health conditions. The average of the soil health index-total data set was 0.45 and that of the soil health index-minimum data set was 0.49, both representing grade III moderate health. Soil health index-minimum data set was positively correlated with soil health index-total data set (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.001), with an R² of 0.77, which suggests that the minimum data set can closely reflect the total data set. In different urban forest types, the average soil health index value represented a grade III moderate health level, among which the soil health index value in landscape forest was remarkably higher (0.51) than that in the other forest types (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.05). With increasing urbanization intensity, the soil health index decreased significantly (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.05), indicating that soil health differed across the components of urban expansion. Our findings, along with further analysis and assessment of urban forest soil health index, can help establish a theoretical basis for soil management in the mid-reaches of the Yangtze River and provide references for managing the adverse effects of urbanization on soil health.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":21888,"journal":{"name":"Soil Biology & Biochemistry","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 109795"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143695572","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Global climate changes decoupled soil nitrogen mineralization and immobilization","authors":"Wenxuan Jiang ,&nbsp;Siwen Du ,&nbsp;Ahmed S. Elrys ,&nbsp;Jinbo Zhang ,&nbsp;Zucong Cai ,&nbsp;Yi Zhang ,&nbsp;Christoph Müller","doi":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109794","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109794","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Global change factors (GCFs), including elevated CO₂ (eCO₂), warming, increased precipitation (eP), drought, and nitrogen (N) deposition, and their combination have profoundly affected soil N cycling. Despite extensive research, critical gaps remain in understanding GCF effects on soil N mineralization-immobilization turnover (MIT), particularly the individual and interactive effects of GCFs on gross mineralization (GM), immobilization (GI), ammonium immobilization (GIA), and nitrate immobilization (GIN) rates. We conducted a meta-analysis using 631 paired field observations to evaluate the responses of GM, GI, GIA, and GIN to individual and combined GCFs. The results showed that among the examined individual and combined GCFs, 75 % had positive effects on GM, 12.5 % were neutral, and 12.5 % were negative. In contrast, none of the examined GCFs had positive impact on GI, with 50 % showing no effect, and 50 % displaying negative effect. The overall effect of individual GCFs on GM was significantly positive (effect size: 0.312), while their effect on GI was negative (−0.211). Combined GCFs had a significantly positive effect on GM (0.224) but negative effect on GI (−0.756). These findings demonstrate, for the first time, that GCFs may widen the difference between GM and GI, potentially increasing soil available N production. Furthermore, the responses of GI to GCFs showed less sensitivity than that of GM to variations in ecosystems, soil horizons, and climatic zones, likely due to the opposite responses of GIA and GIN to GCFs. Soil properties (e.g., pH and total C) emerged as the primary drivers of GM and GI responses to GCFs, and GCFs duration was also underscored to improve the prediction of soil N cycling under concurrent GCFs. By addressing the research gap in soil N MIT dynamics, our findings enhance the understanding of soil N availability and its implications for ecosystem functioning under future climates.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":21888,"journal":{"name":"Soil Biology & Biochemistry","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 109794"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143695676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spatial dynamics of phosphorus mobilization by mycorrhiza","authors":"Yi-Wen Liu ,&nbsp;Dong-Xing Guan ,&nbsp;Li-Xue Qiu ,&nbsp;Yu Luo ,&nbsp;Fei Liu ,&nbsp;H. Henry Teng ,&nbsp;Yakov Kuzyakov ,&nbsp;Lena Q. Ma","doi":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109797","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109797","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) is a crucial strategy for plants to overcome phosphorus (P) deficiency, which is common in soils worldwide. This study explored the role of AMF in P mobilization using a maize-AMF symbiosis model under two levels of P availability in soil: 5.9 mg P kg⁻¹ and 19 mg P kg⁻¹. A newly developed three-compartment rhizobox was used to combine soil zymography with high-resolution diffusive gradients in thin-films (DGT) imaging, revealing P mobilization within the mycorrhizosphere through intensive soil-hyphae-root interactions. The AMF inoculation increased maize growth at both P levels, and was more pronounced at 19 mg P kg⁻¹, including a 10 % increase in plant biomass and a 24 % increase in P content. AMF hyphae penetrated a nylon mesh barrier, facilitating P uptake from a compartment inaccessible to roots, thereby underscoring the critical role of AMF in raising plant P acquisition, particularly under P limitation. Soil zymography revealed increased acid phosphatase activity in the AMF-inoculated mycorrhizosphere compared to non-inoculated soil, coinciding with P-depletion microzones around the roots (as shown by DGT imaging). AMF inoculation expanded the hotspot area of acid phosphatase activity by 77 % compared to the control soil without AMF. This enzymatic boost of P mobilization and expansion in root system architecture increased root P uptake, alleviating plant P deficiency. In conclusion, the raise of the soil volume for P mobilization through AMF-plant symbiosis present potential strategy to increase P use efficiency in agricultural systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":21888,"journal":{"name":"Soil Biology & Biochemistry","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 109797"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143677899","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Green manure improves humification and aggregate stability in paddy soils","authors":"Sihyun Park ,&nbsp;Jeong-Gu Lee","doi":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109796","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109796","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil organic matter (SOM) is essential for soil health and carbon (C) sequestration, offering benefits in mitigating global warming. Anaerobic conditions in rice paddies alter carbon dynamics by slowing decomposition rates, with the stability of carbon depending on its form, whether labile or recalcitrant. This study aimed to evaluate whether incorporating green manure could enhance soil C quality and stability compared to conventional practice. Green manure (GM) was supplied using a winter cover crop mixture of barley and hairy vetch, while the conventional practice involved the application of only NPK fertilizer. Although GM treatment led to elevated CO₂ and CH₄ emissions compared to NPK, it significantly improved soil physical properties, as indicated by a 21.9% increase in mean weight diameter (MWD). The incorporation of organic matter through GM in rice paddies significantly improved soil physical properties, enhancing aggregation formation and stability by 21.9 % as measured by mean weight diameter (MWD) compared to conventional NPK fertilizer. In addition, GM increased the concentration of C in the aggregate and raised the high-temperature reactive C level under 0.25 mm aggregate size. Notably, both the quantity and C content of humic acids were higher in GM-treated soils, contributing to greater carbon accrual and improved soil organic matter stability. These findings show that adopting GM-based organic matter strategies can enhance soil structure, bolster carbon stability, and improve soil quality in paddy fields, ultimately supporting sustainable agriculture.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":21888,"journal":{"name":"Soil Biology & Biochemistry","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 109796"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143677900","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}