Soil & Tillage Research最新文献

{"title":"Soil-SAM: Segment anything model for soil pore identification","authors":"Hao Bai ,&nbsp;Qiaoling Han ,&nbsp;Yandong Zhao ,&nbsp;Yue Zhao","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106675","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106675","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>High-precision pore segmentation results are a critical step in exploring soil internal structures. Due to the complex shapes and blurred boundaries of soil pores, existing methods struggle to automatically and accurately segment pores, leading to inaccurate characterization of soil structure. Recently, the large model Segment Anything Model (SAM) has gained wide application in the field of image segmentation due to its exceptional generalization ability. However, no research has yet investigated its performance in soil pore identification. Therefore, this study proposed a soil pore segmentation model (Soil-SAM) to improve soil pore structure identification precision and explore a new research paradigm for customized large models in soil image segmentation. First, Soil-SAM enhances the original SAM image encoder by integrating additional trainable Low-Rank Adaptation (LoRA) layers and multi-scale adapter layers to extract semantic information at different scales, thereby recognizing pores of varying sizes and complex shapes. Then, the model adopts a multi-feature fusion up-sampling module to combine the features of the image encoder with those of the mask decoder, leveraging multi-level semantic features to enhance the segmentation of complex pores. Compared to conventional image processing software and other deep learning methods, the proposed Soil-SAM method achieved superior pore segmentation performance, with the highest accuracy (99.27 %) and harmonic mean (80.25 %), surpassing the second-best method by 6.29 % and 4.84 %, respectively. This study demonstrated that the proposed Soil-SAM model can automatically and accurately identify complex soil pores, laying a foundation for further exploration of soil internal structures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106675"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144134516","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 effect of long-term, extremely high organic fertilization on the composition of soil organic matter","authors":"Jakob Magid ,&nbsp;Gerald Jandl ,&nbsp;Dorette Sophie Müller-Stöver ,&nbsp;Peter Karl Leinweber","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106661","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106661","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil organic matter (SOM) composition is influenced by the input of organic materials. The chemical composition of SOM resulting from the input and turnover of large amounts of manure and waste is insufficiently known to weigh up the risks against the possible benefits. Therefore, we aimed to determine the molecular-chemical composition of SOM in four different treatments of NPK (control), compost, farmyard manure, and sewage sludge from a Danish experimental field by pyrolysis-field ionization mass spectrometry (Py-FIMS) and size/density fractionation. The amounts were applied over 17 years and correspond to inputs that in total exceed what can be legally applied over a period of &gt; 100 years. The order of soil C-content was household waste compost (CHA) &gt; cattle manure (CMA) &gt; sewage sludge (SA) &gt; NPK. All three organic amendments resulted in larger proportions of lignin dimers, lipids and free fatty acids in the soil compared to the NPK treatment. The treatments CHA and CMA added disproportionally large amounts to the proportions of particulate organic matter (POM; &gt;63 µm, &lt;2 g cm⁻³) that is considered labile and potentially mineralizable. However, enrichments occurred in relatively recalcitrant compound classes like lignin dimers and lipids, and in the thermally stable proportions of other compound classes (carbohydrates and various N-containing compounds), that are interpreted as being mineral-associated. This provides evidence for the presence of stable organic matter originating from the organic amendments. The increase in SOC stocks, relative to the total carbon input over the course of the experiment, indicates that the SOC building potential of the materials differed in the following order: CHA &gt; SA &gt; CMA. Large-scale application of compost from household waste and sewage sludge, in addition to the traditional farm-scale soil amendment with cattle manure, could therefore contribute to mitigate climate change caused by elevated CO₂ concentrations in the atmosphere.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106661"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144124621","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":"Plant litter traits control the accumulation of mineral-associated organic carbon by influencing its molecular composition and diversity","authors":"Weijie Dai ,&nbsp;Rongbo Xiao ,&nbsp;Chaoyang Wei ,&nbsp;Fen Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106667","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106667","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Plant litter inputs represent an important approach for mineral-associated organic carbon (MAOC) accumulation critical for the long-term stability of soil organic carbon (SOC). However, a knowledge gap exists regarding how different contents of structural compounds in plant litters influence MAOC accumulation, as well as its molecular composition and diversity. In this study, wheat straw (<em>Triticum aestivum</em> L.), tree branch and leaves (<em>Platanus×acerifolia</em>) were employed as representative plant litters from forest and farmland ecosystems for an indoor experiment. We determined the dynamic changes of MAOC accumulation, as well as its organic functional groups, molecular composition and diversity through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (py-GCMS). Compared with control (CK), the three plant litter types enhanced MAOC (0.90–2.09 times) accumulation, showing maximum increases in leaf litter and minimum in branch litter. FTIR indicated that MAOC was dominated by labile polysaccharide C-O functional groups, which explained the gradual decomposition of MAOC during incubation. Py-GCMS revealed that MAOC was formed via soil minerals selectively adsorbing organic molecules from plant litters i.e. <em>ex vivo</em> pathway. The molecular diversity of MAOC significantly increased after adding straw and leaves, which was beneficial to MAOC accumulation. This study provides a molecular perspective on the mechanisms for the formation of stable SOC pools.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106667"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144124619","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":"Simulation performance and impact factors of soil surface roughness under different tillage practices based on the Monte Carlo algorithm","authors":"Xinyu Li ,&nbsp;Mingxuan Lu ,&nbsp;Xuelin You ,&nbsp;Lei Wang ,&nbsp;Shuang Zhou ,&nbsp;Jianhua Ren","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106671","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106671","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil surface roughness (SSR) is widely employed to quantify the spatial variability of soil surface height in farmland, which also plays a critical role in soil erosion. However, traditional methods for measuring SSR are often time-consuming and labor-intensive, with limitations in measurement scale and accuracy. In this study, simulation approach for random and oriented SSR under Gaussian and exponential distributions was developed using the Monte Carlo algorithm. The accuracy and effectiveness of simulation results were validated through field measurements during the soybean growth period under various tillage practices. Thereafter, variations in SSR and their influencing factors across different tillage practices were systematically analyzed. Results demonstrated that the simulation of soil surface height under ridge-based tillage outperformed no-tillage. Additionally, discrepancies were observed in the fitting performance of SSR parameters derived from measured and simulated soil surface heights. Specifically, root mean square height (RMSH) and mean deviation (R_a) exhibited the best fitting performance, followed by root mean square slope (σ_m), while correlation length (CL) showed the poorest agreement between measured and simulated values. Correlation analysis and analysis of variance further revealed that the correlation and stability between measured and simulated SSR parameters followed the order: no-tillage &gt; reduced tillage &gt; conventional tillage &gt; rotary tillage &gt; combined tillage. During the crop growth period, various factors such as field management, precipitation, wind erosion, and gravity influenced SSR under different tillage practices. The results of this study contribute to broadening the methodologies for obtaining SSR, and enhancing the understanding of farmland surface processes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106671"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144116459","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":"Developing topsoil structure through conservation management to protect subsoil from compaction","authors":"Gunther Liebhard ,&nbsp;Marton Toth ,&nbsp;Christine Stumpp ,&nbsp;Gernot Bodner ,&nbsp;Andreas Klik ,&nbsp;Xiaoping Zhang ,&nbsp;Stefan Strohmeier ,&nbsp;Peter Strauss","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106669","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106669","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The problem of subsoil compaction is increasing because agricultural machinery is becoming heavier and heavier and exerts pressure to the subsoil. Conservation management promotes edaphic soil structure and increases the bearing capacity of the soil. This may even prevent subsoil compaction. To assess the ability of conservation management to mitigate subsoil compaction, we evaluated hydraulic, biological and structural parameters across the soil profile of two agricultural conservation management systems, no-till and shallow minimum tillage in transition to no-till, in comparison to conventional tillage at two sites in Austria. We found that conservation management resulted in higher aggregate and percolation stability compared to conventional management in the tillage horizon down to 30 cm. In undisturbed soils, this structural stability was correlated with organic carbon content. However, mechanical soil disturbance reduced the structural stability, even if the organic carbon in the soil was still elevated. We found no difference in correlation with soil stability parameters between microbial biomass carbon, dissolved and total organic carbon, despite the different processes by which they contribute to the formation of soil aggregates. Below the tillage horizon, subsoil structural stability was not affected by management. However, the different bearing capacity and thus protective effect of the upper soil layers resulted in lower penetration resistance in depths below the tillage depth for both conservation management systems. As the positive effects of shallow tillage are less concentrated on the soil surface than with no-tillage, we recommend shallow minimum tillage if the subsoil is at risk of compaction.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106669"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144124618","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":"Long-term impacts of agronomic practices on winter wheat yield, water use efficiency, and nitrogen use efficiency in global dryland regions: A meta-analysis","authors":"Muhammad Adil ,&nbsp;Zhenchuang Wang ,&nbsp;Yi Chen ,&nbsp;Heli Lu ,&nbsp;Siqi Lu ,&nbsp;Safdar Bashir ,&nbsp;Isma Gul ,&nbsp;Huan Li ,&nbsp;Zongran Han ,&nbsp;Wanfu Feng","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106653","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106653","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Dryland agriculture is vital to global crop production and food security, with conventional tillage (CT) traditionally dominating rain-fed systems. However, no-tillage (NT) practices are increasingly being adopted as a sustainable alternative to enhance crop productivity and long-term environmental resilience. This meta-analysis compared the effects of NT with CT on dryland winter wheat (<em>Triticum aestivum</em> L.) yield, water use efficiency (WUE), and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) across varying nitrogen fertilizer (NF) levels (low &lt; 100 kg N ha⁻¹; medium ¹00–200 kg N ha⁻¹; and high &gt; 200 kg N ha⁻¹), mulching methods, and cover crop practices. The meta-analysis presented that the interaction of NT with straw mulching, leguminous cover crops (LCC), and residue retention increased the dryland winter wheat grain yield by 48, 44, and 31 %, respectively, along with WUE by 57, 47, and 27 %, and NUE by 46, 58, and 37 % for the medium-NF, compared to the CT. Non-leguminous cover crops (NLCC) increased the yield, WUE, and NUE under high-NF than low-NF. Residue removal with low-NF under NT had an insignificant impact on yield, NUE and WUE. However, residue removal increased these parameters under medium and high-NF. Increasing the rate of NF did not increase the yield, NUE, and WUE under such interactions. The effects of tillage with management practices on wheat grain yield, WUE, and NUE also varied with soil and climatic conditions. We demonstrate that NT integrated with mulching and LCC can significantly enhance wheat yield, WUE, and NUE at medium-NF level in fine and medium-textured soils, offering a sustainable alternative to conventional tillage and reducing dependency on high nitrogen inputs in dryland winter wheat cropping systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106653"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144116456","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":"Quantifying the effects of repeated wheeling on soil physical conditions and maize growth in a Mollisol","authors":"Xinjun Huang ,&nbsp;Hengfei Wang ,&nbsp;Rainer Horn ,&nbsp;Tusheng Ren","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106672","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106672","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil compaction primarily stems from compression and shear stresses due to field wheeling processes. Laboratory studies have revealed the effects of these two types of stresses on soil structure and pore functions, but their consequences for soil properties and crop under field conditions need to be quantified. In this study, the temporal changes of soil physical conditions and maize growth under repeated wheeling were studied on a Mollisol. At field capacity, wheeling plots were created by a 10.4 Mg harvester with 1, 3, 5, and 21 wheeling passes (C1, C3, C5, and C21). Soil volume water content (<em>θ</em>_<em>v</em>) and matric potential (<em>Ψ</em>) were monitored during a maize growing season. The results showed that field soil deformed progressively with the increase of wheeling frequency: After 1, 3, 5, and 21 wheeling passes, the rut depths were 6.4 cm, 8.0 cm, 9.5 cm, and 13.7 cm, respectively. In response to soil compaction, the wheeling plots exhibited significant changes in soil water status with increased <em>θ</em>_<em>v</em>, less negative <em>Ψ</em>, greater water retention, but decreased water availability for plants, which lasted for the whole growing season. The C5 and C21 treatments frequently experienced waterlogging during the wet season and more severe cracking during the dry season. Compared to the control, the above-ground biomass of maize in the C1, C3, C5, and C21 treatments decreased by 14.5 %, 36.9 %, 37.0 %, and 56.4 %, respectively, and crop yield reduced by 9.7 %, 30.7 %, 38.4 %, and 59.7 %, respectively. At a load of 10.4 Mg, a threshold wheeling pass of two was recommended in the study area.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106672"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144116457","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":"Does soil compaction affect the mobility and transformation behavior of Arsenic -A case study of an Alfisol","authors":"Xinjun Huang ,&nbsp;Lanting Liu ,&nbsp;Yali Wang ,&nbsp;Yongqiang Yang ,&nbsp;Linlin Zhao ,&nbsp;Rainer Horn ,&nbsp;Liping Li","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106659","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106659","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil compaction induced by frequent field traffic often causes surface waterlogging in wheel rut areas during the rainy season. In arsenic (As)-contaminated farmlands, this process creates varying redox conditions that affect As mobility and transformation at different depths. This study examined the effects of compaction on As behavior in a clay loam Alfisol (from A horizon) under periodic waterlogging over 66 days. Four soil columns were packed with two bulk densities of 1.3 g cm⁻³ and 1.65 g cm⁻³ to simulate different compaction treatments across a 0–40 cm profile: no compaction(CK), low compaction(LC), medium compaction (MC), and heavy compaction (HC) with corresponding compacted thickness of 0 cm, 16 cm, 24 cm, and 32 cm. Results showed that compaction significantly decreased soil air permeability (<em>K</em>_<em>a</em>) and redox potential (Eh). During waterlogging, excess water stagnated in compacted layers, creating reducing conditions that promoted the release of the mobile As (III) species into pore water. In the first two waterlogging cycles, As(III) concentrations in pore water peaked at 5.6, 6.2, 7.3, and 8.0 μg L⁻¹ under CK, LC, MC, and HC, respectively, while the average Fe-(hydr)oxide-bound As decreased by 22.9 %, 22.9 %, 23.7 %, and 26.5 %, respectively. During the subsequent waterlogging cycles, with the increase of <em>K</em>_<em>a</em>, Eh, and microbial activity of aerobic species the As was stabilized on soil particles in the fractions of specifically bound As and Fe-(hydr)oxide-bound As with reduced mobility. These findings highlight the potential risks of soil compaction-induced As transformations, particularly the conversion of less mobile As(V) to the more toxic and mobile As(III), posing environmental and health concerns.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106659"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144107966","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 impact of converting rice cultivation to greenhouse vineyard cultivation on the dynamic of organic carbon in coastal soil","authors":"Yu Tian ,&nbsp;Jingjing Liu ,&nbsp;Shenggao Lu","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106658","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106658","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The conversion of rice to greenhouse vineyard cultivation leads to an increase in the amount and frequency of fertilization, as well as a reduction in tillage intensity, which significantly affects soil organic carbon turnover and sequestration. In this study, four types of soils were selected in the coastal area of southeast China based on a sequence of greenhouse vineyard cultivation years of 0, 8, 18, and 36. The study fractionated the soil into four organic fractions: free mineral-associated organic carbon (f-MAOC), occluded mineral-associated organic carbon (o-MAOC), free particulate organic carbon (f-POC), occluded particulate organic carbon (o-POC), using particle size and density separation. The organic carbon content and natural abundance of ¹³C were measured for each of these fractions, as well as for the bulk soil. Key findings include a significant increase in bulk soil organic carbon with extended greenhouse vineyard cultivation. o-MAOC and o-POC contents increased initially, then declined after 18 years. Notably, f-POC content significantly rose after 36 years, reaching 9.91 g kg⁻¹. The δ¹³C values for f-MAOC, o-MAOC, and f-POC showed similar increasing trends, peaking after 18 years. The carbon flow analysis revealed the main carbon turnover pathway from f-POC to o-MAOC, with reverse transfers occurring after 18 and 36 years. It highlighted a saturation limit in the sequestration capacity of occluded organic carbon and significant accumulation of labile organic carbon due to long-term greenhouse vineyard cultivation. Additionally, accumulation of f-POC was primarily influenced by fungal diversity and specific microbial taxa (<em>Ascomycota</em>), whereas the stabilization of occluded carbon fractions was regulated by both microbial communities and aggregate formation processes. These findings offer new insights into carbon management in agricultural soils.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106658"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144089896","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":"Soil organic carbon stabilization inside microaggregates within macroaggregates is the major mechanism of carbon sequestration under a long-term agroforestry system in the foot hills of the Indian Himalayas","authors":"Swarnashree Barman ,&nbsp;Ranjan Bhattacharyya ,&nbsp;Charan Singh ,&nbsp;A.C. Rathore ,&nbsp;Vibha Singhal ,&nbsp;M. Muruganandan ,&nbsp;Anshuman Patel ,&nbsp;Anshuman Das ,&nbsp;S.L. Jat ,&nbsp;P. Jha ,&nbsp;Avijit Ghosh ,&nbsp;D.R. Biswas ,&nbsp;Nayan Ahmed ,&nbsp;Shrila Das ,&nbsp;T.K. Das ,&nbsp;Soora Naresh Kumar","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106649","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.still.2025.106649","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We used a new methodology to compute stabilized soil organic carbon (SOC) within the density fractions to evaluate the alterations in SOC in fine silty <em>hyperthermicudic haplustalf</em> following fifteen-years of agroforestry practices under cowpea (<em>Vigna unguiculata</em> L.)-toria (<em>Brassica campestris</em> L.) based cropping systems and turmeric (<em>Curcuma longa</em> L.) as ground cover crop. The objective of this long-term (15 years) experiment was to quantity the carbon content within soil aggregates as affected by agroforestry practices. The results indicated that in the surface soil (0–15 cm depth), plots with mulberry (<em>Morus alba</em> L.) + cowpea-toria (T7) had 58, 26 and 30 % higher total SOC in bulk soil than cultivated fallow land (T9) (6.76 g kg⁻¹), sole planting of mulberry (T5) (8.47 g kg⁻¹) and cowpea-toria system (T4) (8.21 g kg⁻¹), respectively. Intra-aggregate associated particulate organic matter within the microaggregates inside macroaggregates (iPOM_mM) was maximum in plots under T7 and the value was 104 % higher than T5 and ∼90 % larger than T4 in surface soil layer. Light fraction inside microaggregates within macroaggregates (LF_mM) associated C was 18 % and 14 % more in T7 plots than T4 (13.34 g kg⁻¹) and T5 (13.80 g kg⁻¹) plots. Plots with T7 showed maximum stabilized C (5.63 g C/1000 g bulk soils) within iPOM_mM and the value was 152 % and 164 % higher than T4 (2.23 g C/1000 g bulk soil) and T5 (2.13 g C/1000 g bulk soils) plots and also had 86 % more stabilized C than T3 (3.02 g C/1000 g bulk soil) agroforestry system. About 49 % of the total stabilized C in the plots under T7 in the surface soil layer was there within the intra-aggregate particulate organic matter inside microaggregates within macroaggregates, suggesting intra-aggregate particulate organic matter formation inside microaggregates within macroaggregates was the major mechanism of C sequestration under the long-term agroforesty system in the Indian Himalayas. <em>Morus alba</em> L.-based agroforestry system (AFS) had more aggregates and total SOC within microaggregates inside macroaggregates which have more carbon sequestration potential in the foot hills of the Indian Himalayas. Thus, the T7 agroforestry system should be adopted for higher C stabilization.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"253 ","pages":"Article 106649"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144107967","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}