Impact of straw return combined with different fertilizations on soil organic carbon stock in upland wheat and maize croplands in China: A meta-analysis

Straw return is a vital soil amendment practice in Chinese upland soils, aiming to improve the soil organic carbon (SOC) stock. However, its impact on SOC stock depends on various fertilizer practices, leading to inconclusive results. To address this, we conducted a meta-analysis of 121 peer-reviewed publications to evaluate the effect of straw return combined with different fertilization practices including balanced NPK (BFS), unbalanced NP, NK, PK, or N fertilization (UFS), and no fertilization (NFS) in the wheat-maize cropping system. The results showed that straw return with BFS led to the highest increase in SOC stock (13.3%), followed by UFS (11.4%) and NFS (6.12%), compared to straw removal under the same fertilization conditions. BFS also significantly increased the soil C (15.9%), N (9.62%), and P (6.21%) contents, as well as the C:N (2.48%) and C:P (11.4%) ratios. In contrast, UFS resulted in higher C:N ratios (6.47%) and soil acidification, affecting the SOC stock during straw return. A structural equation model revealed that the presence of BFS positively influenced the association between SOC stock and soil stoichiometry (P ​< ​0.05) compared to UFS, which was influenced by climate and initial soil properties. Additionally, the impact of BFS on SOC stock was more significant in the double cropping system (14.5%) than in the single wheat (8.32%) and single maize (10.8%) cropping systems. A lower initial SOC (<6 ​g ​kg⁻¹) also showed a greater response to BFS compared to a higher initial SOC (>12 ​g ​kg⁻¹). Based on C sequestration efficiency, implementing straw return with BFS could lead to a higher rate of increase in SOC sequestration.