Abstract
Planting a deep-rooted green manure (GM) (more than 1.0 m depth) greatly improves soil fertility and reduces the loss of nutrients. However, few studies have examined the response of soil nitrogen (N) distribution in the soil profile and subsoil N recovery to the long-term planting and incorporation of deep-rooted GM. Based on a 12-year (2009−2021) experiment of spring maize-winter GMs rotation in the North China Plain (NCP), this study investigated the effects of different GMs that were planted over the winter, including ryegrass (RrG, Lolium L.) (>1.0 m), Orychophragmus violaceus (OrV, Orychophragmus violaceus L.) (>0.8 m), and hairy vetch (VvR, Vicia villosa Roth.) (>1.0 m), on the spring maize yield, N distribution in the deep soil profile, N use efficiencies, functional gene abundances involving soil nitrification−denitrification processes and N2O production. Compared with the winter fallow, the maize yield significantly increased by 11.6% after 10 years of green manuring, and water storage in 0−200 cm soil profile significantly increased by 5.0−17.1% at maize seedling stage. The total N content in the soil layer at 0−90 cm increased by 15.8−19.7%, while the nitrate content in the deep soil layer (80−120 cm) decreased by 17.8−39.6%. Planting GM significantly increased the N recovery rate (10.4−32.7%) and fertilizer N partial productivity (4.6−13.3%). Additionally, the topsoil N functional genes (ammonia-oxidizing archaea amoA, ammonia-oxidizing bacterial amoA, nirS, nirK) significantly decreased without increasing N2O production potential. These results indicated that long-term planting of the deep-rooted GM effectively reduce the accumulation of nitrates in the deep soil and improve the crop yield and N use efficiencies, demonstrating a great value in green manuring to improve the fertility of the soil, increase the crop yield, and reduce the risk of N loss in NCP.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 8
Claim · model-written summary
Green manuring increased maize yield by 11.6% after ten years versus winter fallow.
- Treatment
- green manuringe0
- Outcome
- maize yielde0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- 11.6%e0
- Comparator
- winter fallowe0
Zea maysOrganisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Compared with the winter fallow, the maize yield significantly increased by 11.6% after 10 years of green manuring”
Claim · model-written summary
Green manuring increased soil water storage by 5.0−17.1% at maize seedling stage.
- Organ / stage
- maize seedling stagee0
- Treatment
- green manuringe0
- Outcome
- water storage in 0−200 cm soil profilee0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- 5.0−17.1%e0
- Comparator
- winter fallowe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Compared with the winter fallow, the maize yield significantly increased by 11.6% after 10 years of green manuring, and water storage in 0−200 cm soil profile significantly increased by 5.0−17.1% at maize seedling stage.”
Claim · model-written summary
Green manure rotation raised total nitrogen in the 0−90 cm soil layer by 15.8−19.7%.
- Treatment
- GMs rotatione1
- Outcome
- total N content in the soil layer at 0−90 cme0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- 15.8−19.7%e0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The total N content in the soil layer at 0−90 cm increased by 15.8−19.7%”
e1“spring maize-winter GMs rotation”
Claim · model-written summary
Green manure rotation lowered nitrate in the 80−120 cm soil layer by 17.8−39.6%.
- Treatment
- GMs rotatione1
- Outcome
- nitrate content in the deep soil layer (80−120 cm)e0
- Direction
- decreasede0
- Value
- 17.8−39.6%e0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the nitrate content in the deep soil layer (80−120 cm) decreased by 17.8−39.6%”
e1“spring maize-winter GMs rotation”
Claim · model-written summary
Green manure increased nitrogen recovery rate by 10.4−32.7%.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Planting GM significantly increased the N recovery rate (10.4−32.7%) and fertilizer N partial productivity (4.6−13.3%).”
e1“the maize yield significantly increased”
Claim · model-written summary
Green manure increased fertilizer nitrogen partial productivity by 4.6−13.3%.
- Treatment
- Planting GMe0
- Outcome
- fertilizer N partial productivitye0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- 4.6−13.3%e0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Planting GM significantly increased the N recovery rate (10.4−32.7%) and fertilizer N partial productivity (4.6−13.3%).”
e1“the maize yield significantly increased”
Claim · model-written summary
Green manure reduced topsoil nitrification and denitrification gene abundances.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the topsoil N functional genes (ammonia-oxidizing archaea amoA, ammonia-oxidizing bacterial amoA, nirS, nirK) significantly decreased without increasing N2O production potential.”
e1“Planting GM”
e2“the maize yield significantly increased”
Claim · model-written summary
Green manure did not increase soil N2O production potential.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“without increasing N2O production potential.”
e1“Planting GM”
e2“the maize yield significantly increased”
The same questions in other papers
fertilization · molecular: expression · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
10 papers in the same direction as this paper · 1 in the opposite direction
- no effect
- positive
- positive
8 papers more in this group
See all 12 papers →rotation · nutrient: content · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
35 papers in the same direction as this paper · 11 in the opposite direction
- positive
- negative
- negative
43 papers more in this group
See all 47 papers →fertilization · yield · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
3,484 papers in the same direction as this paper · 338 in the opposite direction · 85 reporting no difference from an alternative
- positive
- negative
- no effect
3,904 papers more in this group
See all 3,908 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.