SOIL ORGANIC CARBON AND PARTICLESIZE DISTRIBUTION OF ARABLE SOILSIN WINTER WHEAT CROPPING
Srdjan Seremesic, Dragisa Milosev, Maja Manojlovic
Department of Field and Vegetable Crops,

Faculty of Agriculture Novi Sad,

University of Novi Sad

HSIE 8 Šoporna 13-17.09.2009.

Introduction• Soil organic matter (SOM) plays an important role as apool of terrestrial C and can be easily manipulated byagricultural practices (Janzen, 2004).
• Therefore, arable soils are implicated in C cycling and canbe considered as a major reservoir and an important C
sink for sequestering the atmospheric CO2 (Smith, 2004).
• The maintenance of site-specific SOM content is aprerequisite for sustainable protection of soil function andcould be observed as an important indicator of soil quality
and agronomic sustainability of agroecosystems (Zentneret al., 1990; Reeves, 1997).
HSIE 8 Šoporna 13-17.09.2009.

•

•
•

•

•

Soil organic matter is the most important indicator of soil production
capability (Reeves, 1997) but should be considered in the context ofyield potential achievement and perpetual yield stability.
Soil structure and SOM are among the first indicators of soil quality
declineTo confirm SOM changes it is necessary to monitor and quantify thedecline of SOM in continuous long-term experiments (Rasmussen etal., 1998; Varvel et al., 2002; Körschens, 2004) and to verify theresults in the cultivated agricultural areas.
Chernozemic soil (Phelozem) is the prevalent soil type in theVojovidna Province, covering 900000 ha of arable land. However,current management practice strongly contribute to the deteriorationof physical and chemical properties.
Cropping technology in most agricultural areas of the Serbia is not“SOM friendly” :–––––

Crop residue burning
Mineral fertilizer use instead of organic fertilizers
High genetic potential of hybrid and varieties
Inappropriate crop rotation and management practice
Small number of livestock

HSIE 8 Šoporna 13-17.09.2009.

Soil degradation and SOM status in Serbia
•
•

•
•

•

Currenly in Serbia there is no ongoing project or study to resolve
to which extend soils are depleted in SOM or soil structure
degraded
Several studies individually (non systematically) intended toexplain that phenomena in the agroecological condition ofVojvodina by comparing the earlier studies with recent results(Bečej, Bačko Gradište, Futog, Kać, Adaševci). The results
showed 0,05-0,2% loss of humus (Hadžić et al.2004).
Nešić et al.2008,2009 fund that average humus content (19922007) was lower for 0,22% (from 3.16 to 2.94) in average for
Srem and South Bačka region.
Seremesic et al. 2006 disscussed SOM status in the long-termexperiment Plodoredi (Rimski Sancevi Novi Sad) and found thatin the average humus content decreased 0.33% after 35 years ofcropping
In the central Serbia acid soil contain in average 1- 2 % humus
in the top-soil
HSIE 8 Šoporna 13-17.09.2009.

Current SOC trends?
Soil organic carbon (SOC) change
in the Vojvodina Province

Soil organic carbon (SOC) change
in long-term experiment40

SOC average concentration in top soil

35
30

SOC g kg

-1

25
20
15
1050*
1960-1970 *1980-1990**

2000- ***Periods*Živković B, Nejgebauer V, Tanasijević Đ, Miljković N, Stojković L, Drezgić P. 1972. Soils of Vojvodina. Institute for Field and Vegetable Crops Novi Sad: Novi Sad**Bogdanović D, Ubavić M, Dozet D. 1993. Chemical properties of Vojvodina soils and provision with essential macroelements. In: Heavy metals and pesticides
in the soils of Vojvodina province, Kastori R. (ed). Istitute of Field and Vegatable Crops Novi Sad, 197-215.
***Vasin J. 2008. Soil Fertility in Vojvodina. In: Fertilization in sustainable Agriculture, Manojlović M. (ed). Faculty of Agriculture Novi Sad: Novi Sad. 45-53..

HSIE 8 Šoporna 13-17.09.2009.

PEDOLOGICAL MAP OF VOJVODIE PROVICE 1:400000
Plowland in Serbia 4,24 milion ha
Plowland in Vojvodina 1,56 milion ha

HSIE 8 Šoporna 13-17.09.2009.

Objective of study• In order to investigate effects of cropping
systems on content of soil organic carbon(SOC) and distribution of particle size
fractions of soil, different cropping
systems of winter wheat were analyzed.

HSIE 8 Šoporna 13-17.09.2009.

Material and methods• Soil samples were collected from 2 long-term experiments(IOSDV and Plodoredi) carried out at the Rimski Sancevi
experimental station, Novi Sad.
• Samples were taken after winter wheat harvest in Jun• Three soil depths were analyzed (0-20, 20-40 and 40-60 cm)
with three replication for each treatment• Sample was brought to laboratory and field moist soil waspassed through an 8 mm sieve and stored until fractionation.
• Method for fractionation was adapted from Elliot, 1986.
• Particle size fractions (>2000 µm, 2000-250 µm, 250-53µm
and <53µm) were obtained by dispersion in water with seriesof sieves.
• All fraction was oven dried (50°C) and weight.
• Organic carbon content was determined by CHNS analyzer.
(ISO 10694:1995)
HSIE 8 Šoporna 13-17.09.2009.The following treatments were analysed:
I.

Three–year crop rotation (maize-soybean-wheat), mineral
fertilizer 100 kg N ha-1 + crop residues (Đ3Đ3))
II. Two–year crop rotation (maize-wheat), mineral fertilizer 100 kg N
ha-1 + crop residues (Đ2Đ2))
III. Monoculture (wheat-wheat), mineral fertilizer 100 kg N ha-1 + crop
residues (MO)MO)
IV. Two–year rotation (maize-wheat), without fertilizers + crop
residues (N2N2))
V. Three–year rotation (maize-soybean-wheat), without fertilizers +crop residues (N3)VI. Four–year crop rotation (sugar beet-spring barley-maize-wheat),
40 t ha-1 manure without mineral fertilizers (B0B0))
VII.Four–year crop rotation (sugar beet-spring barley-maize-wheat),
40 t ha-1 manure + mineral fertilizer 100 kg N ha-1 (B2B2))
VIII.Four–year crop rotation (sugar beet-spring barley-maize-wheat),mineral fertilizer 200 kg N ha-1 without crop residue (C4)C4)
IX. Four–year crop rotation (sugar beet-spring barley-maize-wheat),mineral fertilizer 200 kg N ha-1 + crop residues (A4A4))
X. Control, native vegetation with short grasses (C)HSIE 8 Šoporna 13-17.09.2009.

Results and discussion
Agrochemical properties of investigated cropping systems
Tretments* Al-P O*Depth

pH KClpH H2OCaCO3Al-K2O

25Humus

SSPMW 40

B00-207,118,163,41

47,96

109,03

3,10

SSPMW 40+100

B20-20

7,06

8,24

2,94

47,16111,133,03

SSPMW 40+100+Cr
A40-207,08

8,212,65

42,50

135,83

2,76

SSPMW 40+200-CrC40-20

7,148,244,8344,83

151,502,48

WM

N20-207,238,47

9,09

13,965,361,93

WSM

N30-20

7,34

8,37

5,54

17,40

5,60

2,33

WWf

MO0-20

7,07

8,26

3,55

32,43

27,50

2,83

WMf

Đ20-207,177,97

0,35

34,10

32,90

2,54MSWf

Đ30-20

7,13

8,23

3,40

41,03

93,162,62

Control

0-20

7,33

8,21

7,08

90,83

167,003,22Control* mg/100g soil

HSIE 8 Šoporna 13-17.09.2009.

Results and discussion

Distribution of aggregates of different size (µm)>2000250-2000

53-250<53Average• Higher content of macroaggregateswere found in the topsoil (0-20cm) as aresult of applied cropping technology

NZ

Cropping systems•Distribution of aggregates accros
the soil profile was less altered withmanagement practice

Đ3
Đ2MO
N3N2C4A4B2BO

Distribution of aggregates with soil depth (µm)>2000250-2000

53-250

100%
80%
60%
40%20%<53020

40%

60

80

100

• Deterioration of soil structure in arable soil comparedwith control as a result of applied management
practice.
• Significantly higher content of macroaggregates in 0020 cm soil layer was found in soil samples from control
plots compared with wheat cropping systems.
• Addition of manure without crop residue incorporation
was not sufficient for soil structure preservation.

0%
0-20

20-40

40-60

HSIE 8 Šoporna 13-17.09.2009.

SOC content in aggregates of different
cropping systems
3,00> 2000

SOC g kg

-1

2,50

2 5 0 -2 0 0 0

5 3 -2 5 0

MO

Đ3

< 53

2,00
1,50
1,00
0,50eag

Avr

er

ZC
Av

C r o p p in g s ys t e m s

N

3

Đ2

Đ

2
Đ

OM

3N3

N

N2

2A4N

4C4C

4B2A

2B0B

BO

0,00

•Highest SOC content was found at >2000 µm aggregates• A4 with crop residue incorporation had highest content of SOC in >2000 µm• Addition of manure (B0 and B2) incresed SOC content in <53 µm•Even though control is higher in total SOM treatment showed similar
distribution of SOC in soil fractions

HSIE 8 Šoporna 13-17.09.2009.

SOC content in aggregates of different
depth in investigated cropping systems
2,5>2000µm

250-2000µm

53-250µm<53µm

SOC g kg-1

2

1,5

1

0,50
0-20

20-40

40-60

Soil depth•SOC decrease with soil depth•Highest content of SOC across the soil depth was found in>2000µm fraction and lowest in <53µm soil fraction•The effects of added (incorporated) crop residues, manure andmineral fertilizers can be observed in 0-20 and 20-40 cm
HSIE 8 Šoporna 13-17.09.2009.

Conclusions• Soil structure was affected with cropping
technology of investigated systems• SOC content decreased in with the soildepth• Higher content of SOC in 0-20 cm depth ofdifferent size fractions was observed in >2000 µm with addition of 200 kg N ha-1 andcrop residues.
• An increase of SOC content with increased
particle size was observed.
HSIE 8 Šoporna 13-17.09.2009.