Abstract
Pastures play vital roles in carbon (C) sequestration and the global C balance. Partial root-zone drying (PRD) is widely known to reduce water consumption with a minimum impact on alfalfa productivity in the field. A 2-year field experiment was used to investigate the effects of PRD on C retention in the soil-plant systems of alfalfa. This field experiment consisted of two factors (irrigation modes and irrigation volumes) in a split-plot design. The two irrigation modes were PRD and conventional furrow irrigation, and the four irrigation levels were 70%, 85%, 100%, and 115% alfalfa potential evapotranspiration. This study showed that PRD increased the C in alfalfa plants due to higher C in alfalfa roots. PRD led to higher soil organic C storage, whereas it led to lower soil total C and soil inorganic C storage. PRD was found to decrease the C retention in the soil-plant systems of alfalfa. The findings of this study display a pattern of PRD influencing C retention in the soil-plant systems of perennial crops, and imply that PRD reduces the C sequestration potential of alfalfa pastures.
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This work was supported by the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32160339), and Qinghai Basic Science and Technology Research Program (2022-ZJ-904).
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Conceptualization: DYY, GZG, LHX; Methodology: DYY, GZG; Investigation: DYY, ZJ, JZ, WXX; Formal analysis and writing—original draft preparation: DYY, ZJ; Writing—review and editing: DYY, GZG, LHX.
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First author: Yuan Yuan Duan.
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Duan, Y.Y., Zhang, J., Jiang, Z. et al. Partial root-zone drying (PRD) leads to lower carbon retention in the soil-plant systems of alfalfa. Irrig Sci 42, 45–56 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00271-023-00902-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00271-023-00902-6