[Effects of different straw-returning regimes on soil organic carbon and carbon pool management index in Guanzhong Plain, Northwest China].

A four-year (2008-2012) field experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of different straw-returning regimes on soil total organic carbon (TOC), labile organic carbon (LOC) and the ratio of LOC to TOC (LOC/TOC) as well as TOC stock (SCS) and soil carbon pool management index (CPMI) in a farmland with maize-wheat double cropping system in Guanzhong Plain area, Shaanxi Province, China. The results indicated that soil TOC and LOC contents and SCS were significantly increased when wheat or maize straw was returned to field, and the increasing extent showed the rising order as follows: double straw-returning > single straw-returning > no straw-returning. Compared to no straw returning, a significant increase of TOC and LOC contents and SCS was found in the treatment of wheat straw chopping retention combined with maize straw chopping subsoiling retention (WC-MM), and CPMI of WC-MM was significantly higher than in the other treatments in 0-20 cm soil layer. Compared to no wheat straw returning, soil CPMIs in 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm soil layer increased by 19.1% and 67.9% for the wheat straw chopping returning treatment, and by 22.6% and 32.4% for the maize straw chopping subsoiling treatment, respectively. Correlation analysis showed that soil CPMI was a more effective index reflecting the sequestration of soil organic carbon in 0-30 cm soil layer than the ratio of LOC to TOC. This study thus suggested that WC-MM regime is the best straw-returning regime for soil organic carbon sequestration.