Effects of Returning Granular Corn Straw on Soil Humus Composition and Humic Acid Structure Characteristics in Saline-Alkali Soil

Xiaodong Chen, Jinggui Wu and Yaa Opoku-Kwanowaa
Additional contact information
Xiaodong Chen: College of Resources and Environment Sciences, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China
Jinggui Wu: College of Resources and Environment Sciences, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China
Yaa Opoku-Kwanowaa: College of Resources and Environment Sciences, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-11

Abstract: Returning straw plays an important role in protecting the environment and maintaining the sustainable development of agriculture. In this research, we explored the effects of returning granular corn straw on soil humus composition and humic acid structural characteristics in a typical saline-alkali soil. This study was conducted in Jilin province. A randomized block design consisting of nine plots with three treatments in three replicates was used for this study. The treatments were granular corn straw (GS), coarse corn straw (CS), and control (CK). The results show that treatments GS and CS both increased the contents of soil humus and its components in the soil compared to CK. However, treatment GS recorded the highest significant increase in soil humus carbon (HEC), fulvic acid carbon (FAC), and humic acid carbon (HAC) by 17.59%, 8.32%, and 26.51%, respectively. Comparing the two straw treatments, it was found that the relative intensities of treatment GS at 2920 and 2850 cm −1 were higher than treatment CS by 1.58% and 72.49%, respectively. The relative intensities of treatment GS at 1720 cm −1 and 1620 cm −1 were lower than treatment CS by 52.2% and 30.43%, respectively. Moreover, an analysis of soil humic acid (HA) through an infrared spectrum, fluorescence spectrum, and principal components analysis (PCA) showed that the application of straw makes the structure of HA aliphatic, simple, and younger, and also promotes the continuous renewal of humus. In this study, the application of granular corn straw effectively improved the soil humus content and humic acid structural characteristics and is thus highly recommended.

Keywords: fluorescence spectrum; fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectrum; humic acid; principal components analysis; granular corn straw; primary saline-alkali soil (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/3/1005/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/3/1005/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:3:p:1005-:d:314589

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().