Potential contribution by cotton roots to soil carbon stocks in irrigated Vertosols

Abstract

The well-documented decline in soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in Australian cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) growing Vertosols has been primarily analysed in terms of inputs from above-ground crop residues, with addition to soil C by root materials being little studied. Potential contribution by cotton roots to soil carbon stocks was evaluated between 2002 and 2008 in 2 ongoing long-term experiments near Narrabri, north-western New South Wales. Experiment 1 consisted of cotton monoculture sown either after conventional tillage or on permanent beds, and a cotton–wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) rotation on permanent beds; Experiment 2 consisted of 4 cotton-based rotation systems sown on permanent beds: cotton monoculture, cotton–vetch (Vicia villosa Roth.), cotton–wheat, and cotton–wheat–vetch. Roundup-Ready™ (genetically modified) cotton varieties were sown until 2005, and Bollgard™ II-Roundup Ready™-Flex™ varieties thereafter. Root growth in the surface 0.10 m was measured with the core-break method using 0.10-m-diameter cores. A subsample of these cores was used to evaluate relative root length and root C concentrations. Root growth in the 0.10–1.0 m depth was measured at 0.10-m depth intervals with a ‘Bartz’ BTC-2 minirhizotron video microscope and I-CAP image capture system (‘minirhizotron’). The video camera was inserted into clear, plastic acrylic minirhizotron tubes (50-mm-diameter) installed within each plot, 30° from the vertical. Root images were captured 4–5 times each season in 2 orientations, left and right side of each tube, adjacent to a furrow, at each time of measurement and the images analysed to estimate selected root growth indices. The indices evaluated were the length and number of live roots at each time of measurement, number of roots which changed length, number and length of roots which died (i.e. disappeared between times of measurement), new roots initiated between times of measurement, and net change in root numbers and length. These measurements were used to derive root C turnover between times of measurements, root C added to soil through intra-seasonal root death, C in roots remaining at end of season, and the sum of the last 2 indices: root C potentially available for addition to soil C stocks. Total seasonal cotton root C potentially available for addition to soil C stocks ranged between ~50 and 400 g/m2 (0.5 and 4 t/ha), with intra-seasonal root death contributing 25–70%. These values are ~10–60% of that contributed by above-ground crop residues. As soil organic carbon in irrigated Vertosols can range between 40 and 60 t/ha, it is unlikely that cotton roots will contribute significantly to soil carbon stocks in irrigated cotton farming systems. Seasonal root C was reduced by cotton monoculture, stress caused by high insect numbers, and sowing Bollgard II varieties; and increased by sowing non-Bollgard II varieties and wheat rotation crops. Permanent beds increased root C but leguminous rotation crops did not. Climatic factors such as cumulative day-degrees and seasonal rainfall were positively related to seasonal root C. Root C turnover was, in general, highest during later vegetative/early reproductive growth. Large variations in root C turnover and seasonal C indices occurred due to a combination of environmental, management and climatic factors.