Post on 22-Jan-2023
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Effects of summer catch crop, residue management, soiltemperature and water on the succeeding cucumberrhizosphere nitrogen mineralization in intensive productionsystems
Yongqiang Tian • Jun Liu • Xueyan Zhang •
Lihong Gao
Received: 18 November 2009 / Accepted: 7 April 2010 / Published online: 17 April 2010
� Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010
Abstract Nitrogen nutrient management is cru-
cially important in shallow-rooted vegetable produc-
tion systems characterized by high input and high
environmental risk. To investigate the effects of
summer catch crop (sweet corn, common bean,
garland chrysanthemum and edible amaranth), resi-
due management, and soil temperature and water on
the succeeding cucumber rhizosphere nitrogen min-
eralization in intensive production systems, we
determined the rates of net nitrogen mineralization
and nitrification in a 4-year field experiment on
greenhouse cucumber double-cropping systems.
Summer catch crop and its residue significantly
increased the succeeding cucumber rhizosphere min-
eral nitrogen contents, when compared to conven-
tional practices. In general, summer catch crop and its
residue significantly increased the rates of both net
nitrogen mineralization and net nitrogen nitrification
at 4 or 40�C, and increased the rates of net nitrogen
immobilization (negative mineralization) and net
nitrogen nitrification at 15 or 28�C, in succeeding
cucumber rhizosphere after four-year treatment. Soil
temperature and water had more influence than catch
crops and residue management on N mineralization.
The effect of carbon on nitrogen mineralization was
more pronounced than that of nitrogen, and the effect
of microbial carbon on the different forms of
inorganic N was more pronounced than that of
organic carbon. When the effects of soil temperature
and water content were eliminated, cumulative net
nitrogen mineralization and nitrification in catch crop
and residue management plots were 296–784 and 57–
84% higher, respectively, than conventional practices
plots. Catch crops and residue management influ-
enced change of ammonium-N more significantly
than that of nitrate-N. Additionally, there were
complex relationships between fruit yield and soil
N mineralization in catch crop- and residue manage-
ment-induced systems.
Keywords Summer catch crop �Residue management � Nitrogen mineralization �Temperature � Water � Intensive production systems
Introduction
As the country with the largest population, China
takes its vegetable supply as a very important matter.
As population increases, there is little likelihood that
an adequate vegetable supply under the limited arable
land resources can be maintained unless fertilizers are
used (Zhu et al. 2000; Li et al. 2003; Guo et al. 2008).
Recent investigations have revealed that excessive
nitrogen (N) fertilizer applications with fertilizer N
recovery rates of less than 10% are commonly
Y. Tian � J. Liu � X. Zhang � L. Gao (&)
College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China
Agricultural University, 2 Yuanmingyuan Xilu, 100193
Beijing, China
e-mail: gaolh@cau.edu.cn
123
Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 88:429–446
DOI 10.1007/s10705-010-9367-3
practiced in intensive vegetable production systems
in Northern China (Chen et al. 2004; Zhu et al. 2005;
Guo et al. 2008). However, the N nutrient uptake
efficiency by plants was very limited (Zhu and Wen
1992; Li et al. 2003). Consequently, very high
proportions of unused N nutrients accumulate in the
soil, and N is released into the environment through
nitrate leaching, denitrification and NH3 volatiliza-
tion (Fox et al. 1996; Gollany et al. 2004; He et al.
2007), resulting in direct economic loss to farmers
and exerting a negative impact on the atmospheric
environment and water quality (Cabrera and Chiang
1994; Li et al. 2003). Thus, plant root zone N
management has been shown to be critical for
improving soil quality and optimizing nutrient and
water efficiencies, and ultimately crop productivity in
these degraded agroecosystems (Chen et al. 2004; Ju
et al. 2007; Guo et al. 2008).
Due to the requirements of high yield and high
quality it is necessary to maintain adequate N
concentrations in the root zone in vegetable growth
in intensive production systems (Guo et al. 2008).
However, rapid growth rates and poor development
of root system in vegetables in intensive production
systems result in relatively high critical levels of
nutrient supply (Guo et al. 2008). The result is poor
control of root zone N supply and ready leaching of
nitrate out of the root zone because of the shallow
rooting systems of some vegetable species (Thorup-
Kristensen 2006; Verma et al. 2007). High soil N
mineralization rates may contribute to the leachable
N outside the crop growing period (Powlson 1993).
Therefore, measures that improve use efficiency of N
fertilizers would help to improve the productivity of
intensive production systems since N is often con-
sidered to be the most limiting nutrient for soil and
litter decomposers (Manzoni and Proporato 2009).
One effective method is to recover residual soil
mineral N by planting a catch crop during the fallow
period (Thorup-Kristensen 1993; Thorup-Kristensen
et al. 2003; Guo et al. 2008). A number of crops with
deep root systems and high N uptake have been
selected as winter catch crops to scavenge residual
NO3- during the winter in Europe and the United
States (Kuo and Jellum 2002; Logsdon et al. 2002;
Thomsen and Christensen 1999; Thomsen 2005), and
during the summer in China (Li et al. 2006; Wu et al.
2006; Li et al. 2008; Guo et al. 2008). Another effective
method is to improve nitrogen mineralization potential
by amending soil with vegetative residues (Maithani
et al. 1998; Schwendener et al. 2005; Dossa et al. 2009;
Manzoni and Proporato 2009). Various non-indige-
nous vegetative residues to amend soils of the Northern
China have been proposed, but received limited rates of
adoption due to socio-economic constraint (Sun 1997;
Zhang et al. 2004; Shao et al. 2009). Consequently,
technologies that build upon indigenous vegetative
residue management are most likely to have greater
impact at the landscape level. One effect of catch crops
on the N nutrition of the succeeding crop is mineral-
ization or immobilization caused by the decomposition
of the plant residues in the soil (Thorup-Kristensen
1993).
Understanding the N mineralized from soil is
rather important in the complex nitrogen turnover in
the soil–plant system. Mineralization is a key process
to be fully understood and taken into account when
meeting the N demand of crops (Smith et al. 1977; Li
et al. 2003; Wang et al. 2006). Given that changes in
the equilibrium of mineralization-immobilization are
management-dependent, investigating how different
cropping practice would affect mineral N dynamics is
of great interest. Yet previous observations call into
question whether catch crops and residue manage-
ment has positive or negative effects on N mineral-
ization. Observations obtained from many terrestrial
ecosystems may help to explain the controversial
observations (Thomsen and Christensen 1999; Kuo
and Jellum 2002; Thomsen 2005; Ju et al. 2007;
Dossa et al. 2009). For example, Jensen (1991)
recognized that immobilization of N by the winter
catch crop residues is a disadvantage of the system
because it makes soil N unavailable to the succeeding
crop. However, Guo et al. (2008) demonstrated that N
immobilization by sweet corn straw during this
period was expected to reduce the risk of nitrogen
leaching in summer fallow period, and no evident
effect of sweet corn residues on soil mineral nitrogen
content was observed. Therefore, examination of
response of soil N mineralization along different
catch crops and residue managements in a single
ecosystem may help to find a general pattern of N
mineralization response and would aid in the devel-
opment of suitable cropping practices that would
eventually improve the N use efficiency of the
depleted soils in intensive production systems. In
general, however, the effect of cropping practices on
N mineralization and its dynamics in intensive
430 Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 88:429–446
123
production systems has not been sufficiently investi-
gated. If intensive production systems are to benefit
from the general findings associated with mineral
nitrogen management, then further research is
required to investigate how catch crop and residue
management could be used to improve use efficiency
of nitrogen fertilizers.
The bulk of the literature indicates that, apart from
cropping practice and residue management, environ-
mental factors, such as soil temperature and water
content, also affect the mineral N and its dynamics
(Kowalenko and Cameron 1976; Cassman and Mun-
ns 1980; Quemada and Cabrera 1997; Panagiotis
et al. 2002; Cao et al. 2009). Sommers et al. (1981)
found net soil N mineralization at near optimum
temperatures normally decreases linearly as water
content or log water potential decreases. Zhou et al.
(2009) observed seasonal and inter-annual variability
of net N mineralization were primarily correlated
with soil water content in a typical steppe in Inner
Mongolia. Kladivko and Keeney (1987) proposed no
evidence for a water-temperature interactive effect on
N mineralization was observed when data were
analyzed by two different scaling techniques, which
was disproved by some recent studies (Wang et al.
2006; Cao et al. 2009). In many intensive production
systems where data on the soil temperature and water
potential are scant due to resource constraints, an
alternative formulation of the temperature and water
factors based on the easier-to-control temperature and
water content would be helpful for evaluating mineral
nitrogen changes under variable environmental con-
ditions. The aims of this study were to (1) investigate
the effects of catch crop and residue management on
the succeeding cucumber rhizosphere mineral nitro-
gen and its dynamics during the year-round cropping
system and (2) to examine the effects of temperature
and water variability on nitrogen mineralization
patterns from soils amended with catch crop and
residue management under laboratory conditions.
Materials and methods
Summer catch crop-cucumber management
history
The soils used for the nitrogen mineralization studies
were sampled from a five-year trial designed to
investigate the effect of six summer catch crop-
cucumber rotation treatments on cucumber produc-
tivity and soil nitrogen accretion, such as root zone N
management with sweet corn as catch crop (SR), root
zone N management with sweet corn as catch crop
and with residue incorporation after the sweet corn
harvest (SI), root zone N management with common
bean as cover crop (CR), root zone N management
with common bean as cover crop and with residue
incorporation after the common bean harvest (CI),
root zone N management with Garland chrysanthe-
mum and edible amaranth as cover crops (GR),
fallowing in the summer period (Control) (Table 1).
The trial was conducted in a typical five-year-old
commercial greenhouse which was randomly selected
for the field experiment in Changping county, Beijing
suburbs from 2005 to 2009. The greenhouse was
covered with polyethylene film (ground area 6 m 9
72 m) without supplementary lighting or heating.
Field experiments were conducted on a silty loam
soil. The surface soil in the greenhouse (0–0.3 m
layer) had a pH (in water) of 6.4, an electrical
conductivity (EC) value with the extracting ratio
of 1:5 (soil/water) of 420 ls cm-1, a density of
1,287 kg m-3, an initial soil Nmin of 98.8 mg kg-1
and an organic matter content of 28.1 g kg-1 prior to
the experiments. Total N, Olsen-P and NH4OAc-K
were 1.32 g kg-1, 241.4 and 202.5 mg kg-1, respec-
tively. Groundwater with 0.44 mg Nitrate l-1 was
used for irrigation. From 2005 to 2008, the mean
annual air temperature is about 32�C during the
summer fallow season. From the end of July to the
harvest of catch crops, the rainfall is about 250 mm
annually, and the greenhouse is uncovered during this
period. The field previously lay fallow for over
5 years in the summer fallow season (SF season) and
produced cucumber in the autumn–winter season
(AW season) and winter-spring season (WS season).
The high N fertilizer application rate that have been
used during the past decade have caused critical
environmental pollution (Guo et al. 2008).
Cucumber seedlings (Cucumis sativus L. cv. Jinglu
No. 3) with two leaves were transplanted by hand,
with double rows of 90-cm row spacing and 30-cm
plant spacing on the seedbed at the end of February
(WS season), and the beginning of September (AW
season). Once the final harvest was completed,
cucumber vines were immediately removed from
the greenhouse to minimize infection with root fungal
Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 88:429–446 431
123
diseases. Summer catch crops, such as sweet corn,
common bean, Garland chrysanthemum and edible
amaranth, were planted at the end of June and
harvested at the beginning of September (SF season).
For treatments SR and SI, sweet corn seedlings (Zea
mays L. cv. Nongdachaotian No. 2) with three leaves
were transplanted with 60-cm row spacing and 30-cm
plant spacing. For treatments CR and CI, common
bean seeds (Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv. Didouwang
No. 1) with two-grain in each hole were planted with
double rows of 60-cm row spacing and 30-cm plant
spacing. For treatment GR, Garland chrysanthemum
(Chrysanthemum segetum L. cv. Daye No. 1) and
edible amaranth (Amaranthus mangostanus L. cv.
Jingxian No. 1) were broadcast with 10 and 27 kg
seeds ha-1 at the end of June and the end of July,
respectively. Treatment Control was the same relative
to the prior fallow period and crop management. The
catch crop stover and residue (including root) were
removed from field in the treatments SR and GR, and
the above ground were removed from field in the
treatment CR (left root stay in field), while those in
treatments SI and CI were hoed, shattered and
incorporated into the field plots to facilitate the
planting of cucumber (Table 1).
The experiment was a completely randomized
block design with three replicates and the size of each
replicate plot was 4.8 m 9 5.5 m. Furrow irrigation
systems were adopted in the greenhouse based on the
conventional schedule. No fertilizer was applied
during the summer catch crop planting season. Each
plot received same basal fertilizers at September 4
and February 21 in 2005, including 19 t ha-1 chicken
manure (with total N inputs of 218 kg N ha-1,
organic matter, total P and total K contents of the
organic manures were 309, 12.6 and 2.45 g kg-1,
respectively), 0.75 t ha-1 NH4H2PO4 and 0.11 t ha-1
K2SO4. Each plot received same additional fertilizers
at November 20 and April 26, including 0.15 t ha-1
NH4H2PO4 and 0.05 t ha-1 K2SO4, and received the
same irrigation based on the conventional schedule.
From 2006 to 2008, each plot received same basal
fertilizers at September 6 and February 19, including
8.51 t ha-1 chicken manure, 1.26 t ha-1 NH4H2PO4
and 1.26 t ha-1 K2SO4. Each plot received same
additional fertilizers at November 21 and April 25,
including 0.26 t ha-1 NH4H2PO4 and 0.08 t ha-1
K2SO4, and received the same irrigation based on the
conventional schedule. Sixty-four tomato seedlings
were planted in each plot. Field management fol-
lowed conventional practices. Weeds were removed
by hand. Fungicide sprays (SYP-4155, a local
fungicide) were used to control powdery mildew
and downy mildew which frequently occur during
cucumber growth. The soils for the nitrogen miner-
alization studies reported here were sampled from
crop rhizosphere at December 20, 2008, following the
final harvest of the AW season cucumber crop.
Nitrogen mineralization studies
Rhizosphere samples consisted of soils from both
loosely adhering to roots and that could be brushed or
scraped off the root surface. For each plot, root
samples, including adhering soil were collected from
15 individual plants. The root samples were put in
sealed individual bags and kept at 4�C during
transportation to the laboratory. Recovery of soil
Table 1 Description of summer catch crop-cucumber treatments
Treatment
codes
Winter-spring season
(Feb to Jun)
Summer fallow season
(Jun to Sep)
Autumn–winter season
(Sep to Jan)
Catch crop stover and residue
management in September
SR Cucumber Sweet corn Cucumber Removed from field
SI Cucumber Sweet corn Cucumber Hoed/shattered/incorporated into
the soil
CR Cucumber Common bean Cucumber Removed above-ground from field,
left root stay in field
CI Cucumber Common bean Cucumber Hoed/shattered/incorporated into
the soil
GR Cucumber Garland chrysanthemum &
edible amaranth
Cucumber Removed from field
Control Cucumber Fallow Cucumber Bare
432 Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 88:429–446
123
from roots was performed the next day. The samples
were stored at 4�C and were used for the microbial
analysis. One kilogram of the refrigerated soil
samples of each plot was divided into four parts,
and each part was moistened with different quantities
of water to obtain 4 soil water content:
W1 = 0.084 cm3 cm-3 (30% of field capacity, FC),
W2 = 0.173 cm3 cm-3 (62% of FC), W3 = 0.210
cm3 cm-3 (75% of FC) and W4 = 0.266 cm3 cm-3
(95% of FC). FC was determined according to
Veihmeyer and Hendrickson (1949). All the water-
treated soil sub-samples were further stored in a
refrigerator at 4�C for 2 days for equilibration.
Net N mineralization and nitrification were deter-
mined by laboratory incubations (Robertson et al.
1999). Twelve replicates of 10 g sub-samples of the
soils for each treatment and soil water content were
placed in flasks covered with polyethylene film
(permeable to O2 and CO2 but not to H2O), and
divided these flasks into four temperature groups
(three replicates to a group), and placed in four
darkened, 4�C (T1), 15�C (T2), 28�C (T3) and 40�C
(T4) incubator for 28 days, respectively. Initial and
incubated samples (10 g subsample) were submerged
into 50 ml of 2 M KCl and shaken for 24 h to extract
inorganic N. The extracts were filtered through a
Whatman No. 40 filter and analyzed by steam
distillation with MgO and Devarda’s alloy to deter-
mine NH4? and NO3
- content (Keeney and Nelson
1982).
We defined net nitrification and ammonification as
the difference in NO3--N and NH4
?-N before and
after the incubation, respectively, and net N miner-
alization as the difference between total inorganic N
(NH4?-N and NO3
--N) before and after the
incubation.
Formulation of the water factor
Our alternative soil water content based on the
premise that the mineralization process was rapid at
field capacity (FC), but very slow when soil water
content declined below 40% field capacity (Meerle
and Dick 2002). For most silty loam soils such as that
used in this study, Zhang et al. (2003) observed that
the wilting point (WP) was about 32% FC (FC of soil
used in this study is 0.28 cm3 cm-3). Hence, our soil
water content, W1, would be below the WP (30%
FC). The appropriate soil water content for cucumber
vegetative growth stage is 60–70% FC, and the
appropriate soil water content for cucumber repro-
ductive growth stage is 80–90% FC (Zhang et al.
2003). Hence, our soil water content, W2, would be
62% FC, and our soil water content, W4, would be
95% FC. Our soil water content, W3, would be 75%
FC. The maintenance of soil water content (gravi-
metrically) is described by Dalias et al. (2001).
Formulation of the temperature factor
Our alternative soil incubation temperature relied on
the premise that the mineralization process was rapid
when temperature C 15�C (Ingwersen et al. 1999;
Breuer et al. 2002), but very slow when temperature
declined below 5�C (Adiku et al. 2008). Hence, our
temperature, T1, would be below 5�C. For most silty
loam soils such as that used in this study, Zhang et al.
(2003) observed that the cucumber root stop to grow
below 12�C or above 38�C. Hence, our temperature,
T2, would be above 12�C, and our temperature, T4,
would be above 38�C (Zhang et al. 2003). Our
temperature, T3, would be an appropriate incubation
temperature for most silty loam soils (Li et al. 2003;
Zhang et al. 2008).
Soil microbial biomass and physicochemical
characteristics
Soil microbial biomass and physicochemical charac-
teristics under non-limiting soil water and incubation
temperature conditions were measured. A soil water
mixture (1:2.5 soil to water ratio) and a glass
electrode (Delta 320, Mettler-toledd, CN) were used
to determine soil pH. Soil samples were dried for
24 h at 105�C to determine soil water content. The
air-dried samples, passed through 0.2-mm sieve, were
used to determine soil organic carbon (SOC) and total
nitrogen (TN). SOC was measured by the dichromate
oxidation and titration method (Kalembasa and
Jenkinson 1973), and TN was determined by the
classical Micro-Kjeldahl (Bremner 1965). Microbial
biomass carbon (MBC) and nitrogen (MBN) were
determined by using the chloroform fumigation
extraction method (Brookes et al. 1985; Vance
et al. 1987). A 30-g soil composite sample from
each of the 18 samples stored at -20�C was
fumigated with alcohol-free CHCl3 for 24 h after
the samples were pre-incubated in a humidified,
Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 88:429–446 433
123
darkened, 25�C incubator for 7 days. Non-fumigated
and fumigated samples were extracted by shaking
them in 100 ml of 0.5 M K2SO4 for 30 min, and then
filtered. Total organic carbon in the extracts was then
measured by potassium dichromate-bitriol oxidation
method (Vance et al. 1987) and total nitrogen in the
extracts by Kjeldahl digestion (Brookes et al. 1985).
MBC and MBN were calculated from the differences
between extractable C and N in fumigated and non-
fumigated samples using efficiency factors for micro-
bial C (Kc = 0.379; Vance et al. 1987) and microbial
N (Kn = 0.54; Brookes et al. 1985), respectively.
Statistical analysis
Statistical analysis was carried out with SPSS13.0.
Nitrogen ammonification, nitrification and minerali-
zation were analyzed by three-way ANOVA with the
factors rotation, incubation temperature, soil water,
the rotation 9 incubation temperature interaction, the
rotation 9 soil water interaction, the incubation
temperature 9 soil water interaction and the rota-
tion 9 incubation temperature 9 soil water interac-
tion. Soil microbial biomass and physicochemical
characteristics were analyzed by two-way ANOVA
with the factors rotation, residue (removed from the
soil or incorporated into the soil), the rotation 9 res-
idue interaction. Soil analyses were done with 3
analytical replicates per sample. The statistical anal-
ysis, however, was performed with one mean value
per plot. Multiple comparisons using Tukey’s test
were done whenever the ANOVA indicated
significant differences (P B 0.05). Nonparametric
correlations were run between initial soil inorganic
N contents, net N mineralization and soil properties,
and nonparametric correlation coefficient (r) was
derived.
Results
Biomass inputs
Biomass input amount differed among the summer
catch crop-cucumber treatments (Table 2). Biomass
residue in the treatment SI was contributed by the
sweet corn straw and root after harvest at the
beginning of September, and biomass residue in
the treatments CR and CI were contributed by the
common bean root and the common bean straw and
root, respectively. Treatments SR, GR and Control
received no further biomass input. As roots were left
in field in both CR and CI treatments, we lacked data
for common bean root biomass input. However,
estimates were made according to Paul et al. (1999)
and Adiku et al. (2008), based on the assumption that
roots contribute 47% 9 above-ground residues for
legumes. Below-ground N input in treatments CR and
CI were estimated according to Herridge et al.
(2008), based on the assumption that crop N is
140% of shoot N for common bean.
From 2005 to 2008, treatment SI received the
highest total C input but the lowest total N input,
treatment CI received medium total C input and the
Table 2 Average residue, carbon and nitrogen inputs ± standard deviation (Mean ± SD, t ha-1) under the different summer catch
crop-cucumber rotation treatments from 2005 to 2008
Treatmenta Above
ground
Rootb Total residue
input
Total C
input
Shoot Nc
input
Crop N
input
Crop Nd
fixed
Total N
input
SR 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
SI 8.19 ± 0.72 4.34 ± 0.39 12.53 ± 1.11 5.01 ± 0.44 0.06 ± 0.01 0.03 ± 0.01 0.00 0.10 ± 0.01
CR 0.00 2.42 ± 0.30 2.42 ± 0.30 0.97 ± 0.12 0.00 0.15 ± 0.02 0.06 ± 0.01 0.15 ± 0.02
CI 5.30 ± 0.66 2.49 ± 0.31 7.80 ± 0.98 3.12 ± 0.39 0.11 ± 0.02 0.15 ± 0.02 0.06 ± 0.01 0.26 ± 0.04
GR 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Control 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
a Treatment codes are the same as in Table 1b Common bean root = 0.47 9 above ground residue (see reference in Adiku et al. 2008; Paul et al. 1999)c Common bean shoot N input = 0.02 9 above ground biomass (using %N shoots of 2.0% for common bean, see references in
Herridge et al. 2008)d Common bean crop N fixed = 0.4 9 crop N (see references in Herridge et al. 2008)
434 Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 88:429–446
123
highest total N input, treatment CR received lowest
total C input and medium total N input. Treatments
SR, GR and Control received neither C nor N input.
Soil temperature, water content and mineral N
from 2005 to 2008
Soil temperature and water content were recorded
during the sampling days from 2005 and 2008
(Fig. 1). Soil mineral N (Nmin) content was higher
at the beginning of the fallow period in 2005 and
2006 than in 2007 and 2008 (Fig. 2). Catch crop
cropping evidently reduced Nmin compared to the
control in September 2006, 2007 and 2008. Gener-
ally, no significant difference was found in Nmin
content between different catch crop-related treat-
ments in these periods. However, significant differ-
ences were found between different catch crop-
related treatments in December 2005 to 2008. No
significant difference was found in Nmin content
between catch crop-related treatment and the control
in June 2005 to 2007. The Nmin contents was much
higher in June 2006 when compared to similar
periods during the other years. The nonparametric
Soil
wat
er c
onte
nt (
cm3 c
m-3
)
Soil
tem
pera
ture
()
0
10
20
30
40
21-Jun 26-Aug 7-Dec 27-Jun 4-Sep 19-Dec 16-Jun 8-Sep 9-Dec 6-Jul 21-Sep 25-Dec
2005 2006 2007 2008
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25 Soil temperature Soil water content
Fig. 1 Soil temperature
and water content at a soil
depth of 0.2 m on sampling
days during the growing
seasons in greenhouse
cucumber cropping systems
in the Beijing suburbs. Barsrepresent SD of means with
six replicates per sampling
day
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
21-Jun 26-Aug 7-Dec 27-Jun 4-Sep 19-Dec 16-Jun 8-Sep 9-Dec 6-Jul 21-Sep 25-Dec
2005 2006 2007 2008
SR SI CR CI GR Control
Soil
min
eral
N (
mg
N k
g-1)
Fig. 2 Soil mineral N content to a soil depth of 0.2 m under the different summer catch crop-cucumber rotation treatments.
Treatment codes are the same as in Table 1. Bars represent SD of means with three replicates per treatment
Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 88:429–446 435
123
correlation analysis showed that significant correla-
tion (P \ 0.05) was observed between soil mineral N
and temperature. The results of F tests based on
repeated measures ANOVA for soil mineral N indi-
cated treatment, season and treatment-season inter-
action significantly affected soil mineral N (Table 3).
Catch crops and residue management effects
on soil microbial biomass and physicochemical
properties
Two-way ANOVA showed that soil organic carbon
(SOC), total nitrogen (TN) and SOC: TN ratio were
significantly affected (P \ 0.01) by rotation but not
residue management (Table 4). SOC and TN under
the treatment SI were significantly higher (P \ 0.05)
than those under the Control. This difference was
more pronounced for SOC than TN, resulting in
significant changes in the SOC: TN ratio. SOC: TN
ratios under the treatments CR and CI were signif-
icantly higher (P \ 0.05) than those under other
treatments. After 4 years of rotation and residue
management, there was substantial variability in soil
microbial biomass carbon (MBC) across the 6
treatments with the greatest MBC under the treatment
GR, which was significantly higher than those under
the treatments SR, CR and Control (Table 4). Soil
microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) slightly changed
between different treatments. MBN under the treat-
ment GR was significantly higher than that under the
treatment CI. No significant difference between other
treatments was observed. The differences in micro-
bial biomass C between different treatments were
more pronounced than microbial biomass N, resulting
in significant changes in the MBC: MBN ratio. Both
soil NH4?-N and NO3
--N concentrations were
significant affected (P \ 0.001) by the factors rota-
tion, residue management, and the rotation 9 residue
management interaction (Table 4). There was
substantial variability in soil NH4?-N concentrations
across the 6 treatments with the greatest NH4?-N
under the treatments CI and GR, which was signif-
icantly higher than those under other treatments. Soil
NO3--N concentrations increased with the input of
crop residues. No significant correlation between soil
NH4?-N and NO3
--N after 4 years of rotation and
residue management was observed (r = 0.250,
P [ 0.05).
Effects of catch crops, residue management
on nitrogen mineralization under different soil
temperature and water conditions
Soil temperature and water had more influence than
catch crops and residue management on nitrogen
mineralization (Figs. 3, 4, 5). The results for ammo-
nium-N extracted from the incubated soil samples are
presented in Fig. 3. Since three independent samples
from a particular temperature, soil water and treat-
ment were extracted after every sampling, these
results represent cumulative net N ammonification. In
general, positive cumulative net N ammonification
occurred at W1 (0.084 cm3 cm-3), T1 (5�C) or T4
(40�C). No ammonification occurred when soil water
was 0.173 cm3 cm-3 (W2) at the temperature T3
(28�C). Except the temperature and water conditions
mentioned above, negative cumulative net N ammo-
nification was found during the incubation at the
other temperature and water conditions. Although
effects of temperature and water were more pro-
nounced than those of treatments, generally, catch
crop- and residue management-related treatments
showed higher absolute cumulative net N ammoni-
fication compared to the control in most conditions.
Figure 4 showed the results for nitrate-N extracted
from the incubated soil samples. Lower cumulative
net N nitrification was found at W1 or T1. The
highest cumulative net N nitrification was found at
Table 3 Results of F tests based on repeated measures ANOVA for soil mineral N during 4-year field experiment (n = 54). Degree
of freedom (df)
df 2005 2006 2007 2008
F value P value F value P value F value P value F value P value
Treatment (T) 5 5.34 \0.001 4.53 0.003 52.71 \0.001 45.04 \0.001
Season (S) 2 344.63 \0.001 261.85 \0.001 61.42 \0.001 321.09 \0.001
T 9 S 10 3.89 \0.001 4.03 \0.001 7.66 \0.001 85.79 \0.001
436 Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 88:429–446
123
Ta
ble
4A
ver
age
soil
mic
rob
ial
bio
mas
san
dp
hy
sico
chem
ical
char
acte
rist
ics
val
ues
±st
and
ard
dev
iati
on
(Mea
n±
SD
)w
ith
AN
OV
Are
sult
s(n
=3
)u
nd
ern
on
-lim
itin
gso
il
wat
eran
din
cub
atio
nte
mp
erat
ure
con
dit
ion
s
Tre
atm
enta
SO
C
(gC
kg
-1)
TN
(gN
kg
-1)
SO
C:
TN
MB
C
(mg
Ck
g-
1)
MB
N
(mg
Ck
g-
1)
MB
C:
MB
NN
H4?
-N
(mg
Nk
g-
1)
NO
3-
-N
(mg
Nk
g-
1)
SR
17
.04
±0
.63
bcb
1.8
9±
0.1
6ab
9.0
9±
0.9
8b
10
9.7
3±
14
.32
c5
0.9
2±
1.4
8ab
2.1
5±
0.2
2c
27
.43
±1
.68
c1
9.7
6±
2.9
3b
SI
18
.65
±0
.18
a2
.05
±0
.27
a9
.18
±1
.06
b2
91
.55
±7
8.3
2ab
52
.68
±2
.29
ab5
.50
±1
.29
a3
4.5
9±
3.9
1b
c2
7.6
8±
1.1
0a
CR
17
.58
±0
.36
ab1
.49
±0
.22
c1
1.9
6±
1.6
5a
21
9.3
1±
25
.52
b5
2.2
8±
5.6
6ab
4.1
9±
0.0
4b
41
.51
±4
.36
b1
8.8
7±
1.5
5b
CI
17
.46
±1
.30
ab1
.42
±0
.07
c1
2.2
6±
0.8
8a
25
2.6
5±
11
.51
ab4
8.5
9±
4.1
7b
5.2
1±
0.3
7ab
68
.85
±3
.25
a2
7.0
8±
1.9
2a
GR
16
.07
±1
.00
cd1
.80
±0
.18
ab8
.92
±0
.31
b2
99
.01
±5
3.4
8a
56
.53
±3
.57
a5
.26
±0
.63
ab5
9.8
9±
5.9
3a
16
.78
±2
.07
b
Co
ntr
ol
15
.43
±0
.36
d1
.66
±0
.06
bc
9.9
2±
0.5
5b
66
.14
±7
.82
d5
2.3
1±
2.7
0ab
1.5
8±
0.0
8c
8.1
1±
3.5
7d
10
.51
±0
.73
c
So
urc
eo
fv
aria
tio
n
Ro
tati
on
(Ro
)*
**
**
**
*N
S*
**
**
**
*
Res
idu
e(R
e)N
SN
SN
S*
*N
S*
**
**
**
**
Ro
9R
eN
SN
SN
S*
NS
**
**
**
*
SO
C:
soil
org
anic
carb
on
,T
N:
tota
ln
itro
gen
,S
OC
/TN
:so
ilo
rgan
icca
rbo
n/t
ota
ln
itro
gen
rati
o,
MB
C:
mic
rob
ial
bio
mas
sca
rbo
n,
MB
N:
mic
rob
ial
bio
mas
sn
itro
gen
,M
BC
/MB
N:
mic
rob
ial
bio
mas
sca
rbo
n/m
icro
bia
lb
iom
ass
nit
rog
enra
tio
,N
S:
no
tsi
gn
ifica
nt
*P
\0
.05
,*
*P
\0
.01
,*
**
P\
0.0
01
aT
reat
men
tco
des
are
the
sam
eas
inT
able
1b
Th
esa
me
lett
erin
the
sam
eco
lum
nd
eno
tes
no
sig
nifi
can
td
iffe
ren
ce(P
=0
.05
)b
yT
uk
ey’s
mu
ltip
lera
ng
ete
st
Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 88:429–446 437
123
T3 and W4. Except under T1, T4 and W1 conditions,
catch crop- and residue management-related treat-
ments showed higher cumulative net N nitrification
compared to the control than under other temperature
and water conditions. The mineral-N (ammonium-
N ? nitrate-N) extracted from the incubated soil
samples showed variations similar to ammonium-N
(Fig. 5). In general, catch crop- and residue manage-
ment-related treatments showed higher absolute
cumulative net N mineralization compared to the
control.
In nonparametric correlation analysis, amounts of
net N ammonification rate (DNamm) were signifi-
cantly positive correlated with MBC and MBC: MBN
(P \ 0.001), and significantly negative correlated
with SOC: TN (P \ 0.05), when the effects of soil
temperature and water content were eliminated
(Table 6). Amounts of net N nitrification rate (DNnit)
were significantly positive correlated with SOC
(P \ 0.001), MBC and MBC: MBN (P \ 0.05).
Amounts of net N mineralization rate (DNmin)
were significantly positive correlated with SOC
(P \ 0.05), MBC and MBC: MBN (P \ 0.001).
Cucumber yields at harvest
Throughout the 4 years of the experiment, total of
cucumber fruit yields at harvest under the treatments
SR, SI and GR were higher than under the control,
but yields under the treatments CR and CI were lower
than under the control (Fig. 6). For the treatment SR,
relative increases in fruit yields due to rotation varied
from 13% in 2005 to 31% in 2008. For the treatment
SI, relative increases in fruit yields due to rotation
varied from 13% in 2005 to 65% in 2008. The
treatment CR and CI decreased cucumber fruit
yield by 32 and 21% in 2007, and 84 and 61% in
2008 compared with the control, respectively, but
Cum
ulat
ive
net
N a
mm
onif
icat
ion
(mg
N k
g-1)
60
45
30
15
0
-15
-30
A
45
30
15
0
-15
-30
45
30
15
0
-15
-30
45
30
15
0
-15
-30 Control
GR
CI
CR
SI
SR
Control
GR
CI
CR
SI
SR
Control
GR
CI
CR
SI
SR
Control
GR
CI
CR
SI
SR
M T4+W1 N
T3+W1 I
T2+W1
T1+W1 T1+W2
4+22W+2T
T1+W3 T1+W4
E
A
K L
B C D
F G H WTT2+W3
J T3+W2 T3+W3 T3+W4
T4+W2 T4+W3 T4+W4 O P
Fig. 3 Cumulative net N ammonification (a–p) for different
rotation and residue management treatments under variable soil
water and incubation temperature conditions. Treatment codes
are the same as in Table 1. Significant differences (P \ 0.05)
between treatments on specific column dates are indicated by
different histogram bars. Data show mean ± SD (n = 3)
438 Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 88:429–446
123
differences were negligible in 2005 and 2006. The
treatment GR increased fruit yield by 21% in 2006,
16% in 2007 and 64% in 2008, respectively. From
2005 to 2007, no significant difference was found in
fruit yield between SR and SI treatments, or between
CR and CI treatments. In 2008, however, both two
residue management treatments (SR and SI, CR and
CI) showed significant differences between each
others.
Discussion
Effects of catch crops and residue management
on mineralization
Our attention in the current study was focused on the
4-year effects of summer catch crop-cucumber
rotation and residue management on nitrogen miner-
alization, which, even though known to often be
complex and variable (Williams and Weil 2004; Ju
et al. 2007), may be relevant to the design of
N-enhancing cropping systems for intensive produc-
tion regions, especially regions where resource con-
straints limit long-term field trials. Our study showed
that significant changes in total N (from 1.42 to
2.05 g kg-1) and mineral N (from 47.19 to
95.93 mg kg-1) occurred after 4 years of crop rota-
tion and residue management (Table 4). In the
conventional fallowing system (control), total N and
mineral N were 1.66 g kg-1 and 18.62 mg kg-1,
respectively. These findings suggest that mineral
nitrogen used by cucumber can be increased by catch
crop-cucumber rotation and the short-term addition of
catch crop residue input. Apparently, the effects of
crop rotation and residue management on total
20
15
10
5
0
Control
GR
CI
CR
SI
SR
Control
GR
CI
CR
SI
SR
Control
GR
CI
CR
SI
SR
Control
GR
CI
CR
SI
SR
A B C D
E F G H
I J K L
M N O P
T1+W1 T1+W2 T1+W3 T1+W4
T4+W2
T2+W1 T2+W2 T2+W3 T2+W4
T3+W1 T3+W2
T4+W3 T4+W1
T3+W3
T4+W4
T3+W4
Cum
ulat
ive
net
N n
itri
fica
tion
(m
g N
kg-1
)
15
5
0
15
5
0
15
5
0
10
10
10
Fig. 4 Cumulative net N nitrification (a–p) for different
rotation and residue management treatments under variable
soil water and incubation temperature conditions. Treatment
codes are the same as in Table 1. Significant differences
(P \ 0.05) between treatments on specific column dates are
indicated by different histogram bars. Data show mean ± SD
(n = 3)
Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 88:429–446 439
123
nitrogen and mineral nitrogen dynamics are rapid in
intensive vegetable production systems. Our study
showed that the CI and CR treatments decreased total
nitrogen contents compared to the control (Table 4).
It was due to less vigorous cucumber growth in
common bean-related soils than in control soil
(Fig. 6), and thus to ready leaching of nitrate because
of the poor development of root systems in the CI and
CR treatments (Thorup-Kristensen 2006; Verma et al.
2007). In addition, higher soil N mineralization rates
in CI and CR treatments (Figs. 4, 7) may contribute
to the leachable N outside the crop growing period
(Powlson 1993). After 4-year residue management,
the successive biomass inputs affected N mineraliza-
tion (Fig. 7). Residue-input-related treatments (SI or
CI) showed higher cumulative N mineralization than
the residue-output-related treatments (SR or CR).
Presumably, in catch crop-related systems, changes in
mineral N activities are the results of different root
inputs, such as rhizosphere exudates and root turn-
over (Coleman et al. 2000), and the quantity and
quality of aboveground inputs (Kourtev et al. 2002).
60
40
20
0
-20
Control
GR
CI
CR
SI
SR
Control
GR
CI
CR
SI
SR
Control
GR
CI
CR
SI
SR
Control
GR
CI
CR
SI
SR
E
KI
H
L
P
A B C D
G
J
F
NM O
T1+W1 T1+W2 T1+W3 T1+W4
T2+W1 T2+W2 T2+W3 T2+W4
T3+W1 T3+W2 T3+W3 T3+W4
T4+W1 T4+W2 T4+W3 T4+W4
Cum
ulat
ive
net
N m
iner
aliz
atio
n (m
g N
kg-1
)
40
20
0
40
20
0
40
20
0
-20
-20
-20
Fig. 5 Cumulative net N mineralization (a–p) for different
rotation and residue management treatments under variable soil
water and incubation temperature conditions. Treatment codes
are the same as in Table 1. Significant differences (P \ 0.05)
between treatments on specific column dates are indicated by
different histogram bars. Data show mean ± SD (n = 3)
Fru
it y
ield
(t
ha-1
) b
baaa aaa a
a
ab bc
e
d
b abc
d
d
ab
aaaa
c
cbbab
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
2005 2006 2007 2008 2005-2008
SRSICRCIGRControl
Fig. 6 Fruit yield of the succeeding cucumber from six
summer cover-crop-related treatments at the harvest periods
of 2005–2008. Bars represent SD of means with three
replicates per treatment. The same letter in the same year
denotes no significant difference (P = 0.05) by Tukey’s
multiple range test. Treatment codes are the same as in Table 1
440 Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 88:429–446
123
Mineral N was much higher in June 2006 when
compared to similar periods during the other years.
One possible explanation is that lower soil temperature
results in higher mineral N in June 2006 (Fig. 1). The
nonparametric correlation analysis showed that signif-
icant negative correlation (-0.282*, P \ 0.05) was
observed between soil mineral N and temperature in
field condition. Generally, mineral N showed more
pronounced differences between treatments in Decem-
ber than other periods of the year. It could be due to
more pronounced differences of crop growth between
treatments in December compared to other periods,
which could induce significant differences in environ-
mental conditions near the roots affected by nitrogen
uptake and carbon exudation (Tian et al. 2009; Vineela
et al. 2008). Additionally, soil temperature, water and
their interaction had more influence than catch crops
and residue management on N mineralization (Figs. 3,
4, 5), which was supported by the results of F tests
based on repeated measures ANOVA for net N
mineralization (Table 5). However, when the effects
of soil temperature and water content were eliminated,
all catch crop-related rotations showed higher N
mineralization, when compared to the control (Fig. 7).
Soil microorganisms can be N limited (Michelsen
et al. 1999; Hines et al. 2006). Under low soil N
availability, plants and soil microorganisms compete
for N during the growing season (Zak et al. 1990;
Williams et al. 2001). However, the growing season
sampling in catch crop-induced soil in our study
avoided competition between plants and soil micro-
organisms. Our observation, which indicated soil
microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) did not varied
significantly as a function of rotation (df = 3, P [0.05) or residue management (df = 1, P [ 0.05),
agree with this result (Table 4).
Mineral N and N mineralization
Among the six soils, sample CI had the highest
amount of mineral N, almost five times that of the
control sample (Table 4). This phenomenon could be
Mea
n N
amo
(mg
N k
g-1)
Mea
n N
nit (m
g N
kg-1
) M
ean
Nm
in (m
g N
kg-1
)
-3
0
3
6
9
12
15A
0
3
6
9
12
15B
0
3
6
9
12
15
SR SI CR CI GR Control
C
SR SI CR CI GR Control
SR SI CR CI GR Control
Fig. 7 Soil cumulative net N ammonification (Namm, A), net N
nitrification (Nnit, B), net N mineralization (Nmin, C) for
different rotation and residue management treatments when the
effects of soil temperature and moisture were eliminated.
Treatment codes are the same as in Table 1
Table 5 Results of F tests based on repeated measures ANOVA for net N ammonification, nitrification and mineralization during
28-day incubation (n = 288)
Source of variation df N ammonification N nitrification N mineralization
F value P value F value P value F value P value
Treatment (Tr) 5 283.57 \0.001 61.54 \0.001 297.33 \0.001
Soil temperature (St) 3 5864.16 \0.001 9224.83 \0.001 4459.28 \0.001
Soil water (Sw) 3 795.76 \0.001 2342.10 \0.001 436.61 \0.001
Tr 9 St 15 180.62 \0.001 17.06 \0.001 169.58 \0.001
Tr 9 Sw 15 24.85 \0.001 14.39 \0.001 24.94 \0.001
St 9 Sw 9 141.81 \0.001 327.79 \0.001 103.30 \0.001
Tr 9 St 9 Sw 45 27.22 \0.001 6.41 \0.001 25.57 \0.001
df: degree of freedom
Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 88:429–446 441
123
explained by the differences in the physical and
chemical properties of soils. There are many reports
on the relationship between mineral capacity and soil
properties (Antonopoulos 1999; Li et al. 2003; Dossa
et al. 2009; Zhou et al. 2009). In general, the amount
of N mineralized is correlated with total N, organic C
(Curtin and Guang 1999; Li et al. 2003; Hines et al.
2006), and microbial C and N (Ireneo et al. 1996;
Zhang et al. 2008). Although carbon is the typical
energy source for heterotrophs, nitrogen is often
considered to be the most limiting nutrient for soil
and crop residue decomposers (Manzoni and Propor-
ato 2009). However, in this study, the nonparametric
correlation analysis showed that no significant corre-
lation (P [ 0.05) was observed between total N,
microbial N and the initial ammonium-N, nitrate-N
and inorganic N (Table 6). In fact, microbial C
showed significant correlations (P \ 0.001) with the
initial ammonium-N, nitrate-N and inorganic N, and
organic C showed significant correlation (P \ 0.001)
with nitrate-N. The results suggested that the effect of
carbon on N mineralization was more pronounced
than that of nitrogen, and the effect of microbial C
on the different forms of inorganic N was more
pronounced than that of organic C. Because microbial
biomass is the driver of most soil carbon and nitrogen
cycling (Manzoni and Proporato 2009), the amount of
N mineralized is correlated with soil C:N ratio and
microbial C:N ratio (Manzoni et al. 2008). In our
experiments, the nonparametric correlation analysis
showed that microbial C:N ratio was significantly
correlated (P \ 0.001) with the initial soil inorganic
N contents (ammonium-N, nitrate-N and inorganic
N) at the start of incubation period, respectively, but
no correlation (P [ 0.05) between soil C:N ratio and
the initial soil inorganic N contents was observed.
This means microbial C:N ratio is the most limiting
factor to N mineralization capacity.
One effect of catch crops on the N nutrition of the
succeeding crop is mineralization or immobilization
caused by the decomposition of the plant residues in
the soil (Thorup-Kristensen 1993). Immobilization of
N by the catch crop residues is usually regarded as a
disadvantage of the system because it makes soil N
unavailable to the succeeding crop (Jensen 1991). In
our experiment, although higher immobilization of N
by the catch crop residues was found at 15 and 28�C
(Fig. 3), higher available N to the succeeding crop
was observed in field condition (Table 4). When the
effects of soil temperature and water content were
eliminated, sample SI showed the highest cumulative
net N mineralization, while sample Control showed
the lowest cumulative net N mineralization (Fig. 7).
This might be interpreted by the hypothesis men-
tioned above, that the effect of carbon on N
mineralization was more pronounced than that of
nitrogen (CNMN). From 2005 to 2008, treatment SI
received the highest total C input but the lowest total
N input in residue management (Table 2). The result
that microbial C showed significant correlations
(P \ 0.001) with the net N ammonification,
nitrification and mineralization rates, and organic
Table 6 Nonparametric correlations between initial soil inor-
ganic N contents (ammonium-N, nitrate-N and inorganic N,
respectively, mg kg-1) at the start of incubation period, net N
ammonification rate (DNamm, mg kg-1 d-1), net N nitrification
rate (DNnit, mg kg-1 d-1), net N mineralization rate (DNmin,
mg kg-1 d-1) and soil properties (n = 18) during 28-day
incubation when the effects of soil temperature and moisture
were eliminated
Soil properties Initial Net
Ammonium-N Nitrate-N Inorganic N DNamm DNnit DNmin
SOCa 0.315 0.886** 0.376 0.433 0.845** 0.526*
TN -0.287 0.167 -0.215 0.382 0.153 0.310
SOC/TN 0.385 0.331 0.408 -0.513* 0.214 0.288
MBC 0.792** 0.593** 0.833** 0.678** 0.488* 0.841**
MBN 0.176 -0.044 0.205 0.259 -0.139 0.315
MBC/MBN 0.804** 0.676** 0.851** 0.664** 0.577* 0.849**
* and ** statistically significant at P \ 0.05, 0.01, respectivelya The codes of soil properties are the same as in Table 4
442 Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 88:429–446
123
C showed significant correlation with net N nitrifica-
tion (P \ 0.001) and mineralization rates (P \ 0.05)
also supports the CNMN hypothesis (Table 6). Gen-
erally, when compared to the control, samples from
catch crop-related rotations showed higher cumula-
tive net ammonification and mineralization (Fig. 7).
In addition, catch crop-related rotations showed
higher ammonium-N than nitrate-N, while the control
showed lower ammonium-N than nitrate-N (Table 4).
These results demonstrate that catch crops and
residue management influence changes of ammo-
nium-N more significantly than that of nitrate-N, and
their effects more prominent than that of the control.
Fruit yield and soil N mineralization
Generally, the treatments SR, SI and GR showed
higher N mineralization capacity compared to the
treatments CR, CI and the control (Fig. 7). A similar
difference was found in cucumber yields (Fig. 6).
Presumably, cucumber yields increases under the
treatments SI, SR and GR could be explained by
higher N mineralization capacity (Fig. 7), and thus
higher mineral N in the succeeding cucumber rhizo-
sphere (Fig. 2 and Table 4). However, when com-
pared to the control, the treatments CR and CI
showed higher N mineralization capacity but lower
cucumber yields. The result presented here suggested
that there were complex relationships between fruit
yield and soil N mineralization in our study site. It
seemed that the direct importance of N mineralization
on cucumber yields was hard to assess. In fact, we
found that two important plant-parasitic nematode
groups (Meloidogyne sp. and Helicotylenchus sp.)
were all parasites of both common bean and cucum-
ber in our study site (Tian et al. unpublished data).
When both crops in a rotation were hosts of plant-
parasitic nematodes, the nematode levels might
steadily increase because nematodes would be able
to propagate continuously (Wildermuth et al. 1997).
Thus, the effects of N mineralization on fruit yields
would be weakened (McSorley and Dickson 1995;
Wildermuth et al. 1997). Given the difficulty to
directly distinguish the effects of N mineralization on
fruit yield under the common bean-related treatments,
and the absence of a common bean-related nematode
free treatment in our experiment, we hypothesis when
plant-parasitic nematodes are suppressed, the com-
mon bean-related treatments may show higher
cucumber yields than the control. A generally
proposed explanation is an increased N availability
for the succeeding crop from symbiotic N2-fixation of
the preceding legume which can lead to significant
increases in the available soil N pool and crop yields
(Baldock et al. 1981; Bagayoko et al. 2000).
In summary, the nitrogen mineralization was
significantly affected by crop rotation, residue man-
agement, soil temperature and water content. Effects
of these parameters on nitrogen mineralization were
complex and variable. Our observations of crop
rotation, residue management effects demonstrated
some emerging patterns after 4 years. When com-
pared with continuous cropping system, catch-crop-
and residue-management-induced systems had higher
nitrogen mineralization capacity. Effects of crop
rotation and residue management on changes of
ammonium-nitrogen were more pronounced than that
of nitrate-nitrogen in intensive vegetable production
systems. The effect of carbon on N mineralization
was more pronounced than that of nitrogen, and the
effect of microbial C on the different forms of
inorganic N was more pronounced than that of
organic C. Generally, soil temperature and water had
more influence than catch crops and residue man-
agement on N mineralization. There were complex
relationships between fruit yield and soil N mineral-
ization in common bean- and residue management-
induced systems, when both common bean and
cucumber in rotations (CR and CI) were hosts of
plant-parasitic nematodes. Sweet corn (SI and SR),
garland chrysanthemum and edible amaranth (GR)
could be introduced as advisable biological N man-
agement tools to minimize N pollution in the summer
fallowing periods, to increase the succeeding cucum-
ber rhizosphere nitrogen mineralization, and thus to
increase the succeeding cucumber yields in intensive
vegetable production systems. The right choice of the
summer catch crop species would help to stabilize
cucumber yields.
Acknowledgments We are grateful to the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (Project 30972034) and the key
projects of the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology
(2008BADA6B03 and 2006BAD17B07) for financial supports.
We are also grateful to two reviewers for their valuable
comments in manuscript preparation.
Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 88:429–446 443
123
References
Adiku AGK, Narh S, Jones JW, Laryea KB, Dowuona GN
(2008) Short-term effects of crop rotation, residue man-
agement, and soil water on carbon mineralization in a
tropical cropping system. Plant Soil 311:29–38
Antonopoulos VZ (1999) Comparison of different models to
simulate soil temperature and moisture effects on nitrogen
mineralization in the soil. J Plant Nutr Soil Sci 162:
667–675
Bagayoko M, Buerkert A, Lung G, Bationo A, Romheld V
(2000) Cereal/legume rotation effects on cereal growth in
Sudano-Shahelian West Africa: soil mineral nitrogen,
mycorrhizae and nematodes. Plant Soil 218:103–116
Baldock JO, Higgs RL, Paulson WH, Jackobs JA, Shrader WD
(1981) Legume and mineral N effects on crop yields in
several crop sequences in the Upper Mississippi Valley.
Agron J 73:885–890
Bremner JM (1965) Total nitrogen. Agron J 9:1149–1178
Breuer L, Kiese R, Butterbach BK (2002) Temperature and
moisture effects on nitrification rates in tropical rain forest
soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 66:834–844
Brookes PC, Landman A, Pruden G, Jenkinson DS (1985)
Chloroform fumigation and the release of soil nitrogen: a
rapid direct extraction method to measure microbial bio-
mass nitrogen in soil. Soil Biol Biochem 17:837–842
Cabrera ML, Chiang SC (1994) Water content effect on
denitrification and ammonia volatilization in poultry litter.
Soil Sci Soc Am J 58:811–816
Cao JQ, Ouyang H, Xu XL, Zhou CP, Zhang F (2009) Effects
of temperature and water saturation on CO2 production
and nitrogen mineralization in Alpine wetland soils.
Pedosphere 19:71–77
Cassman KG, Munns DN (1980) Nitrogen mineralization as
affected by soil moisture, temperature and depth. Soil Sci
Soc Am J 44:1233–1237
Chen Q, Zhang XS, Zhang HY, Christie P, Li XL, Horlacher D,
Liebig HP (2004) Evaluation of current fertilizer practice
and soil fertility in vegetable production in the Beijing
region. Nutr Cycl Agroecosys 69:51–58
Coleman MD, Dickson RE, Isebrands JG (2000) Contrasting
fine-root production, survival and soil CO2 efflux in pine
and poplar plantations. Plant Soil 225:129–139
Curtin D, Guang W (1999) Organic matter fractions contri-
bution to soil nitrogen mineralization potential. Soil Sci
Soc Am J 63:410–415
Dalias P, Anderson JM, Bottner P, Couteaux MM (2001)
Temperature responses of carbon mineralization in conifer
forest soils from different regional climates incubated
under standard laboratory conditions. Global Change Biol
7:181–192
Dossa EL, Khouma M, Diedhiou I, Sene M, Kizito F, Badiane
AN, Samba SAN, Dick RP (2009) Carbon, nitrogen and
phosphorus mineralization potential of semiarid Sahelian
soils amended with native shrub residues. Geoderma
148:251–260
Fox RH, Piekielek WP, MacNeal KE (1996) Estimating
ammonia volatilization losses from urea fertilizers using a
simplified micrometeorological sampler. Soil Sci Soc Am
J 60:596–601
Gollany HT, Molina JE, Clapp CE, Allmaras RR, Layese MF,
Baker JM, Cheng HH (2004) Nitrogen leaching and
denitrification in continuous corn as related to residue
management and nitrogen fertilization. Environ Manage
33:S289–S298
Guo RY, Li XL, Christie P, Chen Q, Jiang RF, Zhang FS
(2008) Influence of root zone nitrogen management and a
summer catch crop on cucumber yield and soil mineral
nitrogen dynamics in intensive production systems. Plant
Soil 313:55–70
He FF, Chen Q, Jiang RF, Chen XP, Zhang FS (2007) Yield
and nitrogen balance of greenhouse tomato (Lycopersicumesculentum Mill.) with conventional and site-specific
nitrogen management in Northern China. Nutr Cycl Ag-
roecosys 77:1–14
Herridge DF, Peoples MB, Boddey RM (2008) Global inputs
of biological nitrogen fixation in agricultural systems.
Plant Soil 311:1–18
Hines J, Megonigal JP, Denno RD (2006) Nutrient subsidies to
belowground microbes impact aboveground food web
interactions. Ecology 87:1542–1555
Ingwersen J, Butterbach BK, Gasche R, Richter O, Papen H
(1999) Barometric process separation: new method for
quantifying nitrification, denitrification, and nitrous oxide
sources in soils. Soil Sc Soc Am J 63:117–128
Ireneo JM, Iwao W, Grace BM, Jasper GT (1996) Nitrogen
mineralization in tropical wetland rice soils: I. Relation-
ship with temperature and soil properties. Soil Sci Plant
Nutr 42:229–238
Jensen ES (1991) Nitrogen accumulation and residual effects
of nitrogen catch crops. Acta Agr Scand 41:333–344
Ju XT, Gao Q, Christie P, Zhang FS (2007) Interception of
residual nitrate from a calcareous alluvial soil profile on
the North China Plain by deep-rooted crops: a 15N tracer
study. Environ Pollut 146:534–542
Kalembasa SJ, Jenkinson DS (1973) A comparative study of
titrimetric and gravimetric methods for the determination
of organic carbon in soil. J Sci Food Agr 24:1085–1090
Keeney DR, Nelson DW (1982) Nitrogen inorganic forms. In:
Page AL, Miller RH, Keeney DR (eds) Methods of soil
analysis, part 2: chemical and microbiological properties.
American Society of Agronomy, Madison, pp 643–698
Kladivko EJ, Keeney DR (1987) Soil nitrogen mineralization
as affected by water and temperature interactions. Biol
Fert Soils 5:248–252
Kourtev PS, Ehrenfield JG, Haggblom AM (2002) Exotic plant
species alter the microbial community structure and
function in the soil. Ecology 83:3152–3166
Kowalenko CG, Cameron DR (1976) Nitrogen transformations
in an incubated soil as affected by combinations of
moisture content and temperature and adsorption-fixation
of ammonium. Can J Soil Sci 56:63–70
Kuo S, Jellum EJ (2002) Influence of winter cover crop and
residue management on soil nitrogen availability and
corn. Agron J 94:501–508
Li H, Han Y, Cai Z (2003) Nitrogen mineralization in paddy soils
of the Taihu Region of China under anaerobic conditions:
dynamics and model fitting. Geoderma 115:161–175
Li Y, Gao L, Wu Y, Guo R, Zhang X (2006) Effect of
summer catch crops on soil environment in solar
444 Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 88:429–446
123
greenhouse. J Shengyang Agr Univ 37:531–534 (in
Chinese)
Li Y, Si L, Zhang X, Tian Y, Guo R, Ren H, Gao L (2008)
Comparative study on the effects of catch crops on soil
environment in solar greenhouse. Trans CSAE 24:24–29
(in Chinese)
Logsdon D, Kaspar TC, Meek DW, Prueger JH (2002) Nitrate
leaching as influenced by cover crops in large soil
monoliths. Agron J 94:807–814
Maithani K, Arunuchalam A, Tripathi RS, Pandey HN (1998)
Influence of litter quality on N mineralization in soils of
subtropical humid forest regrowths. Biol Fert Soils 27:
44–50
Manzoni S, Proporato A (2009) Soil carbon and nitrogen
mineralization: theory and models across scales. Soil Biol
Biochem 41:1355–1379
Manzoni S, Jackson RB, Trofymow JA, Proporato A (2008)
The global stoichiometry of litter nitrogen mineralization.
Science 321:684–686
McSorley R, Dickson DW (1995) Effect of tropical rotation
crops on Meloidogyne incognita and other plant-parasitic
nematodes. J Nematol 27(4S):535–544
Meerle FV, Dick S (2002) Conservation tillage fact sheet.
USDA-ARS, USDA-NRCS, Washington, District of
Columbia, No. 3–95, Publication
Michelsen A, Graglia E, Schmidt IK, Jonasson S, Sleep D,
Quarmby C (1999) Differential responses of grass and a
dwarf shrub to long-term changes in soil microbialbio-
mass C, N and P following factorial addition of NPK
fertilizer, fungicide and labile carbon to a heath. New
Phytol 143:523–538
Panagiotis D, Jonathan MA, Pierre B, Marie-Madeleine C
(2002) Temperature responses of net nitrogen minerali-
zation and nitrification in conifer forest soils incubated
under standard laboratory conditions. Soil Biol Biochem
34:691–710
Paul EA, Harris D, Collins HP, Schulthess U, Robertson GP
(1999) Evolution of CO2 and soil carbon dynamics in
biologically managed, row-crop agroecosystems. Appl
Soil Ecol 11:53–65
Powlson DS (1993) Understanding the soil nitrogen cycle. Soil
Use Manage 9:86–94
Quemada M, Cabrera ML (1997) Temperature and moisture
effects on C and N mineralization from surface applied
clover residue. Plant Soil 189:127–137
Robertson GP, Wedin D, Groffman PM, Blair JM, Holland EA,
Nadelhoffer KJ, Harris D (1999) Soil carbon and nitrogen
availability. In: Robertson GP, Bledsoe CS, Coleman DC,
Sollins P (eds) Standard soil methods for long-term eco-
logical research. Oxford University Press, New York,
pp 258–265
Schwendener CM, Lehmann J, de Camargo PB, Luizao RCC,
Fernandes ECM (2005) Nitrogen transfer between high-
and low-quality leaves on a nutrient-poor Oxisol deter-
mined by N15 enrichment. Soil Biol Biochem 37:787–794
Shao Y, Chai BL, Li CX, Jiang LN, Hao BZ, Zhang DJ (2009)
Effects of alleviating the toxicity of Pb to wheat by adding
corn stalk in polluted soils. Acta Ecol Sinica 29:2073–2079
Smith SJ, Young LB, Miller GE (1977) Evaluation of soil
nitrogen mineralization potentials under modified field
condition. Soil Sci Soc Am J 41:74–76
Sommers LE, Gilmour CM, Wildung RE, Beck SM (1981) The
effect of water potential on decomposition processes in
soils. In: Parr JF, Gardner WR, Elliott LF (eds) Water
potential relations in soil microbiology. American Society
of Agronomy, Madison, Wisconsin, pp 97–117
Sun S (1997) Effects uncomposed corn straw on improvement
of soil with continuous cropping in plastic house. Trans
CSAE 13:135–139 (in Chinese)
Thomsen IK (2005) Nitrate leaching under spring barley is
influenced by the presence of a ryegrass catch crop:
Results from a lysimeter experiment. Agr Ecosys Environ
111:21–29
Thomsen IK, Christensen BT (1999) Nitrogen conserving
potential of successive ryegrass catch crops in continuous
spring barley. Soil Use Manage 15:195–200
Thorup-Kristensen K (1993) The effect of nitrogen catch crops
on the nitrogen nutrition of a succeeding crop: I. Effects
through mineralization and pre-emptive competition. Acta
Agr Scand Section B- S P 43:74–81
Thorup-Kristensen K (2006) Root growth and nitrogen uptake
of carrot, early cabbage, onion and lettuce following a
range of green manures. Soil Use Manage 22:29–38
Thorup-Kristensen K, Magid J, Jensen LS (2003) Catch
crops and green manures as biological tools in nitrogen
management in temperate zones. Advan Agron 79:
227–302
Tian Y, Zhang X, Liu J, Chen Q, Gao L (2009) Microbial
properties of rhizosphere soils as affected by rotation,
grafting, and soil sterilization in intensive vegetable pro-
duction systems. Sci Hortic 123:139–147
Vance ED, Brookes PC, Jenkinson DS (1987) An extraction
method for measuring soil microbial biomass C. Soil Biol
Biochem 19:703–707
Veihmeyer FJ, Hendrickson AH (1949) Methods of measuring
field capacity and wilting percentages of soils. Soil Sci
68:75–94
Verma P, George KV, Singh HV, Singh RN (2007) Modeling
cadmium accumulation in radish, carrot, spinach and
cabbage. Appl Math Model 31:1652–1661
Vineela C, Wani SP, Srinivasarao C, Padmaja B, Vittal KPR
(2008) Microbial properties of soils as affected by crop-
ping and nutrient management practices in several long-
term manorial experiments in the semi-arid tropics of
India. Appl Soil Ecol 40:165–173
Wang CH, Wan SQ, Xing XR, Zhang L, Han XG (2006)
Temperature and soil moisture interactively affected soil
net N mineralization in temperate grassland in Northern
China. Soil Biol Biochem 38:1101–1110
Wildermuth GB, Thompson JP, Robertson LN (1997) Bio-
logical change: diseases, insects and beneficial organisms.
In: Clarke AL, Wylie PB (eds) Sustainable crop produc-
tion in the sub-tropics: an Australian Perspective. Bris-
bane, Australia, pp 112–130
Williams SM, Weil RR (2004) Crop cover root channels may
alleviate soil compaction effects on soybean crop. Soil Sci
Soc Am J 68:1403–1409
Williams MA, Rice CW, Owensby CE (2001) Nitrogen com-
petition in a tallgrass prairie ecosystem exposed to ele-
vated carbon dioxide. Soil Sci Soc Am J 65:340–346
Wu Y, Gao L, Li H, Si L, Li Y, Zhang X (2006) Effects of
different aestival utilization patterns on yield and soil
Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 88:429–446 445
123
environment in cucumber. Scientia Agricultura Sinca
39:2551–2556 (in Chinese)
Zak DR, Groffman PM, Pregitzer KS, Christensen S, Tiedje
JM (1990) The vernal dam: plant-microbe competition
for nitrogen in northern hardwood forests. Ecology 71:
651–656
Zhang ZX, Ren HZ, Wang Q, Chen RY (2003) Gourd vege-
table cultivation. In: Zhang ZX, Yu JQ, Yu XC, Liu SQ
(eds) Vegetable cultivation studies. China Agricultural
University Press, Beijing, pp 143–144
Zhang J, Shen QR, Ran W, Xu Y, Xu YC (2004) Effects of the
application pretreated rice straw with nitrogen fertilizer on
soil nitrogen supply and spinach growth and quality. Soils
36:37–42 (in Chinese)
Zhang N, Wan S, Li L, Bi J, Zhao M, Ma K (2008) Impacts
of urea N addition on soil microbial community in a
semi-arid temperate steppe in northern China. Plant Soil
311:19–28
Zhou L, Huang J, Lu F, Han X (2009) Effects of prescribed
burning and seasonal and inter annual climate variation on
nitrogen mineralization in a typical steppe in Inner
Mongolia. Soil Biol Biochem 41:796–803
Zhu ZL, Wen QX (1992) Nitrogen in the Chinese soil. Sci-
entific and Technology Publishing House, Jiangsu, p 228
(in Chinese)
Zhu JG, Han Y, Liu G, Zhang YL, Shao XH (2000) Nitrogen in
percolation water in paddy fields with a rice/wheat rota-
tion. Nutr Cycl Agroecosys 57:75–82
Zhu JH, Li XL, Christie P, Li JL (2005) Environmental
implications of low nitrogen use efficiency in excessively
fertilized hot pepper (Capsicum frutescens L.) cropping
systems. Agr Ecosys Environ 111:70–80
446 Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 88:429–446
123