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

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ilo

rgan

icca

rbo

n/t

ota

ln

itro

gen

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C:

mic

rob

ial

bio

mas

sca

rbo

n,

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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

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