Effects of Conservation Tillage on Topsoil Microbial Metabolic Characteristics and Organic Carbon within Aggregates under a Rice (Oryza sativa L.)-Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Cropping System in Central China

Investigating microbial metabolic characteristics and soil organic carbon (SOC) within aggregates and their relationships under conservation tillage may be useful in revealing the mechanism of SOC sequestration in conservation tillage systems. However, limited studies have been conducted to investigate the relationship between SOC and microbial metabolic characteristics within aggregate fractions under conservation tillage. We hypothesized that close relationships can exist between SOC and microbial metabolic characteristics within aggregates under conservation tillage. In this study, a field experiment was conducted from June 2011 to June 2013 following a split-plot design of a randomized complete block with tillage practices [conventional intensive tillage (CT) and no tillage (NT)] as main plots and straw returning methods [preceding crop residue returning (S, 2100-2500 kg C ha-1) and removal (NS, 0 kg C ha(-1))] as subplots with three replications. The objective of this study was to reveal the effects of tillage practices and residue-returning methods on topsoil microbial metabolic characteristics and organic carbon (SOC) fractions within aggregates and their relationships under a rice-wheat cropping system in central China. Microbial metabolic characteristics investigated using the Biolog system was examined within two aggregate fractions (>0.25 and 0.25 aggregate, and 0.25 mm aggregate (11.3%), and 0.25 mm aggregate, and 0.25 mm aggregate, and 0.25 and