ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Terrestrial Microbiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1611691
This article is part of the Research TopicSoil Carbon Sequestration and Microbial Energy MetabolismView all 8 articles
Impact of corn straw and straw-derived biochar returning to the field on soil carbon fractions, carbon-converting enzyme activities, and cbbL bacterial community structure
Provisionally accepted
- Harbin Normal University, Harbin, China
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Limited information is available on how the individual or combined application of crop straw and straw-derived biochar influences soil carbon-converting enzymes and the soil cbbL bacterial. This study conducted three consecutive growing-season field experiments in a typical black-soil zone using a soybean–corn rotation system. Four straw return treatments were established based on equal carbon input (2,500 kg·hm-2), including the blank control with no carbon source (T0), corn straw applied alone (T1), straw-derived biochar applied alone (T2), and their co-application at ratios of 1:3 (T3) and 3:1 (T4). The results indicated that compared to T0, the four treatments had no significant effect on soil labile organic carbon (LOC) but significantly affected soil organic carbon (OC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) (p < 0.05). Notably, soil carbon mineralization was significantly enhanced under T1 and T3, increasing by 13.38 % and 13.28 %, respectively. All the treatments significantly reduced the relative abundance of Alphaproteobacteria (dominant class) and Nitrobacter (dominant genus) in the cbbL bacterial community, and significantly promoted soil enzyme activities: SCL (cellulase), SAI (amylase) and SSC (sucrase) increased by 2.95–15.35%, 6.10– 19.26% and 10.84–53.17%, respectively. Comprehensive analysis demonstrated that straw-derived biochar incorporation directly and significantly affected the cbbL bacterial community structure, while both straw and biochar significantly affected the enzyme activities. Enzyme activities directly influenced the levels of soil carbon fractions, which ultimately determined the soil organic carbon mineralization capacity. Overall, the response of carbon mineralization to straw and biochar application was primarily driven by the content of soil carbon fractions, which were regulated by enzyme activity. This study provides a scientific basis for enhancing the carbon sequestration potential of black soils in China.
Keywords: corn straw1, straw-derived biochar2, carbon fractions3, carbon-convertingenzymes4, soil cbbL bacterial community5
Received: 14 Apr 2025; Accepted: 17 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Ren, Yu, Wu, Yin, Yue and Bai. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Zhonghui Yue, yuezhonghui@163.com
Xin Bai, baixin@hrbnu.edu.cn
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