ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Crop and Product Physiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1565081
This article is part of the Research TopicFood-Energy-Water-Carbon-Nitrogen Nexus Mechanisms and Practices for Sustainable Crop SystemsView all 10 articles
Partial substitution of chemical fertilizer with organic fertilizer: A promising circular economy approach for improvement soil physical and chemical properties and sustainable crop yields
Provisionally accepted
Qian Chen1,2
Junhong Xie1,2*
Lingling Li1,2
Khuram Shehzad Khan1,2
Linlin Wang1,2
Lei Chang1,2
Changliang Du1,2- 1State Key Laboratory of Aridland Crop Biology, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, China
- 2College of Agronomy, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China
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Food security requires sustainable yield improvements, and organic fertilizer (OF) substitution can enhance soil nutrient cycling and crop productivity. However, the mechanisms linking OF-induced soil organic carbon (SOC) changes to yield remain unclear. A two-year maize field trial (2019–2020) tested six treatments: no fertilizer (CK), chemical fertilizer (CF), and four OF substitution rates (50%, 37.5%, 25%, and 12.5% OF). Fully mulched ridge-furrow technology optimized soil moisture and temperature. Key results showed that 12.5% OF reduced water use by 1.40% during critical growth stages versus CF, while increasing 0–30 cm total phosphorus (TP; +15.09%), soil porosity (+4.82%), and available phosphorus (AP; +34.81%) compared to CK (two-year average). Partial OF substitution significantly improved SOC and its fractions: 12.5% OF elevated 0–30 cm easily oxidizable organic carbon (EOC; +33.23%), SOC (+2.18%), and particulate organic carbon (POC; +6.64%) over CF. At 10–30 cm, 37.5% OF boosted microbial biomass carbon (MBC; +9.90%) and hot water-soluble carbon (HOC; +6.90%) versus CF. The 12.5% OF also enhanced EOC (+13.20%) at 0–5 cm and dissolved organic carbon (DOC; +18.65%) and light fraction organic carbon (LFOC; +37.13%) at 0–10 cm. Notably, 12.5% OF increased grain yield (+6.60%) and biomass (+4.59%) over CF, with water use efficiency (WUE) rising by 153.27% versus CF. Random forest analysis identified MBC, HOC, and DOC as key yield drivers. In conclusion, 12.5% and 37.5% OF improved yields by enhancing soil porosity, phosphorus availability, and active carbon pools while reducing water depletion. The 12.5% OF (200 kg N ha⁻¹) offered optimal environmental and economic benefits, making it a regionally recommended practice for sustainable maize production.
Keywords: organic fertilizer, Soil organic carbon fraction, Maize, Sustainable Yieldyield, Semiarid Loess Plateau, economic benefit
Received: 22 Jan 2025; Accepted: 10 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chen, Xie, Li, Khan, Wang, Chang and Du. 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: Junhong Xie, College of Agronomy, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, 730070, Gansu Province, China
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