Soil organic carbon changes for croplands across China from 1991 to 2012

Accurate estimates of soil organic carbon (SOC) are critical for evaluating the impacts of crop and nutrient management practices on soil sustainability and global climate change. Temporal and spatial variations in topsoil (0–0.20 m) SOC were analyzed using 43,743 soil samples in China’s croplands. The soil database in our study was collected from the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI) China Program. The results showed an increasing trend in SOC density (SOCD) for both grain and cash crops from 1991 to 2012. The average SOCD increased by 16.8, 17.4, 11.8 and 8.7% in the north central, northwest, southeast and southwest regions, respectively, whereas average SOCD decreased by 1.3% for the northeast region between the 1991–2001 and 2002–2012 periods. For both grain and cash crops, the SOCD frequency distribution (%) increased in the ranges of 10–20, 20–30 and 30–40 Mg C ha from the 1991–2001 to the 2002–2012, but decreased in the ranges of 0–10 and 50–60 Mg C ha. Additionally, SOCD increased in most major soil types across China’s cropland regions, except in phaeozems, chernozems and umbrisols, where it decreased by 8.6–18.7% mainly due to water runoff, soil erosion, and low C input. The overall SOC stock (SOCS) in China’s cropland increased by 260 Tg C (23.7 Tg C yr) from 1991–2001 to 2002–2012, which was partially due to the increased crop residue return, improved fertilization and adopted conservation tillage over the period. This SOC increase represents a potential offset in carbon dioxide (CO) emissions that could help reduce the overall net CO emissions in China.