Testing the Rothamsted Carbon Model against data from long-term experiments on upland soils in Thailand

Summary We tested the Rothamsted Carbon Model (RothC) against three long‐term (27–28 years) experimental sites on Thai upland soils in order to see how this widely used ‘temperate’ soil carbon turnover model performed in a typical farming region in the tropics. We were able to verify – over a much l...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	European journal of soil science Vol. 56; no. 2; pp. 179 - 188
Main Authors:	Shirato, Y, Paisancharoen, K, Sangtong, P, Nakviro, C, Yokozawa, M, Matsumoto, N
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford, UK; Malden, USA Blackwell Science Ltd 01-04-2005 Blackwell Science
Subjects:	Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions Biological and medical sciences carbon carbon sequestration cassava Chemical, physicochemical, biochemical and biological properties continuous cropping corn Earth sciences Earth, ocean, space Exact sciences and technology Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology Geochemistry long term experiments Manihot esculenta Organic matter Physics, chemistry, biochemistry and biology of agricultural and forest soils Rothamsted Carbon Model Soil and rock geochemistry soil nutrient dynamics soil organic matter soil organic matter turnover models Soil science temperate zones tropical soils tropics upland soils Zea mays Thailand Asia South east Asia Organic carbon Monocotyledones Organic matter Upland area Long term test Tropical zone Rothamsted Carbon Model Model study Modeling Cereal crop Tropical soil Gramineae Dicotyledones Angiospermae Turnover Euphorbiaceae Soil science Simulation model Validation Experimental data Zea mays Manihot esculenta Tropical crop Agricultural soil Earth science Carbon Carbon cycle Biogeochemistry Regional study Spermatophyta Tuber plant
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Summary:	Summary We tested the Rothamsted Carbon Model (RothC) against three long‐term (27–28 years) experimental sites on Thai upland soils in order to see how this widely used ‘temperate’ soil carbon turnover model performed in a typical farming region in the tropics. We were able to verify – over a much longer period than had been examined in previous studies – that RothC performs well in a tropical region in plots used for continuous cropping experiments of maize and cassava without organic matter application. However, the model overestimated soil organic carbon (SOC) in some plots to which large amounts of organic matter (rice straw or cassava stalks) were applied. This overestimate could not be attributed to errors in estimating either the amount of C input to the soil or the ratio of decomposable plant materials to resistant plant materials entering the soil. Among many factors affecting SOC dynamics (e.g. weather conditions, soil characteristics, etc.), which are different in tropical regions from temperate regions, we conclude that the activity of soil fauna might be a major factor which makes the performance of RothC worse where much organic matter was applied. We suggest that care should be taken when applying RothC to tropical soils with large amounts of added organic matter.
Bibliography:	ArticleID:EJSS659 istex:D7F2E1FF51021FFAD79A286021486115B2F4EEE9 ark:/67375/WNG-D04BDKMK-9 ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23
ISSN:	1351-0754 1365-2389
DOI:	10.1111/j.1365-2389.2004.00659.x