IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-60036-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Degradable film mulching increases soil carbon sequestration in major Chinese dryland agroecosystems

Author

Listed:
  • Zihan Liu

    (Nanjing Normal University)

  • Chenxu Zhao

    (Northwest A&F University)

  • Nanhai Zhang

    (Northwest A&F University)

  • Jing Wang

    (Nanjing Forestry University)

  • Zhaoyang Li

    (Northwest A&F University)

  • Yves Uwiragiye

    (Nanjing Normal University)

  • Nyumah Fallah

    (Nanjing Normal University)

  • Thomas W. Crowther

    (ETH Zurich)

  • Yuanyuan Huang

    (German Centre of Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle–Jena–Leipzig
    Leipzig University)

  • Yuanyuan Huang

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Yi Xu

    (China Agricultural University
    University of Tübingen)

  • Sheng Zhang

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Yakov Kuzyakov

    (University of Göttingen
    Peoples Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University))

  • Kadambot H. M. Siddique

    (The University of Western Australia)

  • Zhikuan Jia

    (Northwest A&F University)

  • Zucong Cai

    (Nanjing Normal University)

  • Scott X. Chang

    (University of Alberta)

  • Minggang Xu

    (Shanxi Agricultural University
    Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Christoph Müller

    (Justus Liebig University Giessen
    Justus Liebig University Giessen
    University College Dublin)

  • Yi Cheng

    (Nanjing Normal University
    Justus Liebig University Giessen
    Jiangsu Center for Collaborative Innovation in Geographical Information Resource Development and Application
    Ministry of Education)

Abstract

Plastic film mulching (PM), which contributes to nearly half of the increased crop yields in dryland agroecosystems, exacerbates environmental burdens due to its non-degradable nature. Globally, there is a growing demand to replace non-degradable PM with degradable film mulching (DM), yet its impacts on soil organic carbon (SOC) in dryland agroecosystems remains unknown. Here, using multi-field studies and mesocosm experiments, we found that DM strongly increased but PM reduced SOC storage (0–1 m). This difference is likely attributable to the higher microbial C use efficiency in soil under DM, leading to increased microbial-derived C compared to PM. Under the high roading scenario for 2100, DM could reduce the decomposition of SOC (0–1 m) in China’s drylands by 9.0 ± 1.0 Mg ha–1 year–1 (one standard error) compared with PM. Our findings highlight that DM is a promising alternative to PM for sequestrating SOC and alleviating C loss under climate change in dryland agroecosystems.

Suggested Citation

  • Zihan Liu & Chenxu Zhao & Nanhai Zhang & Jing Wang & Zhaoyang Li & Yves Uwiragiye & Nyumah Fallah & Thomas W. Crowther & Yuanyuan Huang & Yuanyuan Huang & Yi Xu & Sheng Zhang & Yakov Kuzyakov & Kadamb, 2025. "Degradable film mulching increases soil carbon sequestration in major Chinese dryland agroecosystems," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-60036-5
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-60036-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60036-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-60036-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Johannes Lehmann & Markus Kleber, 2015. "The contentious nature of soil organic matter," Nature, Nature, vol. 528(7580), pages 60-68, December.
    2. Cynthia M. Kallenbach & Serita D. Frey & A. Stuart Grandy, 2016. "Direct evidence for microbial-derived soil organic matter formation and its ecophysiological controls," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Sébastien Fontaine & Sébastien Barot & Pierre Barré & Nadia Bdioui & Bruno Mary & Cornelia Rumpel, 2007. "Stability of organic carbon in deep soil layers controlled by fresh carbon supply," Nature, Nature, vol. 450(7167), pages 277-280, November.
    4. Eric A. Davidson & Ivan A. Janssens, 2006. "Temperature sensitivity of soil carbon decomposition and feedbacks to climate change," Nature, Nature, vol. 440(7081), pages 165-173, March.
    5. Tian Ma & Shanshan Zhu & Zhiheng Wang & Dima Chen & Guohua Dai & Bowei Feng & Xiangyan Su & Huifeng Hu & Kaihui Li & Wenxuan Han & Chao Liang & Yongfei Bai & Xiaojuan Feng, 2018. "Divergent accumulation of microbial necromass and plant lignin components in grassland soils," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-9, December.
    6. Jizhong Zhou & Kai Xue & Jianping Xie & Ye Deng & Liyou Wu & Xiaoli Cheng & Shenfeng Fei & Shiping Deng & Zhili He & Joy D. Van Nostrand & Yiqi Luo, 2012. "Microbial mediation of carbon-cycle feedbacks to climate warming," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 2(2), pages 106-110, February.
    7. Gerrit Angst & Kevin E. Mueller & Michael J. Castellano & Cordula Vogel & Martin Wiesmeier & Carsten W. Mueller, 2023. "Unlocking complex soil systems as carbon sinks: multi-pool management as the key," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mingming Wang & Xiaowei Guo & Shuai Zhang & Liujun Xiao & Umakant Mishra & Yuanhe Yang & Biao Zhu & Guocheng Wang & Xiali Mao & Tian Qian & Tong Jiang & Zhou Shi & Zhongkui Luo, 2022. "Global soil profiles indicate depth-dependent soil carbon losses under a warmer climate," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Emily D. Whalen & A. Stuart Grandy & Kevin M. Geyer & Eric W. Morrison & Serita D. Frey, 2024. "Microbial trait multifunctionality drives soil organic matter formation potential," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-16, December.
    3. Elena A. Mikhailova & Garth R. Groshans & Christopher J. Post & Mark A. Schlautman & Gregory C. Post, 2019. "Valuation of Soil Organic Carbon Stocks in the Contiguous United States Based on the Avoided Social Cost of Carbon Emissions," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-15, August.
    4. Zhenghu Zhou & Chengjie Ren & Chuankuan Wang & Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo & Yiqi Luo & Zhongkui Luo & Zhenggang Du & Biao Zhu & Yuanhe Yang & Shuo Jiao & Fazhu Zhao & Andong Cai & Gaihe Yang & Gehong We, 2024. "Global turnover of soil mineral-associated and particulate organic carbon," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    5. Ludovic Henneron & Jerôme Balesdent & Gaël Alvarez & Pierre Barré & François Baudin & Isabelle Basile-Doelsch & Lauric Cécillon & Alejandro Fernandez-Martinez & Christine Hatté & Sébastien Fontaine, 2022. "Bioenergetic control of soil carbon dynamics across depth," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.
    6. Shuai Ren & Tao Wang & Bertrand Guenet & Dan Liu & Yingfang Cao & Jinzhi Ding & Pete Smith & Shilong Piao, 2024. "Projected soil carbon loss with warming in constrained Earth system models," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    7. Wei Fan & Jingchao Yuan & Jinggui Wu & Hongguang Cai, 2023. "Effects of Straw Maize on the Bacterial Community and Carbon Stability at Different Soil Depths," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-15, June.
    8. Zhang, Feng & Zhang, Wenjuan & Li, Ming & Zhang, Yuan & Li, Fengmin & Li, Changbin, 2017. "Is crop biomass and soil carbon storage sustainable with long-term application of full plastic film mulching under future climate change?," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 67-77.
    9. Xuanyu Tao & Zhifeng Yang & Jiajie Feng & Siyang Jian & Yunfeng Yang & Colin T. Bates & Gangsheng Wang & Xue Guo & Daliang Ning & Megan L. Kempher & Xiao Jun A. Liu & Yang Ouyang & Shun Han & Linwei W, 2024. "Experimental warming accelerates positive soil priming in a temperate grassland ecosystem," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-18, December.
    10. Katerina Georgiou & Robert B. Jackson & Olga Vindušková & Rose Z. Abramoff & Anders Ahlström & Wenting Feng & Jennifer W. Harden & Adam F. A. Pellegrini & H. Wayne Polley & Jennifer L. Soong & William, 2022. "Global stocks and capacity of mineral-associated soil organic carbon," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    11. Andrew R. Pearson & Bethany R. S. Fox & John C. Hellstrom & Marcus J. Vandergoes & Sebastian F. M. Breitenbach & Russell N Drysdale & Sebastian N. Höpker & Christopher T. Wood & Martin Schiller & Adam, 2024. "Warming drives dissolved organic carbon export from pristine alpine soils," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    12. Xue Liu & Yifan Zhang & Haitao Wu & Dandan Liu & Zhongsheng Zhang, 2024. "Vertical Variation in Temperature Sensitivity of Soil Organic Carbon Mineralization in Changbai Mountain, China: A Microcosm Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-14, February.
    13. Zhenrui Zhang & Hui Gao & Xiaoxia Gao & Shurui Huang & Shuli Niu & Emanuele Lugato & Xinghui Xia, 2025. "Short-term warming supports mineral-associated carbon accrual in abandoned croplands," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-10, December.
    14. Charlotte J. Alster & Allycia Laar & Jordan P. Goodrich & Vickery L. Arcus & Julie R. Deslippe & Alexis J. Marshall & Louis A. Schipper, 2023. "Quantifying thermal adaptation of soil microbial respiration," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    15. S. Chersich & K. Rejšek & V. Vranová & M. Bordoni & C. Meisina, 2015. "Climate change impacts on the Alpine ecosystem: an overview with focus on the soil," Journal of Forest Science, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 61(11), pages 496-514.
    16. Liangang Ma & Baohua Xiao, 2023. "Characteristic of Molecular Weight-Fractions of Soil Organic Matter from Calcareous Soil and Yellow Soil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-13, January.
    17. Ying Chen & Wenkuan Qin & Qiufang Zhang & Xudong Wang & Jiguang Feng & Mengguang Han & Yanhui Hou & Hongyang Zhao & Zhenhua Zhang & Jin-Sheng He & Margaret S. Torn & Biao Zhu, 2024. "Whole-soil warming leads to substantial soil carbon emission in an alpine grassland," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    18. Junmin Pei & Jinquan Li & Yiqi Luo & Matthias C. Rillig & Pete Smith & Wenjing Gao & Bo Li & Changming Fang & Ming Nie, 2025. "Patterns and drivers of soil microbial carbon use efficiency across soil depths in forest ecosystems," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-10, December.
    19. Jing Tian & Jennifer A. J. Dungait & Ruixing Hou & Ye Deng & Iain P. Hartley & Yunfeng Yang & Yakov Kuzyakov & Fusuo Zhang & M. Francesca Cotrufo & Jizhong Zhou, 2024. "Microbially mediated mechanisms underlie soil carbon accrual by conservation agriculture under decade-long warming," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-16, December.
    20. Xiuwei Zhang & Feihai Yu, 2020. "Physical disturbance accelerates carbon loss through increasing labile carbon release," Plant, Soil and Environment, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 66(11), pages 584-589.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-60036-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.