This research targets straw return in Farm 852’s albic soil, China. The soil is nutrient-poor with few microbes and slow straw decomposition. Through fixed-point sampling and bacterial screening, an actinomycete consortium consisting of four strains was assembled, and two of them were identified as new actinomycetes. After 7 days of fermentation, the lignocellulose degradation rates of this consortium outstripped those of single strains, with cellulose degraded at 69.07%, hemicellulose at 64.98%, and lignin at 68.95%. FTIR, XRD, and SEM verified the damage inflicted on the straw structure. Lab simulations found group D (with the consortium) had a higher straw weight loss rate than group C (with commercialized microbial agents) and controls. The compound actinomycetes stepped up the bacterial abundance with the passage of time. In contrast, their effect on fungal abundance was hardly noticeable, but they had markedly ameliorated the soil fertility. These findings prove that the microbial consortium effectively accelerates straw decomposition and boosts soil microbe abundance and fertility in albic soil. It shows great potential for straw return and provides a microbial solution for this field.

Albic soil, which is generally oligotrophic, is a typical low-yield soil widely distributed in China. It is still unclear how to effectively improve soil fertility and strengthen the sustainable development of agricultural cultivation. For this purpose, 8-year field experiments were performed to determine the effects of continuous rice straw return on soil nutrient characteristics, yield, and the soil microbial community. Straw incorporation into albic soil significantly contributed to nutrient accumulation, containing alkali-hydrolysed nitrogen, available phosphorus, available potassium, and total organic carbon, thereby increasing rice yield. The number of spikelets per panicle increased from 93.96 to 97.58, and the grain filling value increased from 88.11 to 91.44%. Additionally, rice yield increased over the 8 consecutive years of straw return, and the rice yield of straw return treatments ranged from 10,048.27 to 10,605.18 kg/ha. High-throughput sequencing and classification revealed that the composition of bacterial and fungal communities was similar among treatments, but there were significant differences in species abundance, which was associated with lignocellulose degradation. Overall, the continuous return of straw, a native organic material, is a promising approach for soil amendment, with resource-saving and environmentally friendly characteristics.

This study developed an innovative model integrating straw subsoil deep burial (SD) and mixing plow to mitigate albic soil’s physical and chemical constraints and enhance crop yield. A field experiment with four treatments, including conventional tillage (CT), straw mulching (SM), straw subsoil deep burial (SD), and straw burning (SR), was conducted to assess impacts on soil enzyme activity, nutrient dynamics, crop yield, and soil physical properties. Results showed that SD treatment significantly improved albic soil properties compared to conventional tillage: catalase activity in the albic horizon decreased by 13.51%, reducing peroxide toxicity. In the albic horizon, alkaline hydrolysis nitrogen, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, total phosphorus, available potassium, total potassium, and organic matter increased by 29.98%, 58.70%, 36.86%, 20.46%, 5.00%, 21.70%, and 40.46%, respectively. Correspondingly, maize and soybean yield under SD reached 8686.6 kg/ha and 2245.3 kg/ha, increasing by 15.39% and 19.94% compared to CT, respectively. Additionally, SD treatment improved physical properties of the albic horizon: soil hardness reduced by 43.56%, with enhanced water-holding capacity, permeability coefficient, porosity, and hydraulic conductivity. Its findings not only boost agronomic productivity by improving crop yields but also support environmental sustainability by enhancing soil fertility, which is of great significance for ensuring food security.

Low productivity in albic soils often results in excessive nitrogen input, while straw return further increases nitrogen accumulation through decomposition. To address this issue, a three-year field experiment was conducted in albic soils of high, medium, and low fertility. Two nitrogen management strategies were assessed: nitrogen addition and reduction. Addition treatments included conventional nitrogen application rate alone (N), straw return (8250 kg ha⁻¹) with conventional nitrogen application rate (SN), and straw return with increased nitrogen (SN₊). Reduction treatments comprised SN and straw return with 10%, 20%, and 30% reduced nitrogen (SN_0.9, SN_0.8, and SN_0.7). Soil physical properties, nutrient content, and rice yield were evaluated. Results showed that SN_0.9 exhibited advantages in high-fertility albic soils, as it increased rice yield and improved some soil quality while reducing the nitrogen input by 10%. However, yield under SN_0.9 declined progressively over the three years, indicating limitations of long-term application. SN performed better than both N and SN₊ in medium- and low-fertility albic soils, offering better yield and soil quality improvements. However, nitrogen overaccumulation risk under continuous application should not be overlooked. These findings highlight that fertility-based nitrogen adjustment combined with straw return can simultaneously improve rice productivity and soil quality while reducing nitrogen input in albic soils.

This study investigated the impact of the response mechanism of tillage construction on paddy yield in black soil fields by adopting four mechanical tillage techniques, namely, rotary tillage (RT), shallow plowing (SP), deep plowing (DP), and culvert pipe drainage (CD), to solve the problems associated with the reduction in the effective tillage layer in black soil paddy fields, as well as the poor quality and low yield of paddy rice. The results showed that SP, DP, and CD techniques were able to increase the rice yield and improve the effective tillage layer of the soil and the soil structure. Among them, DP had the most obvious effect, compared with traditional RT; the fast-acting N was 37.27 mg/kg higher in the 20–30 cm soil layer, and the soil solid phase decreased by 1.86–3.90% in the soil tripartite ratio. The soil bulk density of DP in the 10–20 cm soil layer decreased by 0.08 g/cm³, and, in the 20–30 cm soil layer, it decreased by 0.03 g/cm³. These physicochemical properties promoted the development and growth of roots and increased the growth of the root system by 6.53–16.33%, with the yield also increased by up to 9.81%. The CD technique could improve paddy field drainage and increase crop yields. This study combines four mechanical tillage techniques and proposes a mechanism of tillage construction from soil structure improvement to soil physicochemical property enhancement, and then to root system and yield enhancement. This mechanism may help to guide the implementation of mechanical tillage methods in paddy fields, which will provide important insights for future agricultural practices.

This study investigated the response mechanism of tillage construction on pad-dy yield in black soil fields by adopting four mechanical tillage techniques, namely rotary tillage (RT), shallow ploughing (SP), deep ploughing (DP), and culvert pipe drainage (CD), to solve the problems associated with the reduction of effective tillage layer in black soil paddy fields, as well as the poor quality and low yield of paddy rice. The results showed that SP, DP and CD techniques were able to increase the rice yield and improve the effec-tive tillage layer of the soil and the soil structure. Among them, DP had the most obvious effect, compared with traditional RT, the fast-acting N was 37.27 mg·kg-1 higher in the 20-30 cm soil layer, and the soil solid phase decreased by 1.86%-3.90% in the soil tripartite ratio, in which these physicochemical properties promoted the development and growth of roots, increased the growth of root system by 6.53%-16.33%, with the yield increased by up to 9.81%. This study combines four mechanical tillage techniques and proposes a mechanism of tillage construction from soil structure improvement, to soil physicochem-ical property enhancement, and then to root system and yield enhancement. This mecha-nism may help to guide the implementation of mechanical tillage methods in paddy fields, which has important insights for future agricultural practices.