Co-application of liquid cattle manure and straw promotes labile organic carbon accumulation and microbial community response in Mollisols

Co-application of liquid cattle manure and straw promotes labile organic carbon accumulation and microbial community response in Mollisols | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Co-application of liquid cattle manure and straw promotes labile organic carbon accumulation and microbial community response in Mollisols Wenhao Yang, Huaiwen Zhang, Wenxin Wang, Yulin Liu, Hui Shao, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8279946/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Under straw incorporation systems, the effects of co-applying anaerobically fermented liquid cattle manure (LCM) with straw on the partitioning of straw-derived carbon among labile organic carbon (LOC) fractions and on microbial communities remain unclear. In this study, a 180-day laboratory incubation using ¹³C-labeled maize straw and LCM was conducted to examine their co-application effects on LOC fractions, transformation of straw-derived carbon, and soil microbial community structure. The results showed that co-application of LCM and straw significantly increased soil organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon, and particulate organic carbon, and significantly enhanced the incorporation of straw-derived carbon into LOC fractions. This treatment increased soil pH and significantly stimulated α- and β-glucosidase activities. Moreover, high-throughput sequencing and network analyses indicated that under the LCM-straw co-application treatment, microbial network complexity was greater and lignocellulose-degrading keystone taxa, including Sphingomonas , Asticcacaulis , and Arthrobacter , were enriched. According to partial least squares path modeling, the LCM–straw co-application treatment could have increased AG and BG activities and enriched lignocellulose-degrading keystone taxa to influence the accumulation of straw-derived carbon. Overall, co-application of LCM and straw shows potential to enhance LOC accumulation and the incorporation of straw-derived carbon, providing important evidence to inform organic resource management in Mollisols. 13C-labeled straw liquid cattle manure labile carbon fraction microbial networks Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files SupplementaryMaterial.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8279946","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":572095846,"identity":"5d3d8b4f-47a4-43cf-94f9-a6434fe635c3","order_by":0,"name":"Wenhao Yang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Northeast Agricultural University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wenhao","middleName":"","lastName":"Yang","suffix":""},{"id":572095847,"identity":"4974a0cc-adde-40bb-a9a6-21986ec4072c","order_by":1,"name":"Huaiwen Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Northeast Agricultural 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Mollisols","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"13C-labeled straw, liquid cattle manure, labile carbon fraction, microbial networks","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8279946/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8279946/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eUnder straw incorporation systems, the effects of co-applying anaerobically fermented liquid cattle manure (LCM) with straw on the partitioning of straw-derived carbon among labile organic carbon (LOC) fractions and on microbial communities remain unclear. In this study, a 180-day laboratory incubation using \u0026sup1;\u0026sup3;C-labeled maize straw and LCM was conducted to examine their co-application effects on LOC fractions, transformation of straw-derived carbon, and soil microbial community structure. The results showed that co-application of LCM and straw significantly increased soil organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon, and particulate organic carbon, and significantly enhanced the incorporation of straw-derived carbon into LOC fractions. This treatment increased soil pH and significantly stimulated α- and β-glucosidase activities. Moreover, high-throughput sequencing and network analyses indicated that under the LCM-straw co-application treatment, microbial network complexity was greater and lignocellulose-degrading keystone taxa, including \u003cem\u003eSphingomonas\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eAsticcacaulis\u003c/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eArthrobacter\u003c/em\u003e, were enriched. According to partial least squares path modeling, the LCM\u0026ndash;straw co-application treatment could have increased AG and BG activities and enriched lignocellulose-degrading keystone taxa to influence the accumulation of straw-derived carbon. 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