Effect of Winter Crop Cultivation on Soil Organic Carbon and Physico-chemical Properties Under Different Rice-forage Cropping Systems in Paddy Soil

Soil organic carbon plays an important role on soil physico-chemical properties and crop yields in paddy soil. However, there is little information on the soil organic carbon under different forage cultivation during winter season in rice paddy. In this study, we investigated the soil organic carbon and physico-chemical properties in 87 fields of paddy soil cultivated with Barley, rye, and Italian ryegrass (IRG) as animal feedstock during winter season. Organic carbon was 12.9, 14.3, and $16.9g\;C\;kg^{-1}$ in soil with barley, rye, and IRG cultivation, respectively. Among rice-forage cultivation systems, the rice+IRG cropping system was 19.5% higher than in the mono-rice cultivation. Bulk density ranged from 1.17 to $1.28g\;cm^{-3}$ irrespective of cropping systems, and had strongly negative correlation with the soil organic carbon in the rice+IRG cropping system. Carbon storage in rice+IRG cropping systems was average $29.6Mg\;ha^{-1}$ at 15 cm of soil depth, which was 20.4 and 10.3% higher than those of barley and rye cultivation. Increasing carbon storage in paddy soil contributed to the fertility for following rice cultivation. This results indicated that IRG cultivation during winter season could be an alternative and promising way to enhance soil organic carbon content and fertility of paddy soil.