Deep fertilization effects on potato production and GHG emissions depend on soil C:N:P-enzyme interactions: Evidence from a 4-year study
Li Z. Shi N. Yuan Y. Chang H. Meng Y. Shan W. Elena M. Assiya A. Jia Z. Ren X. Siddique K.H.M. Ding R. Wu P. Li H. Liu J. Zhang P.
April 2026Elsevier B.V.
European Journal of Agronomy
2026#175
Context and problem: As potato is one of the four major food crops, enhancing yield is crucial, particularly when considering the mitigation of environmental impacts. Deep fertilization represents a potential strategy for efficient nutrient utilization; however, its specific on potato yield, quality and greenhouse gas emissions require further elucidation. Methods: We conducted a four-year field experiment (2020–2023) using potatoes as the test crop. We investigated the impacts of four fertilization depths (D5, 5 cm, control with locally conventional fertilization depth; D15, 15 cm; D25, 25 cm; D35, 35 cm) on soil C, N, and P content and ratios, enzyme activity, greenhouse gas emissions, potato growth, yield, and quality. Results: Deep fertilization significantly increased the soil SOC:TN, SOC:TP, MBC:MBN, and SIC:SIN ratios, while decreasing the MBC:MBP, MBN:MBP, and POC:PON ratios. In addition to soil catalase, the activities of invertase, urease and phosphatase were closely related to the soil C:N:P ratio. Specifically, deep fertilization increased soil invertase and phosphatase activities but decreased catalase and urease activities. Correlation analysis showed that N2O and CO2 emissions were positively correlated with soil urease activity, whereas CH4 uptake and CO2 emissions were negatively correlated with soil phosphatase and sucrase activities, respectively. Furthermore, increase of soil phosphatase activity enhanced the leaf area index, net photosynthetic rate, and dry matter accumulation of potato while reducing stem lodging, ultimately improving yield and quality. Among these treatments, D25 achieved the highest improvements in large potato rate (16.4 %) and yield (11.5 %), while simultaneously resulting in high tuber quality in starch (42.5 %), reducing sugar (52.7 %), protein (33.4 %), and vitamin C (31.9 %) content. In addition, its greenhouse gas emission intensity was also at the lowest level (decreased by 32.7 %). Conclusions: Deep fertilization affects enzyme activity by altering soil C:N:P ratios, thereby promoting potato production and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In this region, fertilization depths of 15–25 cm exhibited distinct advantage in terms of yield enhancement, whereas depths exceeding 35 cm were more effective in reducing emissions.
Fertilization depth , Greenhouse gas emissions , Potato production , Soil C:N:P ratios , Soil enzyme activity
Text of the article Перейти на текст статьи
College of Agronomy/State Key Laboratory for Crop Stress Resistance and High-Efficiency Production, Northwest A&F University, Shaanxi, Yangling, 712100, China
Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology, Ecology and Tillage Science in Northwestern Loess Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Shaanxi, Yangling, 712100, China
Akhmet Baitursynuly Kostanay Regional University, Kostanay, 110000, Kazakhstan
The UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA6001, Australia
College of Agriculture, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu, 030801, China
Dingxi Potato Research Institute, Dingxi, 743099, China
Institute of Vegetables and flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China
College of Agronomy/State Key Laboratory for Crop Stress Resistance and High-Efficiency Production
Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology
Akhmet Baitursynuly Kostanay Regional University
The UWA Institute of Agriculture
College of Agriculture
Dingxi Potato Research Institute
Institute of Vegetables and flowers
10 лет помогаем публиковать статьи Международный издатель
Книга Публикация научной статьи Волощук 2026 Book Publication of a scientific article 2026