Xueming Yang

• PhD
• Research Scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Interest in tillage impacts on sequestration of soil organic carbon (SOC) has increased greatly during recent years. The use of reduced and no-tillage (NT) practices generally increases the SOC concentration in surface few centimeters when compared to conventionally tilled soils. However, use of conservation tillage does not always result in increa...

The effects of no-tillage (NT) and moldboard plowing (MP) on the distribution and storage of soil organic carbon (SOC) and different C fractions were determined along a transect on a private farm in southern Ontario, Canada, where a paired NT and MP strip traversing three soil series had been in existence for 19 yr. Soil samples were collected to a...

Increased use of conservation tillage is being considered as a way to sequester atmospheric C in the soil. However, little information exists on the effect of rotation and its interaction with tillage on soil organic carbon (SOC). A research trial with combinations of rotations and tillage treatments was sampled 20 years after its establishment to...

Three long-term field trials in humid regions of Canada and the USA were used to evaluate the influence of soil depth and sample numbers on soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration in no-tillage (NT) and moldboard plow (MP) corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean (Glycine max L.) production systems. The first trial was conducted on a Maryhill silt loam (Typi...

The background concentrations of 13 soil trace elements, copper (Cu), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr), mercury (Hg), arsenic (As), selenium (Se), cobalt (Co), vanadium (V), manganese (Mn), and fluorine (F), from approximately 205 pedons in Tibet, China are reported here for the first time. The 13 trace element concent...

The economic viability of using summer-seeded legume cover crops (crimson clover, red clover, and hairy vetch) as a primary nitrogen (N) source for an organic corn (Zea mays L.)–soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.)–winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) rotation was determined on a sandy loam soil in southwestern Ontario, Canada, by comparing gross profit...

Ammonia loss following nitrogen fertilization can degrade air quality and impact human health, whereas nitrous oxide (N2O) can contribute to global warming and climate change. Mitigation practices that target only one N‐loss pathway can lead to pollution swamping; hence, practices targeting both N‐losses are required. A 3‐year field study examined...

Context: Canada has targeted a 30% reduction in N 2 O emissions from fertilizer by 2030 in its commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To help achieve these commitments, a 'Pipes & Valves' conceptual visuali-zation of the DNDC model was combined with the DeNitrification-DeComposition (DNDC) model to evaluate a suite of nutrient management a...

This study presents results from the first 5 years of an organic cropping trial in Ontario, Canada, where legume cover crops were the primary nitrogen source in a soybean-winter wheat/cover crop-corn rotation. Treatments included cover crop termination using moldboard plow (MP) or chisel plow (CP), a no-cover crop control under conventional product...

Agriculture produces food, fiber and biofuels for the world's growing population, however, agriculture can be a major contributor of nitrogen (N) losses including emissions of ammonia (NH3), nitrous oxide (N2O) and nitrate (NO3-) leaching and runoff. A Canadian Agricultural Nitrogen Budget for Reactive N (CANBNr) model was developed to estimate the...

Summer-seeding legume cover crops can reduce erosion, mitigate nitrate leaching losses during the non-growing season, and provide bio-accumulated nitrogen (N) to the following crop. Very little information is available, however, on the most effective methods for terminating summer-seeded cover crops, or on the amount of N they can provide to subseq...

Crop residue input plays a central role in regulating soil organic carbon (SOC) storage. Ten long-term field experiments were used to ascertain the changes in SOC in response to differing rates of crop residues. The amount of C input from crop residues varied significantly between and within sites due to soil-environmental conditions, management an...

It is well known that mechanochemically activated phosphate rock (MAPR) could improve extractable phosphorus (P) (extracted in 2% citric acid) greatly in an ecological way. To evaluate the agronomic effectiveness of MAPR, we conducted a field experiment using spring maize in Luvisol (pH 6.47) soil in Northeast China for three consecutive years. Tre...

Tile drainage and surface runoff are major pathways for pollution of water resources by agricultural nutrients and chemicals. Little is known, however, of the pathways and amounts of carbon entry into water resources from agricultural land. This paper evaluates dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) losses in tile drain...

The objective was to quantify the effect of crop rotations, crop type, life cycle, nitrogen fertilizer, manure application, and fallow on soil hydrophobicity (SH). The SH was measured for a long-term (16 yr) dryland field experiment on a Dark Brown clay loam soil in southern Alberta, Canada. Mean SH was significantly (P ≤ 0.05) greater in rotations...

Northeast black soil region in China is one of the four global black soil regions, and accounts for approximately 12% of the total black soil regions in the world. The unique climate conditions in Northeast China produce fertile black soil. In the warm growing season, there is abundant heat, enough soil moisture, and lush vegetation. A large quanti...

Soil water repellency (SWR) was measured for a 28 yr field study under irrigation on a clay loam Dark Brown soil in southern Alberta. The objectives were to study the effect of legume–cereal crop rotations, feedlot manure, and phosphorus (P) fertilizer application on soil hydrophobicity (SH) and soil water repellency index (RI) under irrigation. Me...

Estimating soil nitrogen (N) mineralization is critical to balance fertilizer N requirements and their environmental impacts. In this study, net N mineralization was examined in soils under different crop rotations with each phase of the rotation present every year with biologically based incubations in 2011 and 2015. Net N mineralization was signi...

Many studies haveexamined soil‐borne nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from crops, but little effort has gone into determining the N2O emissions from each phase of a crop rotation. A 4‐yr study on a long‐term field experiment compared growing season N2O emissions from continuous corn (CC; Zea mays L.) and a 4‐yr crop rotation involving corn (RC), oat (...

Although it is well established that soil temperature has substantial effects on the agri-environmental performance of crop production, little is known of soil temperatures under living cover crops. Consequently, soil temperatures under a crimson clover and white clover mix, hairy vetch, and red clover were measured for a cool, humid Brookston clay...

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the ability of the DSSAT CERES-Maize model to simulate the response to applied N and soil water storage for maize (Zea mays L.) yields in Woodslee, Ontario. A second objective was to evaluate the CERES-Maize module for maize yield in 5 Southern Ontario counties. The calibrated CERES-Maize module was use...

Crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum (L.) Gaertn.) is a common introduced grass in the Canadian prairies, but concerns remain about its possible long-term effects on soil quality, and its influence on soil water repellency (SWR) has not been determined. The long-term (24 yr) effects of crested wheatgrass on soil water repellency (SWR) in compari...

The Weibull function is applied extensively in the life sciences and engineering, but under-used in agriculture. The function was consequently adapted to include parameters and metrics that increase its utility for characterizing agricultural processes. The parameters included initial and final dependent variables (Y0 and YF, respectively), initial...

Soybean (Glycine max L.) is known to contribute to soil N reserves when grown in rotation with other high‐value crops such as corn (Zea mays L.) and winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). However, continuous soybean and “short” soybean rotations (e.g., corn–soybean, wheat–soybean) may cause declining soybean yields and degrading soil health over time...

Corn (Zea mays L.) stover is an increasingly important feedstock for biofuel and bioproduct production; however, excessive harvest of corn stover from agricultural fields may affect corn seedling emergence and subsequent plant population which may reduce corn growth and yield. Field experiments were conducted over four consecutive growing seasons i...

Continuous or discontinued manure applications to agricultural soils may impact soil organic carbon (SOC) and water balances because of manure carbon inputs and the potential for manure-induced soil hydrophobicity (SH) and soil water repellency (SWR). A laboratory study was conducted using a long-term (44 yr) field experiment on a clay loam soil to...

Long-term fertilization and crop rotation can influence both organic C sequestration as well as the C composition of soils and the more resistant organic C compounds contained in humic acid (HA). This study examined the effects of fertilization and cropping type (monoculture corn (MC) and Kentucky bluegrass sod (KBS) and corn-oat-alfalfa-alfalfa ro...

Harvesting corn (Zea mays L.) stover for production of biofuels, industrial sugars, bioproducts, and livestock bedding is increasing rapidly, but little is known of the impacts of stover removal on soil‐borne greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study evaluated the impacts of removing surface corn stover (0, 25, 50, 75, 100 wt. % removal) on carbon...

Ensuring sufficient fertilizer nitrogen (N) for crops while minimizing N losses requires best management practices optimized for climate, crop, soil, and root zone hydrology. In Ontario, pre‐plant N fertilization of corn (Zea mays L.) is common; however, this practice extends the time between application and significant root interception of N by th...

Although compost is widely used as an organic soil amendment or conditioner, little is known of how it affects the characteristics or interactions among soil constituents. To address this, mixture theory was used to describe the mass-volume-density-porosity attributes and interactions among bulk soil, the mineral constituent, and the organic matter...

Long-term (58 yr) cropping and fertilization effects on soil water repellency (SWR) were determined for a clay loam soil in southwestern Ontario, Canada by measuring soil organic carbon (SOC), soil water repellency index (RI), and soil hydrophobicity (SH). The 12 treatments included fertilized and non-fertilized legume-based crop rotation (ROT) wit...

Nitrogen (N) release from legume cover crops is a key N source for subsequent crops in rotation. In this study, chopped fresh shoots or roots (< 5-mm) of crimson clover (CC), hairy vetch (HV) and red clover (RC) were incorporated into a 50:50 mixture of air-dried sandy loam soil (< 2-mm) and washed builders sand at a rate of 300 mg N kg<sup>-1</sup...

Demand for food is rising and the ability of any particular soil to support sustainable food production is dependent upon a variety of soil biochemical, chemical and physical soil parameters. However, the challenge is that the impacts of a new management practice on soil properties may take years to assess. In this field study, we investigated the...

Crop yields are often lower during the “three‐year transition” period from conventional to organic production systems. This paper presents the results from an organic cropping trial which used summer‐seeded legume cover crops as the primary N source for corn in a corn (Zea mays L.)‐ soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr)‐ winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L...

Water repellency of agricultural crop residues may affect the hydrologic balance and increase runoff loss of pesticides by greater wash off from hydrophobic residue. We conducted a laboratory study to measure water repellency and hydrophobicity of 30 major agricultural crops (grass, legume, cereal, oilseed, pulse, and specialty crops). Crop samples...

Mid-infrared spectroscopy in the transmission mode was used to predict inorganic nitrogen (N), organic N, and total N in soil leachate. The developed predictions were accurate and robust for total N, NH 4⁺ , NO 3⁻ , inorganic N (NH 4⁺ + NO 3⁻ ), and organic N (total N − inorganic N) with high determination coefficients (R ² = 96.7 − 99.0) and resid...

A 21 yr field study comparing zone tillage (ZT), no-tillage (NT), and moldboard plow tillage (MP) was used to elucidate tillage effects on soil hydrophobicity (SH) and soil water repellency index (RI) in a cool, humid clay loam soil in southwestern Ontario. The SH was 38% (P ≤ 0.05) greater for ZT and NT than MP, and it was similar between crop row...

Crop residues and N fertilizer under no-till may increase soil water repellency (SWR) and soil hydrophobicity, but few studies have examined these two treatment factors and their interaction. A laboratory study was conducted using a long-term (since 1999) field experiment on a clay loam soil to determine the effect of three crop residues and two N...

Conservation tillage is one of the major strategies for maintaining agricultural sustainability and has significant beneficial effects on soil organic carbon (C) retention and soil organism diversity. However, how changes in soil organism populations and/or community structure under different tillage practices contribute to C sequestration in soil...

Few studies have evaluated structural features of soil organic carbon (SOC) in different soil particle fractions, especially SOC changes induced by tillage, using Fourier transformed mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy. To make a contribution in this context, soil samples of a Brookston clay loam (mesic Typic Argiaquoll) with averaged pH and organic ma...

Surface runoff and tile drainage are the main pathways for water movement and entry of agricultural nitrate into water resources. The objective of this 5‐yr study was to characterize the partitioning of water flow and nitrate loss between these pathways for a humid‐temperate Brookston clay loam soil under 54 to 59 yr of consistent cropping and fert...

Infrared spectroscopy has the potential to rapidly analyse soil water-dissolved carbon and amino sugars. In this study, mid-infrared (MIR) and near-infrared (NIR) spectra collected from soil water extracts or from bulk soils were analysed with partial least squares regression (PLSr) to estimate the concentrations of water-dissolved carbon and amino...

Core Ideas Tillage practices on surface soil temperature in the winter months were tested. No‐till soil responses slowly to changes of air temperature than tilled soil. Soil temperatures in winter were significantly greater in no‐till than tilled soils. Soil temperature affects soil microbial activity and hence impacts soil greenhouse gas (CO 2 ,...

Core Ideas Streaming urea ammonium nitrate resulted in 11% lower corn yields compared to injected urea ammonium nitrate. Ammonia volatilization (NH 3 ) begins immediately after application for streaming urea ammonium nitrate. In 2015–2016, NH 3 loss was 3.6 fold greater for streaming urea ammonium nitrate compared to injected urea ammonium nitrate....

Nitrogen loss through ammonia volatilization is an environmental and economic concern. When acid traps are used with wind tunnels to measure ammonia volatilization, loss of solution volume is observed. As the loss mechanism affects volatilization estimates, a field study was conducted to determine if solution loss from acid traps was due to either...

To demonstrate the responses of plant (Pakchoi) and soil to poly-γ-glutamic acid (γ-PGA) is essential to better understand the pathways of the promotional effect of γ-PGA on plant growth. In this study, the effects of γ-PGA on soil nutrient availability, plant nutrient uptake ability, plant metabolism and its distribution in a plant-soil system wer...

Infrared spectroscopy has the capacity to predict soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) at local/regional scales, but no studies have been conducted to evaluate this technique at a large (cross-regional) scale in Canada. In this paper, mid-infrared (MIR) and near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopies in combination with partial least-squares re...

Less than 50% of applied nitrogen (N) fertilizer is typically recovered by corn ( Zea mays L.) due to climatic constraints, soil degradation, overapplication, and losses to air and water. Two application methods, two N sources, and two inhibitors were evaluated to reduce N losses and enhance crop uptake. The treatments included broadcast urea (BrUr...

Corn lodging can damage corn growth and reduce corn yield, and the degrees of corn yield loss could vary with corn species, soil conditions, agronomic practices as well as the degrees of external forces from strong wind or heavy rain. In August, 2012, Jilin province, China suffered from Typhoon Bolaven and large areas of corn lodged. However, in so...

Gamma irradiation is becoming a promising technique in soil ecological studies because it has a particular advantage in selectively eliminating the target organism. But this selective sterilization technique is still in its initial exploratory stage and the subsequent impacts on soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) pools are relatively unknown for the...

The responses of nitrous oxide (N2O) emission from forest soils to increasing atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition are controversial. In this study, our objectives were to explore the response curves of soil N2O flux to multi-level N inputs, as well as to examine the key factors dominating the changes in soil N2O emission caused by N enrichment in t...

Sensitivity analysis of DSSAT outputs to inputs parameters was conducted in two Canadian locations: one for spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in the semi-arid Prairies in Swift Current, Saskatchewan and the second for maize (Zea mays L.) under humid conditions in Woodslee, Ontario. The nominal range sensitivity method, regression and graphical an...

Soybean-winter_wheat-corn rotation is common in humid southern Ontario, Canada. There is a fallow period after winter wheat harvest (late July to November) and before the subsequent corn (late March to early May) crop. This bears a high risk for nitrate leaching from the crop root zone into water systems, eventually into the Great Lakes in the regi...

We test the common assumption that organic carbon (OC) storage occurs on sand-sized soil particles only after the OC storage capacity on silt- and clay-sized particles is saturated. Soil samples from a Brookston clay loam in Southwestern Ontario were analysed for the OC concentrations in bulk soil, and on the clay (<2 μm), silt (2–53 μm) and sand (...

Nitrogen (N) leaching from soil into surface and ground waters is a concern in humid areas of Canada. As a result, N management protocols, including the Ontario N Index, are widely used to identify N leaching risk, although field assessment remains limited. Nitrogen fertilizer and chloride (Cl) tracer were fall-applied to five agricultural soils in...

The nitrogen (N) index for humid temperate southern Ontario, Canada (Ontario N index) incorporates previous and current crop type, fertilizer and (or) manure management, and hydrologic soil group (HSG) to estimate risk for contamination of tile drainage water and groundwater by nitrate leached below the primary crop root zone (top 60 cm of soil). T...

Biased assessment of tillage impacts on soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration are often associated with a lack of information on the initial level of SOC stocks. The present study reported the changes in SOC concentrations and stocks following 10-year different tillage practices relative to the initial SOC levels. The tillage trial included no ti...

In this study, the CO2 emission characteristics and its relationships with C and N concentration in soil amended with different types of residues were studied by thermostatic incubation method to investigate the decomposition characteristics of different types of residues after adding to the soil and the effect of C, N concentration in residues on...

The severe soil deterioration and the accompanying decline in maize yield are the main factors jeopardizing the sustainability of agricultural production in the black soil region of Northeast China. Conservation tillage practices have been proposed as new practices to enhance soil fertility and to produce food from a dwindling land resource in this...

The decomposed rate of crop residues is a major determinant for carbon balance and nutrient cycling in agroecosystem. In this study, a constant temperature incubation study was conducted to evaluate CO2 emission and microbial biomass based on four different parts of corn straw (roots, lower stem, upper stem and leaves) and two soils with different...

Soil types have traditionally been determined by soil physical and chemical properties, diagnostic horizons and pedogenic processes based on a given classification system. This is a laborious and time consuming process. Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy can comprehensively characterize soil properties, and may provide a viable alternative method for...

The benefits of compost additions on soil organic carbon content and crop productivity are extant in the literature, but detailed studies of compost effects on soil physical quality (SPQ) are limited. The objective of this study was therefore to describe how one-time additions of compost impact the immediate, mid-term and long-term SPQ and crop yie...

Detailed information on the profile distributions of agronomically important soil properties in the planting season can be used as criteria to select the best soil tillage practices. Soil cores (0–60 cm) were collected in May, 2012 (before soybean planting), from soil transects on a 30-yr tillage experiment, including no-tillage (NT), ridge tillage...

Soil physical quality (SPQ) is often ignored or under-monitored in long-term field studies designed to determine the economic and environmental sustainability of agricultural practices. Accordingly, a suite of complementary soil physical and hydraulic parameters was measured using intact core samples to determine the SPQ of a Brookston clay loam un...

A field study was established in 1959 to evaluate the effects of fertilization and crop rotation on crop yields, soil and environmental quality on a Brookston clay loam. There were two fertilizer treatments (fertilized and not-fertilized) and six cropping treatments including continuous corn (CC), continuous Kentucky bluegrass sod and a 4-yr rotati...

A field study was established in 1959 to evaluate the effects of fertilization and crop rotation on crop yields, soil and environmental quality on a Brookston clay loam. There were two fertilizer treatments (fertilized and not-fertilized) and six cropping treatments including continuous corn (CC), continuous Kentucky bluegrass sod and a 4-yr rotati...

This note extends the topic of the performance of ashing soil samples and then using spectral subtraction of diffuse reflectance Fourier transform mid-IR spectroscopy (DRIFTS) of original and ashed samples in highlighting the significance of the organic fraction. It was found that accurately interpreting the ash subtracted spectra (mid-infrared ran...

Household food waste compost (FWC), yard waste compost (YWC) and pig manure plus wheat straw compost (PMC) were applied once in the fall of 1998 to a Brookston clay loam soil in southwestern Ontario to determine immediate and long-term effects of organic amendments on soil quality and productivity. In this report, we describe the residual effects o...

Monoculture and rotational cropping infuences the quantity and composition of substrates returned to soil and subsequently the growth and activity of soil microorganisms, which in turn may affect the accumulation of microbial-derived amino sugars in soil. A crop rotation study was established in 2001 which includes the monoculture cropping treatmen...

The effects of atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition on carbon (C) sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems are controversial. Therefore, it is important to evaluate accurately the effects of applied N levels and forms on the amount and stability of soil organic carbon (SOC) in terrestrial ecosystems. In this study, a multi-form, small-input N additio...

It is well established that rewetting dry agricultural soils causes a pulse of CO2 to be emitted due to rapid mineralization of organic carbon (“Birch effect”). The factors controlling the size of the CO2 pulse are not well known or understood, however. The objective of this laboratory study was consequently to determine the main factors affecting...

A revised system of Chinese soil classification has been proposed by a group of soil scientists from the Nanjing Institute of Soil Science, Academia Sinica (Soil Classification Group, 1985). This system contains two parts: (i) descriptions of diagnostic epipedons and subsurface horizons based on quantitative morphological and physicochemical charac...

China, an ancient agricultural country, has verified by radio-carbon dating that farming practices began about 6,000 yr ago. The development of society and the need for improved agricultural production increased the usefulness of a soil classification system. The earliest soil classification systems appeared in two books, Yugong and Guanzi Diyuanpi...

The impacts of compost type on corn grain yields over 10 years and N2O and CO2 emissions in the first 3 years after compost application were evaluated on a Brookston clay loam soil in Woodslee, ON. The treatments included yard waste compost (YWC), kitchen food waste compost (FWC), and pig manure compost (PMC) which were applied once in the fall of...

Soil drying and subsequent rewetting induces N mineralization and denitrification, but the effects of the “extent” or “degree” of drying and rewetting remains poorly understood. The impacts of different degrees of soil drying (drying to 45, 30, 20, or 10% water-filled pore space, WFPS) and subsequent rewetting (rewetting to 75 or 90% WFPS) on N2O e...

A Canadian Agricultural Nitrogen Budget model (CANB v4.0) was developed to calculate two Agri-environmental Indicators; Residual Soil Nitrogen (RSN) and the Indicator of Risk of Water Contamination by Nitrogen (IROWC-N) at 1:1M Soil Landscape of Canada scale for all Canadian farmland. The RSN (kg N ha^-1) is the amount of inorganic N which remains...

As characterized as an economical, rapid and comment technique, the application of mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectroscopy has made a remarkable progress for the analysis of soils over the last two decades. Recently, Reeves III (2012, Geoderma 189:508-513) published a good paper in which he investigated the performance of ashing soil samples and then us...

Substantial improvements have been made to the Canadian Agricultural Nitrogen Budget model (CANB) for estimating residual soil nitrogen (RSN) and the indicator of the risk of water contamination by nitrogen (IROWC-N). These included new algorithms for manure, fertilizer and biological fixation inputs and losses as well as the incorporation of a ver...

Soil aggregates may protect organic matter from mineralization; however, there is a lack of knowledge about the stability and structural features of soil organic carbon (SOC) in aggregate external layers and the internal layers. The amount and characteristics of SOC in external and internal layers of soil dry-sieved aggregates from three land use s...