Aggregate‐Protected and Unprotected Organic Matter Pools in Conventional‐ and No‐Tillage Soils

Abstract No‐tillage (NT) practices can result in greater soil aggregation and higher soil organic matter (SOM) levels than conventional‐tillage (CT) practices, but the mechanisms for these effects are poorly known. Our objectives were to describe the size and quality of biologically active pools of aggregate‐associated SOM in long‐term CT and NT soils of the southeastern USA. Samples were collected from replicated CT and NT plots on a Hiwassee sandy clay loam (clayey, kaolinitic, thermic Rhodic Kanhapludult) and separated into four aggregate size classes (>2000, 250–2000, 106–250, 53–106 µm) by wet sieving. Potentially mineralizable C and N and N 2 O emissions were measured from 20‐d laboratory incuhations of intact and crushed macroaggregates (>250 µm) and intact microaggregates (<250 µm). Three primary pools of aggregate‐associated SOM were quantified: unprotected, protected, and resistant C and N. Aggregate‐unprotected pools of SOM were 21 to 65% higher in surface soils of NT than of CT, with greater differences in the macroaggregate size classes. Disruption of macroaggregates increased the mineralization of SOM in NT but had little effect in CT. Rates of mineralization from protected and unprotected pools of C were higher in surface soils of CT than of NT. Macroaggregate‐protected SOM accounted for 18.8 and 19.1% of the total mineralizable C and N (0–15 cm), respectively, in NT but only 10.2 and 5.4% of the total mineralizable C and N in CT. Our results indicate that macroaggregates in NT soils provide an important mechanism for the protection of SOM that may otherwise be mineralized under CT practices.