On paddy soils in the southern region of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, irrigated (flooded) rice is grown on 1´000´000 ha, under different soil management systems. The influence of poor drainage and alternating oxidation and reduction cycles on the content of soil organic carbon is still poorly understood. This long-term study (21 years) was conducted in Capão do Leão, RS, Brazil, to evaluate the effect of irrigated rice management systems on soil organic carbon stocks and physical fractions of the organic matter (OM) of an Albaqualf soil. OM in soil samples from the layers 0-0.025; 0.025-0.05; 0.05-0.10 and 0.10-0.20 m was physically fractionated by densimetry in the treatments: TC- traditional cultivation system: one year rice (conventional tillage) and two years fallow; RCV- continuous cultivation of rice (conventional tillage) and herbicide weed control; RNT-succession ryegrass/rice in no tillage and SN- native pasture. In the system of rice in no tillage (RNT), after 21 years, the values of total organic carbon and the free light fraction stock were better preserved, to a depth of 0.05 m, compared to the systems with rice under conventional tillage TC and RCV. The occluded light fraction was not sensitive to detect the effects of different tillage systems, indicating soil a low efficiency of physical protection of OM by aggregate occlusion in the lowland soil, which may be related to the poor soil drainage in the aggregation process. Excessive moisture in the winter and flooding of the rice crops may induce a transitory aggregation between crops. The amount of organic carbon in this Albaqualf soil, between cultivation systems as well as in depth, consisted mainly of the more stable heavy fraction that is more resistant to degradation.
aggregation; flooded soil; no-tillage; organic matter
