Low-intensity management promotes the soil priming effect in European agroecosystems

Xiaohan Dong; Alfonso Vera; María Patiño; José A. Siles; Weidong Zhang; Cristina Aponte; Inés Santín-Montanya; Miguel Ángel Porcel; Elena Tondini; Francesco Vitali; Sara Del Duca; Carmen Trasar-Cepeda; Ángeles Prieto-Fernández; Anna Edlinger; Tess F.J. van de Voorde; Maria Franca Dekkers; Marcel G.A. van der Heijden; Raphaël Wittwer; Guénola Pérès; Issaga Diallo; Johann G. Zaller; Rajasekaran Murugan; Marjetka Suhadolc; Anton Govednik; Rok Mihelič; Maria Viketoft; Mohammad Bahram; Chengjie Ren; Marketa Sagova-Mareckova; Guiyao Zhou; Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo; Stefano Mocali; Felipe Bastida

doi:10.1038/s41467-026-71255-9

Low-intensity management promotes the soil priming effect in European agroecosystems

Xiaohan Dong
, Alfonso Vera
, María Patiño
, José A. Siles
, Weidong Zhang
, Cristina Aponte
, Inés Santín-Montanya
, Miguel Ángel Porcel
, Elena Tondini
, Francesco Vitali
, Sara Del Duca
, Carmen Trasar-Cepeda
, Ángeles Prieto-Fernández
, Anna Edlinger
, Tess F.J. van de Voorde
, Maria Franca Dekkers
, Marcel G.A. van der Heijden
, Raphaël Wittwer
, Guénola Pérès
, Issaga Diallo

Johann G. Zaller, Rajasekaran Murugan, Marjetka Suhadolc, Anton Govednik, Rok Mihelič, Maria Viketoft, Mohammad Bahram, Chengjie Ren, Marketa Sagova-Mareckova, Guiyao Zhou, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Stefano Mocali, Felipe Bastida

CEBAS- CSIC - Centre of Edafology and Applied Biology of Segura
CAS - Shenyang Institute of Applied Ecology
Huitong National Research Station of Forest Ecosystem
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria
CSIC
Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA)
Wageningen University & Research
University of Zurich
Agroscope
INRAE
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna
University of Ljubljana
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Aarhus University
Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University
The Research Center of Recycle Agricultural Engineering and Technology of Shaanxi Province
Czech University of Life Sciences Prague
Czech Agrifood Research Center
CSIC - Institute of Natural Resources and Agrobiology of Seville

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Agricultural management is critical in shaping soil carbon (C) stocks, pools and fluxes. The soil priming effect (PE) is known as a key component of the global C cycle that reflects alterations in soil organic carbon (SOC) mineralization induced by fresh C inputs. Here, we show that priming can help to predict soil C content across European Long-Term Experiments (LTEs), a result which was maintained at continental and global scales. Results reveal that lower-intensity management significantly enhances PE in soils from European croplands. Conversely, high-intensity management led to lower or even negative PE. Management intensity influences PE directly through alterations in SOC and indirectly by modifying aggregates stability and microbial biomass. Both fertilization and tillage affect PE, with soils under organic fertilization and no-tillage showing higher values of PE. These findings advance our understanding of the long-term impacts of agricultural management on the C cycle at the continental scale.

Original language	English
Article number	3819
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	17
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71255-9
Publication status	Published - Dec 2026
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2026.

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Dong, X., Vera, A., Patiño, M., Siles, J. A., Zhang, W., Aponte, C., Santín-Montanya, I., Porcel, M. Á., Tondini, E., Vitali, F., Del Duca, S., Trasar-Cepeda, C., Prieto-Fernández, Á., Edlinger, A., van de Voorde, T. F. J., Dekkers, M. F., van der Heijden, M. G. A., Wittwer, R., Pérès, G., ... Bastida, F. (2026). Low-intensity management promotes the soil priming effect in European agroecosystems. Nature Communications, 17(1), Article 3819. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71255-9

@article{7a09636e27464a34bcbd65c776a45060,

title = "Low-intensity management promotes the soil priming effect in European agroecosystems",

abstract = "Agricultural management is critical in shaping soil carbon (C) stocks, pools and fluxes. The soil priming effect (PE) is known as a key component of the global C cycle that reflects alterations in soil organic carbon (SOC) mineralization induced by fresh C inputs. Here, we show that priming can help to predict soil C content across European Long-Term Experiments (LTEs), a result which was maintained at continental and global scales. Results reveal that lower-intensity management significantly enhances PE in soils from European croplands. Conversely, high-intensity management led to lower or even negative PE. Management intensity influences PE directly through alterations in SOC and indirectly by modifying aggregates stability and microbial biomass. Both fertilization and tillage affect PE, with soils under organic fertilization and no-tillage showing higher values of PE. These findings advance our understanding of the long-term impacts of agricultural management on the C cycle at the continental scale.",

author = "Xiaohan Dong and Alfonso Vera and Mar{\'i}a Pati{\~n}o and Siles, \{Jos{\'e} A.\} and Weidong Zhang and Cristina Aponte and In{\'e}s Sant{\'i}n-Montanya and Porcel, \{Miguel {\'A}ngel\} and Elena Tondini and Francesco Vitali and \{Del Duca\}, Sara and Carmen Trasar-Cepeda and {\'A}ngeles Prieto-Fern{\'a}ndez and Anna Edlinger and \{van de Voorde\}, \{Tess F.J.\} and Dekkers, \{Maria Franca\} and \{van der Heijden\}, \{Marcel G.A.\} and Rapha{\"e}l Wittwer and Gu{\'e}nola P{\'e}r{\`e}s and Issaga Diallo and Zaller, \{Johann G.\} and Rajasekaran Murugan and Marjetka Suhadolc and Anton Govednik and Rok Miheli{\v c} and Maria Viketoft and Mohammad Bahram and Chengjie Ren and Marketa Sagova-Mareckova and Guiyao Zhou and Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo and Stefano Mocali and Felipe Bastida",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2026.",

year = "2026",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1038/s41467-026-71255-9",

language = "English",

volume = "17",

journal = "Nature Communications",

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Dong, X, Vera, A, Patiño, M, Siles, JA, Zhang, W, Aponte, C, Santín-Montanya, I, Porcel, MÁ, Tondini, E, Vitali, F, Del Duca, S, Trasar-Cepeda, C, Prieto-Fernández, Á, Edlinger, A, van de Voorde, TFJ, Dekkers, MF, van der Heijden, MGA, Wittwer, R, Pérès, G, Diallo, I, Zaller, JG, Murugan, R, Suhadolc, M, Govednik, A, Mihelič, R, Viketoft, M, Bahram, M, Ren, C, Sagova-Mareckova, M, Zhou, G, Delgado-Baquerizo, M, Mocali, S & Bastida, F 2026, 'Low-intensity management promotes the soil priming effect in European agroecosystems', Nature Communications, vol. 17, no. 1, 3819. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71255-9

TY - JOUR

T1 - Low-intensity management promotes the soil priming effect in European agroecosystems

AU - Dong, Xiaohan

AU - Vera, Alfonso

AU - Patiño, María

AU - Siles, José A.

AU - Zhang, Weidong

AU - Aponte, Cristina

AU - Santín-Montanya, Inés

AU - Porcel, Miguel Ángel

AU - Tondini, Elena

AU - Vitali, Francesco

AU - Del Duca, Sara

AU - Trasar-Cepeda, Carmen

AU - Prieto-Fernández, Ángeles

AU - Edlinger, Anna

AU - van de Voorde, Tess F.J.

AU - Dekkers, Maria Franca

AU - van der Heijden, Marcel G.A.

AU - Wittwer, Raphaël

AU - Pérès, Guénola

AU - Diallo, Issaga

AU - Zaller, Johann G.

AU - Murugan, Rajasekaran

AU - Suhadolc, Marjetka

AU - Govednik, Anton

AU - Mihelič, Rok

AU - Viketoft, Maria

AU - Bahram, Mohammad

AU - Ren, Chengjie

AU - Sagova-Mareckova, Marketa

AU - Zhou, Guiyao

AU - Delgado-Baquerizo, Manuel

AU - Mocali, Stefano

AU - Bastida, Felipe

PY - 2026/12

Y1 - 2026/12

N2 - Agricultural management is critical in shaping soil carbon (C) stocks, pools and fluxes. The soil priming effect (PE) is known as a key component of the global C cycle that reflects alterations in soil organic carbon (SOC) mineralization induced by fresh C inputs. Here, we show that priming can help to predict soil C content across European Long-Term Experiments (LTEs), a result which was maintained at continental and global scales. Results reveal that lower-intensity management significantly enhances PE in soils from European croplands. Conversely, high-intensity management led to lower or even negative PE. Management intensity influences PE directly through alterations in SOC and indirectly by modifying aggregates stability and microbial biomass. Both fertilization and tillage affect PE, with soils under organic fertilization and no-tillage showing higher values of PE. These findings advance our understanding of the long-term impacts of agricultural management on the C cycle at the continental scale.

AB - Agricultural management is critical in shaping soil carbon (C) stocks, pools and fluxes. The soil priming effect (PE) is known as a key component of the global C cycle that reflects alterations in soil organic carbon (SOC) mineralization induced by fresh C inputs. Here, we show that priming can help to predict soil C content across European Long-Term Experiments (LTEs), a result which was maintained at continental and global scales. Results reveal that lower-intensity management significantly enhances PE in soils from European croplands. Conversely, high-intensity management led to lower or even negative PE. Management intensity influences PE directly through alterations in SOC and indirectly by modifying aggregates stability and microbial biomass. Both fertilization and tillage affect PE, with soils under organic fertilization and no-tillage showing higher values of PE. These findings advance our understanding of the long-term impacts of agricultural management on the C cycle at the continental scale.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105037363803

U2 - 10.1038/s41467-026-71255-9

DO - 10.1038/s41467-026-71255-9

M3 - Article

C2 - 41927558

AN - SCOPUS:105037363803

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 17

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

IS - 1

M1 - 3819

ER -

Low-intensity management promotes the soil priming effect in European agroecosystems

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