3. Results and discussion
3.1. Soil organic matter, average annual yield, soil organic carbon storage and sequestration
The 5-year application of cattle manure compost (CMC) combined with chemical fertilizer (CF) at various rates had statistically significant effect on SOM content as well as SOC content (Table 2). Compared with CK, SOM in all the plots fertilized with CMC has been increased (P ≤ 0.05) by 28%, 46%, 74%, and 87% at 0–20 cm soil depth, with the greatest SOM content being noted in soil fertilized with CMC alone. CF had no statistically significant effect (P > 0.05) on SOM accumulation ( Table 2).