Subsoiling with Liquid Manure Injection Enhances Soil Carbon Retention, Soil Quality, and Yield Sustainability in a Wheat–Maize System in the North China Plain: Results of a 2-Year Field Experiment

Optimizing tillage and fertilization practices is of vital importance for enhancing soil carbon retention, improving soil quality and increasing crop productivity in the intensive wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)–maize (Zea mays L.) double cropping system (WM). However, the combined effects of subsoiling (ST) and liquid manure (LM) application on yield sustainability and the dynamic changes in labile organic carbon (LOC) fractions (LOCs) remain insufficiently quantified in WM in the North China Plain (NCP). A two-year field experiment evaluated the responses of grain yields, the sustainable yield index (SYI), soil organic carbon (SOC), LOCs, C pool management indexes (CPMIs), and the soil quality index (SQI) to both patterns of tillage [conventional shallow rotary tillage (RT) and ST] and fertilization [conventional fertilization (CF), LM broadcast (LMB), and LM injection (LMI)] in WM in the NCP. Compared with RT, ST significantly enhanced crop grain yields (3.5~4.1%) and the annual SYI (4.1%) (p < 0.05). The contents of SOC, total labile OC (TLOC), high LOC (HLOC), and medium LOC (MLOC) and the values of SQI were higher in soil layers at both 0–20 cm and 20–40 cm under ST than those under RT. Compared with CF, LMI significantly enhanced grain yields (5.8~6.1%) and the annual SYI (5.4%). LMI significantly increased the contents of SOC, TLOC, HLOC, and MLOC and the SQI values in both soil layers relative to CF, while no significant difference was observed for grain yields, the annual SYI, and the SQI between LMB and CF. The higher contents of SOC and LOC led to an increase in the values of CPMIs based on TLOC (TCPMI), HLOC (HCPMI), and MLOC (MCPMI). The combination of both ST and LMI enhanced SOC retention through the increase in recalcitrant organic carbon (ROC) content and the transformation process of LOCs. It was obvious that HLOC and MLOC affected SOC, HCPMI, and MCPMI in the soil layers at both 0–20 cm and 20–40 cm, and thus can be regarded as sensitive indicators reflecting the dynamic changes in SOC and soil quality. Therefore, the combination of subsoiling and liquid manure injection can promote labile OC transformation, SOC retention, soil quality, and yield sustainability, providing an effective management strategy for the achievement of sustained agricultural production in the NCP or other regions with similar conditions.