The beneficial relation between soil organic carbon and maize yield in field trials does not translate to real-world farms in Northeast China.

Shuaixiang Zhao, Susanne Schmidt, Zhi Quan, Fenglan Li, Shuqi Qin, Yunting Fang, Feng Zhou

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Nature food, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Shuaixiang ZhaoInstitute of Carbon Neutrality, Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Sino-France Institute of Earth System Science, Peking University, Beijing, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6168-4133

Susanne SchmidtSchool of Agriculture and Food Sustainability, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8369-1238

Zhi QuanInstitute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4918-7382

Fenglan LiCollege of Life Sciences, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, China.

Shuqi QinInstitute of Carbon Neutrality, Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Sino-France Institute of Earth System Science, Peking University, Beijing, China.

Yunting FangInstitute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, China. fangyt@iae.ac.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7531-546X

Feng ZhouInstitute of Carbon Neutrality, Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Sino-France Institute of Earth System Science, Peking University, Beijing, China. zhouf@pku.edu.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6122-0611

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Carbon sequestration in agricultural soils is an economically viable pathway to achieve climate and food co-benefits, but it remains unclear whether the positive soil organic carbon (SOC)-yield relationship observed in field trials applies to real-world farms. Here we analysed maize yield responses to SOC on 1,246 field trials and 192 farms in Northeast China using multiple causal inference approaches. We found that an increase in SOC consistently enhanced maize yield in field trials but had no detectable effect in farms. Field trials showed significant yield increases of 8-13% up to a threshold of 30-40 g SOC kg

Identifiers

PMID42557369

DOI10.18637/jss.v014.i06

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata

Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.