doi:10.1016/j.still.2021.105143engÁlvaro-Fuentes J.Franco-Luesma S.Lafuente V.Sen P.Usón A.Cantero-Martínez C.Arrúe J.L.Stover management modifies soil organic carbon dynamics in the short-term under semiarid continuous maizeART-2021-127057In croplands, the adoption of certain management practices may increase soil organic carbon (SOC) levels. In this study, we evaluated the short-term impact of crop stover management and the interaction between crop stover and irrigation method on SOC change in a continuous maize (Zea mays L.) system in Spain. Four years after the beginning of the experiment, total SOC and C fractions (particulate organic matter carbon, POM-C; and mineral-associated organic matter carbon, Min-C) contents, SOC stocks and SOC stock changes were measured in four different soil layers (0-5, 5-10, 10-25 and 25-50 cm) in an experiment with two irrigation methods (sprinkler and flood) and three stover management systems (conventional tillage with all the stover incorporated, CT; no-tillage maintaining the stover, NTr; and no-tillage removing the stover, NT). Stover management resulted in significant differences in SOC and POM-C but not in Min-C. In particular, NT reduced SOC and POM-C contents compared with CT and NTr (about 10 and 60 %, respectively). After 4 years, SOC change was not affected by the interaction between stover management and irrigation. Concurrently, both CT and NT showed SOC losses, reaching 0.11 and 1.22 Mg ha-1 yr-1 in CT and NT, respectively. However, NTr showed SOC gains at a rate of 0.09 Mg ha-1 yr-1. Consequently, the removal of crop stover has been demonstrated as a detrimental strategy to store SOC in the short-term in irrigated continuous maize systems. © 2021 The Authors2021http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/15133410.1016/j.still.2021.105143http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/151334oai:zaguan.unizar.es:151334info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/AEI/AGL2017-84529-C3-1-Rinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/AGL2013-49062-C4-4-RSoil and Tillage Research 213 (2021), 105143 [6 pp.]by-nc-ndhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.esinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess