Absence of a home-field advantage within a short-rotation arable cropping system.

Aims: The home-field advantage (HFA) hypothesis predicts faster decomposition of plant residues in Methods: We tested the HFA hypothesis in a reciprocal transplant experiment with mesh bags containing wheat and oilseed rape residues in soils at three stages of a short-rotation cropping system. Subsets of mesh bags were retrieved monthly for six months to determine residue decomposition rates, concomitantly measuring soil available N, microbial community structure (phospholipid fatty acid analysis), and microbial activity (Tea Bag Index protocol) to assess how plants may influence litter decomposition rates via alterations to soil biochemical properties and microbial communities. Results: The residues decomposed at similar rates at all rotational stages. Thorough data investigation using several statistical approaches revealed no HFA within the crop rotation. Soil microbial community structures were similar at all rotational stages. Conclusions: We attribute the absence of an HFA to the shortness of the rotation and soil disturbance involved in intensive agricultural practices. It is therefore unlikely that appreciable benefits could be obtained in short conventionally managed arable rotations by introducing a crop-residue rotation. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11104-022-05419-z.