【Objective】Climate-smart agriculture ( CSA ) has been widely implemented in global agricultural regions as a new type of agriculture that aims to achieve the three goals of improving agricultural efficiency, enhancing agricultural adaptability, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of four CSA practices, including biochar application, no-tillage, green manure, and straw returning on soil organic carbon ( SOC ) content in farmland in China, to offer a scientific foundation for SOC management and CSA promotion in China.【Method】The two major literature databases, Web of Science and CNKI, provided the data. A total of 470 sets of field experiment data were collected from 78 articles published from 2002 to 2022. Meta-analysis was used to assess the effects of CSA practices on SOC content and explore its influencing factors. 【Result】The results showed that the practices of CSA significantly increased SOC content by 18.19 %, as compared with the practice of conventional tillage. There were differences in the implementation effects of the four CSA practices. Specifically, biochar application represented the most effective approach for increasing SOC content (46.67%), followed by straw returning(17.08%) and green manure (9.32%), and no-tillage had the least influence upon SOC content (7.34%). Besides, regional environmental factors (temperature, precipitation, depth of soil, soil pH value, the initial value of SOC, etc.) and management methods (duration of experiment and planting patterns) affected the implementation effect of CSA practices to varying degrees, and the implementation of CSA measures in different regions of China, SOC content changed significantly. 【Conclusion】According to the information shown above, CSA practices had a significant impact on SOC content in farmland in China, and the effect was tightly linked to climate, soil, management, and location. Hence, in the practice of CSA, it was important to fully consider the impact of various factors on the implementation effect and to adopt the proper practices and management methods to maximize the growth in SOC content. |