Soil particle‐size fractionation is a reliable approach for the separation of carbon (C) pools with different stabilities. Our previous study found that C decomposition in fine soil particles had greater temperature sensitivity (Q₁₀) than in coarse particles in grassland and forest soils. However, it is not known whether this phenomenon occurs in cropland soil and whether it generally suggests a dependence of Q₁₀ on soil texture. We carried out a 107‐day incubation of isolated soil particles from cropland soil, including paddy and upland, with contrasting fertilizer applications. The incubation was carried out over three short‐term cycles of sequentially changing temperatures between 5 and 30°C at 5°C intervals. The results indicated that C decomposition was faster in the sand (>50 μm) fraction than in the silt (2–50 μm) and clay (<2 μm) fractions. However, Q₁₀ was generally larger in the clay fractions than in the other two fractions for all types of cropland soil, which is in accordance with our previous study. This suggested that the passive C pool is more sensitive to climate warming than the labile C pool. Considering the aforementioned Q₁₀ pattern across soil particles, we hypothesized that fine‐textured soil should have a larger Q₁₀ than coarse‐textured soil. However, we observed this outcome in the first and second temperature cycles only, but not in the third. In conclusion, a larger Q₁₀ in finer soil particles is probably a widespread phenomenon, but it does not bring a long‐lasting dependence of Q₁₀ on soil texture.