Effect of long-term N fertilization on soil organic C and total N in continuous wheat under conventional tillage in Oklahoma

1998 ◽  
Vol 47 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 323-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.R Raun ◽  
G.V Johnson ◽  
S.B Phillips ◽  
R.L Westerman
Soil Research ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona A. Robertson ◽  
Peter J. Thorburn

The Australian sugar industry is moving away from the practice of burning the crop before harvest to a system of green cane trash blanketing (GCTB). Since the residues that would have been lost in the fire are returned to the soil, nutrients and organic matter may be accumulating under trash blanketing. There is a need to know if this is the case, to better manage fertiliser inputs and maintain soil fertility. The objective of this work was to determine whether conversion from a burning to a GCTB trash management system is likely to affect soil fertility in terms of C and N. Indicators of short- and long-term soil C and N cycling were measured in 5 field experiments in contrasting climatic conditions. The effects of GCTB varied among experiments. Experiments that had been running for 1–2 years (Harwood) showed no significant trash management effects. In experiments that had been running for 3–6 years (Mackay and Tully), soil organic C and total N were up to 21% greater under trash blanketing than under burning, to 0.10 or 0.25 m depth (most of this effect being in the top 50 mm). Soil microbial activity (CO2 production) and soil microbial biomass also increased under GCTB, presumably as a consequence of the improved C availability. Most of the trash C was respired by the microbial biomass and lost from the system as CO2. The stimulation of microbial activity in these relatively short-term GCTB systems was not accompanied by increased net mineralisation of soil N, probably because of the greatly increased net immobilisation of N. It was calculated that, with standard fertiliser applications, the entire trash blanket could be decomposed without compromising the supply of N to the crop. Calculations of possible long-term effects of converting from a burnt to a GCTB production system suggested that, at the sites studied, soil organic C could increase by 8–15%, total soil N could increase by 9–24%, and inorganic soil N could increase by 37 kg/ha.year, and that it would take 20–30 years for the soils to approach this new equilibrium. The results suggest that fertiliser N application should not be reduced in the first 6 years after adoption of GCTB, but small reductions may be possible in the longer term (>15 years).


2006 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. F. Plante ◽  
C. E. Stewart ◽  
R. T. Conant ◽  
K. Paustian ◽  
J. Six

Agricultural management affects soil organic matter, which is important for sustainable crop production and as a greenhouse gas sink. Our objective was to determine how tillage, residue management and N fertilization affect organic C in unprotected, and physically, chemically and biochemically protected soil C pools. Samples from Breton, Alberta were fractionated and analysed for organic C content. As in previous reports, N fertilization had a positive effect, tillage had a minimal effect, and straw management had no effect on whole-soil organic C. Tillage and straw management did not alter organic C concentrations in the isolated C pools, while N fertilization increased C concentrations in all pools. Compared with a woodlot soil, the cultivated plots had lower total organic C, and the C was redistributed among isolated pools. The free light fraction and coarse particulate organic matter responded positively to C inputs, suggesting that much of the accumulated organic C occurred in an unprotected pool. The easily dispersed silt-sized fraction was the mineral-associated pool most responsive to changes in C inputs, whereas the microaggregate-derived silt-sized fraction best preserved C upon cultivation. These findings suggest that the silt-sized fraction is important for the long-term stabilization of organic matter through both physical occlusion in microaggregates and chemical protection by mineral association. Key words: Soil organic C, tillage, residue management, N fertilization, silt, clay


1995 ◽  
Vol 35 (7) ◽  
pp. 923 ◽  
Author(s):  
NA Fettell ◽  
HS Gill

Differences in soil organic carbon (C), total nitrogen (N), and pH resulting from 14 and 15 years of different tillage, stubble, and fertiliser N management practices were measured for a red-brown earth at Condobolin in western New South Wales. The 5 main treatments comprised stubble burning or retention in factorial combination with cultivation and direct drilling, and stubble incorporation combined with cultivation. Two rates of N fertiliser (0 and 40 or 50 kg/ha) were applied annually, and wheat was grown each year. There were no significant differences between tillage and stubble treatments for soil organic C, total N, or pH. Fertiliser N application caused small but significant increases in organic C and total N but decreased the pH of the surface 2.5 cm of soil by 0.4-0.5 units compared with the nil fertiliser rate. The study indicates that direct drilling and stubble retention with continuous wheat have had little long-term effect on soil organic C and total N in this low rainfall environment.


Soil Research ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 481 ◽  
Author(s):  
MR Carter ◽  
WJ Parton ◽  
IC Rowland ◽  
JE Schultz ◽  
GR Steed

Maintenance and improvement of soil organic matter levels is an important concern in dryland farming systems of temperate regions. The Century soil organic matter model was used to simulate changes in soil organic C and total N under long-term wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and pasture rotations at five sites in southern Australia. Average declines in soil organic C and total N of 14 and 10%, respectively, in continuous and wheat-fallow systems over a 10 to 20 year period were closely simulated by the model at each site. Additions of N fertilizer (80 kg N ha-1), which prevented soil organic matter decline in continuous wheat systems, was also well represented by the model. Trends in soil organic matter under long-term legume pasture were not adequately simulated by the model, probably due to the 'annual' nature of subterranean clover (Trifolium subterranean L.) in dry seasons and subsequent changes in the ratio of live to dead plant biomass and shoot to root ratios. Overall, the study emphasizes the importance of adequate total plant C production to prevent a decline in soil organic C.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Romero ◽  
Xiying Hao ◽  
Paul Hazendonk ◽  
Timothy Schwinghamer ◽  
Martin Chantigny ◽  
...  

<p>Managing croplands for increased storage of soil organic matter (SOM) is a critical step towards developing resilient farming systems in a changing climate. We examined SOM dynamics in a wheat (Triticum durum L.) – maize (Zea mays L.) irrigated bed planting system established near Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico. Soil samples (0 – 15 cm) were collected from conventionally tilled raised beds (CTB) with all crop residues incorporated (CTB-I) and permanent raised beds (PB) with crop residues burned (PB-B), removed (PB-R), partly retained (PB-P) or fully retained (PB-K) receiving 0, 150 or 300 kg N ha<sup>-1</sup>, and analyzed for organic C (OC), total N (TN) and δ<sup>13</sup>C in whole-soil, light fraction (LF) and coarse- (sand) and fine- (silt and clay) mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM). Results indicated that PB-K and PB-B increased soil OC (P < 0.05) in whole-soil relative to CTB-I, mainly through increases in sand- and silt-size MAOM, respectively. Similarly, N-fertilization increased soil OC and TN contents in whole-soil, coarse-MAOM, and fine-MAOM, but not in the LF pool. Soil δ<sup>13</sup>C was higher (P < 0.05) in PB-K (-20.18‰) relative to PB-B (-20.67‰), possibly due to the stabilization of partly decomposed maize-C in silt- and clay-size MAOM. The composition of SOM surveyed by CPMAS <sup>13</sup>C NMR was not affected by tillage-residue management and roughly consisted of 35% O-alkyl-C, 31% alkyl-C, 24% aromatic-C, and 10% carboxyl-C. Our results indicate that long-term PB-K and PB-B adoption increased surface soil OC contents relative to CTB-I, even though pathways of SOM stabilization differed between systems. Under PB-K, accumulation of fine-MAOM was mostly related to straw-C inputs, whereas in PB-B it was closely associated with black-C precursors. Fine-MAOM appeared responsive to crop residue management and should be therefore considered when analyzing mechanisms of SOM stabilization in irrigated croplands.</p><p><img src="https://contentmanager.copernicus.org/fileStorageProxy.php?f=gepj.5f4bda4b7cff54512830161/sdaolpUECMynit/12UGE&app=m&a=0&c=e41c23ac3d107ae401152ab2ecf4553d&ct=x&pn=gepj.elif&d=1" alt=""></p>


Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1233
Author(s):  
Yuqiong Luo ◽  
Anas Iqbal ◽  
Liang He ◽  
Quan Zhao ◽  
Shangqin Wei ◽  
...  

Conservation farming practices, such as no-tillage and crop residue retention, have been proposed as sustainable management practices. However, it remains unclear how different tillage practices and rice straw retention affect the soil bacterial community (SBC) and the soil C/N ratio in the long term. The objective of this study was to evaluate changes in SBC composition and abundance and soil properties (e.g., carbon (C), nitrogen (N)) and determine their relationship to the soil C/N ratio under long-term no-tillage and straw retention techniques. This study investigates the effect of a long-term field experiment begun in 2008 and continued until 2019 to measure the response of the SBC and soil properties and their relation to different tillage practices, including no-tillage (NT), no-tillage and straw mulching (NT-SM), conventional tillage (CT), conventional tillage and straw mulching (CT-SM), and conventional tillage and straw retention (CT-SR). Soil samples were collected at depths of 0–5 cm (A), 5–10 cm (B), and 10–20 cm (C) after rice harvesting in the early and late growing seasons in 2018–2019. The Illumina MiSeq sequencing and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology was used to analyze changes in SBC diversity in soil and determined the changes in the soil C/N ratio and their relationship with the SBC diversity. The results showed that the Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Chloroflexi were the dominant phyla in the soil and accounted for 61.26%, 59.39%, and 55.62% of the total bacteria in the A, B, and C soil layers, respectively. The NT treatment increased SBC diversity, the number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs), and the proportion of Proteobacteria across the soil depths. Similarly, straw retention also significantly improved SBC diversity, soil organic C (SOC), total N (TN), soil C/N ratio, and the abundance of Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria in the soil layers A and B. The NT-SM treatment increased the SOC, TN, and soil C/N ratio by 30%, 21%, and 6% in 2018 and by 33, 25% and 7% in 2019, respectively, across the seasons and layers compared to the CT treatment. The NT-SM treatment had the highest soil bacterial diversity index, and the CT-SR treatment had the highest soil bacterial abundance and number of OTUs. The redundancy analysis showed that Acidobacteria were highly positively correlated with the soil C/N ratio. The results demonstrate that conservation tillage practices, i.e., no-tillage and straw retention, increase the SBC diversity and soil C/N ratio, thereby enhancing soil organic C and total N and changing soil microbial ecology. As a result, sustainable crop production and profitable agro-ecosystems are ensured.


2001 ◽  
Vol 81 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. F. E. McArthur ◽  
P M Huang ◽  
L M Kozak

Research has suggested a link between the bioavailability of soil Cd and total soil organic matter. However, some research suggested a negative relationship between total soil organic matter and bioavailable soil Cd while other research suggested a positive relationship. This study investigated the relationship between soil Cd and both the quantity and quality of soil organic matter as influenced by long-term cultivation. Two Orthic Chernozemic surface soil samples, one from a virgin prairie and the other from an adjacent cultivated prairie, were collected from each of 12 different sites throughout southern Saskatchewan, Canada. The samples were analyzed for total organic C, total Cd, Cd availability index (CAI), and pH. The nature of the soil organic matter was investigated with 13C Cross Polarization Magic Angle Spinning Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy (13C CPMAS NMR). The total soil Cd, CAI, and total soil organic C of the cultivated soils were significantly lower than those of the virgin soils whereas the opposite trend was observed for the soil pH and the aromaticity of the organic C. The reduced CAI in the cultivated soils was related to the increase in both the soil pH and the aromaticity of the organic C. No relationship was found between the CAI and the soil organic C content, but a significant positive correlation was found between total organic C and total Cd in both the virgin and the cultivated soils. As well, a significant positive correlation was found between the fraction of total Cd removed from the soil after long-term cultivation and the corresponding fraction of organic C removed. Key words: Long-term cultivation, soil organic matter, 13C CPMAS NMR, cadmium


2011 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 1985-1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carina Rosa Álvarez ◽  
Alejandro Oscar Costantini ◽  
Alfredo Bono ◽  
Miguel Ángel Taboada ◽  
Flavio Hernán Gutiérrez Boem ◽  
...  

One of the expected benefits of no-tillage systems is a higher rate of soil C sequestration. However, higher C retention in soil is not always apparent when no-tillage is applied, due e.g., to substantial differences in soil type and initial C content. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential of no-tillage management to increase the stock of total organic C in soils of the Pampas region in Argentina. Forty crop fields under no-tillage and conventional tillage systems and seven undisturbed soils were sampled. Total organic C, total N, their fractions and stratification ratios and the C storage capacity of the soils under different managements were assessed in samples to a depth of 30 cm, in three layers (0-5, 5-15 and 15-30 cm). The differences between the C pools of the undisturbed and cultivated soils were significant (p < 0.05) and most pronounced in the top (0-5 cm) soil layer, with more active C near the soil surface (undisturbed > no-tillage > conventional tillage). Based on the stratification ratio of the labile C pool (0-5/5-15 cm), the untilled were separated from conventionally tilled areas. Much of the variation in potentially mineralizable C was explained by this active C fraction (R² = 0.61) and by total organic C (R² = 0.67). No-till soils did not accumulate more organic C than conventionally tilled soils in the 0-30 cm layer, but there was substantial stratification of total and active C pools at no till sites. If the C stratification ratio is really an indicator of soil quality, then the C storage potential of no-tillage would be greater than in conventional tillage, at least in the surface layers. Particulate organic C and potentially mineralizable C may be useful to evaluate variations in topsoil organic matter.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document