scholarly journals Organic Amendment vs. Mineral Fertilization under Minimum Tillage: Changes in Soil Nutrients, Soil Organic Matter, Biological Properties and Yield after 10 Years

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 700
Author(s):  
Diana Martín-Lammerding ◽  
José L. Gabriel ◽  
Encarnación Zambrana ◽  
Inés Santín-Montanyá ◽  
José L. Tenorio

Conservation tillage is recognized as a sustainable management practice, however its combination with organic residues application still constitutes a challenge in some areas. A field trial was established in a semiarid agro-ecosystem to study the effects of different crop nutrient sources under minimum tillage (MT). Application of organic amendments at the beginning of a five-year crop rotation (ORG treatment) was evaluated and compared to the control plot where wheat was continuously grown with traditional mineral fertilization (MIN treatment). In addition to wheat yield and biomass, several soil properties were measured (pH, soil nutrients (i.e., Olsen P, exchangeable K, and mineral N), soil organic matter (i.e., C, N, C/N ratio), potentially mineralizable nitrogen, total microbial activity and heavy metals) throughout the 10-year study. The wheat yield was significantly higher under the ORG treatment than under the MIN, although climatic conditions (e.g., rainfall) exerted a great influence too. The organic amendments increased soil nutrients content mainly right after their application but the levels were adequate for the whole crop rotation. Plots under organic amendment application did not accumulate significantly more soil organic matter than those mineral-fertilized, probably due to the low protective capacity of coarse-textured soils. The application of organic amendments under MT resulted in a promising management agro-ecosystem compared to the mineral fertilized because crop nutrients came from organic wastes, no herbicides were applied while the yields were higher.

2002 ◽  
Vol 116 (3) ◽  
pp. 405-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Rickman ◽  
C Douglas ◽  
S Albrecht ◽  
J Berc

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3957
Author(s):  
Yingying Xing ◽  
Ning Wang ◽  
Xiaoli Niu ◽  
Wenting Jiang ◽  
Xiukang Wang

Soil nutrients are essential nutrients provided by soil for plant growth. Most researchers focus on the coupling effect of nutrients with potato yield and quality. There are few studies on the evaluation of soil nutrients in potato fields. The purpose of this study is to investigate the soil nutrients of potato farmland and the soil vertical nutrient distributions, and then to provide a theoretical and experimental basis for the fertilizer management practices for potatoes in Loess Plateau. Eight physical and chemical soil indexes were selected in the study area, and 810 farmland soil samples from the potato agriculture product areas were analyzed in Northern Shaanxi. The paper established the minimum data set (MDS) for the quality diagnosis of the cultivated layer for farmland by principal component analysis (PCA), respectively, and furthermore, analyzed the soil nutrient characteristics of the cultivated layer adopted soil quality index (SQI). The results showed that the MDS on soil quality diagnosis of the cultivated layer for farmland soil included such indicators as the soil organic matter content, soil available potassium content, and soil available phosphorus content. The comprehensive index value of the soil quality was between 0.064 and 0.302. The SPSS average clustering process used to classify SQI was divided into three grades: class I (36.2%) was defined as suitable soil fertility (SQI < 0.122), class II (55.6%) was defined as moderate soil fertility (0.122 < SQI < 0.18), and class III (8.2%) was defined as poor soil fertility (SQI > 0.186). The comprehensive quality of the potato farmland soils was generally low. The proportion of soil nutrients in the SQI composition ranged from large to small as the soil available potassium content = soil available phosphorus content > soil organic matter content, which became the limiting factor of the soil organic matter content in this area. This study revolves around the 0 to 60 cm soil layer; the soil fertility decreased gradually with the soil depth, and had significant differences between the respective soil layers. In order to improve the soil nutrient accumulation and potato yield in potato farmland in northern Shaanxi, it is suggested to increase the fertilization depth (20 to 40 cm) and further study the ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilizer.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 341
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Santos Moreira ◽  
Marcio Koiti Chiba ◽  
Isabella Clerici De Maria ◽  
Caio César Zito Siqueira ◽  
Aildson Pereira Duarte ◽  
...  

Soil organic matter is considered a key attribute for a sustainable agricultural production and is influenced by the quantity and quality of the crop residue deposited on the soil surface. Therefore, different crop rotations could change the soil organic matter pools. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the soil carbon pools obtained by chemical and physical fractionation methods and the humification index under different crop rotations in a no-till system. We test the following hypothesis: a) the distribution of C and N among the soil organic matter fractions depends on plant species rotation schemes and; b) labile fractions are more sensitive to the input of crop residues and therefore, more suitable for evaluating the impact of different crop rotations in the soil organic matter quality. We evaluated four crop sequences (corn/corn/corn; corn/wheat/corn; soybean/wheat/corn and soybean/corn/corn) in a no-till system. A five-year reforested area was used as reference. We determined the total C and N contents, the mineral-associated C and N, the light fraction of C and N, the labile carbon extracted with KMnO4 and the soil organic matter humification index. We found narrow differences between the crop rotation systems in the total C and N levels, the mineral-associated C and N fractions and the labile C extracted with KMnO4. The diversification of the agricultural system with soybean in crop rotation favored the accumulation of light fraction C and N in the soil that were more efficient to provide information about the changes in the soil organic matter quality.


2001 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. 489-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
H H Janzen

Now, as a new century begins, may be a good time to reflect on the future of Soil Science on the Canadian prairies. One way to do that is to step back about one hundred years, to the turn of the previous century when our grassland soils were first cultivated. What questions perplexed scientists then? And how did they look for answers? My objective is to listen for our forebears’ thoughts in their writings, now largely buried. From this historical vantage may emerge insights, not only into where our science has been, but also into where it might yet go. Key words: Soil organic matter, crop rotation, grassland soils, history


2017 ◽  
Vol 423 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 363-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily E. Oldfield ◽  
Stephen A. Wood ◽  
Mark A. Bradford

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatrice Giannetta ◽  
Ramona Balint ◽  
Daniel Said-Pullicino ◽  
César Plaza ◽  
Maria Martin ◽  
...  

&lt;p&gt;Redox-driven changes in Fe crystallinity and speciation may affect soil organic matter (SOM) stabilization and carbon (C) turnover, with consequent influence on global terrestrial soil organic carbon (SOC) cycling.&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;Under reducing conditions, increasing concentrations of Fe(II) released in solution from the reductive dissolution of Fe (hydr)oxides may accelerate ferrihydrite transformation, although our understanding of the influence of SOM on these transformations is still lacking.&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here, we evaluated abiotic Fe(II)-catalyzed mineralogical changes in Fe (hydr)oxides in bulk soils and size-fractionated SOM pools (for comparison, fine silt plus clay, FSi+Cl, and fine sand, FSa) of an agricultural soil, unamended or amended with biochar, municipal solid waste compost, and a combination of both.&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;FSa fractions showed the most significant Fe(II)-catalyzed ferrihydrite transformations with the consequent production of well-ordered Fe oxides irrespective of soil amendment, with the only exception being the compost-amended soils. In contrast, poorly crystalline ferrihydrite still constituted &lt;em&gt;ca. &lt;/em&gt;45% of the FSi+Cl fractions of amended soils, confirming the that the higher SOM content in this fraction inhibits atom exchange between aqueous Fe(II) and the solid phase. Building on our knowledge of Fe(II)-catalyzed mineralogical changes in simple systems, our results evidenced that the mechanisms of abiotic Fe mineral transformations in bulk soils depend on Fe mineralogy, organic C content and quality, and organo-mineral associations that exist across particle-size SOM pools. Our results underline that in the fine fractions the increase in SOM due to organic amendments can contribute to limiting abiotic Fe(II)-catalyzed ferrihydrite transformation, while coarser particle-size fractions represent an understudied pool of SOM subjected to Fe mineral transformations.&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iria Benavente-Ferraces ◽  
Fátima Esteban ◽  
Denis Courtier-Murias ◽  
Ana Rey ◽  
Claudio Zaccone ◽  
...  

&lt;p&gt;Biochar application is now considered to be one of the most promising agricultural practices to mitigate climate change. However, to fully assess the benefits of biochar, we still need to better understand its effects on soil properties, and particularly on native soil organic matter (SOM) dynamics.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this work, we investigated soil respiration and changes in SOM pools (mineral-free, intra-aggregate, and mineral-associated SOM) as affected by the application of 20 t / ha per year of biochar alone or combined with mineral fertilizer, municipal solid waste compost, or sewage sludge. The experiment was run for 7 years in a semiarid agricultural soil. We found that biochar had no effect on soil respiration with respect to mineral fertilization and no amendment (control), and tended to decrease CO&lt;sub&gt;2 &lt;/sub&gt;emissions from soils amended with municipal solid waste compost and sewage sludge. Biochar accumulated mainly in the mineral-free SOM fraction and its addition, especially in combination with municipal solid waste compost, promoted the amount of SOM occluded with aggregates and associated to mineral surfaces.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Acknowledgments: to the Spanish MICINN (MINECO, AEI, FEDER, EU) for supporting the research project AGL2016-75762-R.&lt;/p&gt;


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