Vertical transport of dissolved organic C and N under long-term N amendments in pine and hardwood forests

1996 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 471-505 ◽  
Author(s):  
William S. Currie ◽  
John D. Aber ◽  
William H. McDowell ◽  
Richard D. Boone ◽  
Alison H. Magill
2002 ◽  
Vol 139 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. A. VINTEN ◽  
B. C. BALL ◽  
M. F. O'SULLIVAN ◽  
J. K. HENSHALL

The effects of ploughing or no-tillage of long-term grass and grass-clover swards on changes in organic C and N pools and on CO2 and denitrified gas emissions were investigated in a 3-year field experiment in 1996–99 near Penicuik, Scotland. The decrease in soil C content between 1996 and 1999 was 15·3 t/ha (95% confidence limits were 1·7–28·9 t/ha). Field estimates of CO2 losses from deep-ploughed, normal-ploughed and no-tillage plots were 3·1, 4·5 and 4·6 t/ha over the sampling periods (a total of 257 days) in 1996–98. The highest N2O fluxes were from the fertilized spring barley under no-tillage. Thus no-tillage did not reduce C emissions, caused higher N2O emissions, and required larger inputs of N fertilizer than ploughing. By contrast, deep ploughing led to smaller C and N2O emissions but had no effect on yields, suggesting that deep ploughing might be an appropriate means of conserving C and N when leys are ploughed in. Subsoil denitrification losses were estimated to be 10–16 kg N/ha per year by measurement of 15N emissions from incubated intact cores. A balance sheet of N inputs and outputs showed that net N mineralization over 3 years was lower from plots receiving N fertilizer than from plots receiving no fertilizer.


2011 ◽  
Vol 51 (No. 6) ◽  
pp. 276-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Šimon

The content of aliphatic compounds, hydrophobicity index, organic C and N content and the microbial biomass and respiration activity were analysed in soil samples originating from different plots of a long-term field experiment (variants: nil, NPK – mineral fertilization: 64.6–100 kg/ha/year, FYM – farmyard manure and FYM + NPK) from three blocks (III, IV and B) with different crop rotation. Samples were taken from 0–200 mm layer in 2002 and 2003 (spring and autumn). The plots without any fertilization had the significantly lowest aliphatic compound content compared to variants fertilized by FYM or FYM + NPK in all the evaluated blocks in both years. The variants fertilized only by mineral NPK without any organic fertilization had the slightly increased aliphatic compound content but they did not exceed significantly the control variants in most cases. The aliphatic compound contents correlated significantly with the organic C contents in 2002 and 2003, as well. The values of the hydrophobicity index showed a similar trend like the data mentioned above. Organic manure increased the soil organic nitrogen content, similarly to the carbon content. In variants fertilized by FYM and FYM + NPK the higher microbial biomass content was found comparing to unfertilized variants. Correlations between aliphatic compound content and biomass differed in spring (2002: r = 0.065, 2003: r = 0.068) and autumn (2002: r = 0.407, 2003: r = 0.529). Organically fertilized variants had increased basal respiration, in autumn 2002 the basal respiration was higher in variants fertilized by mineral NPK, too. The highest specific respiration was recorded in the unfertilised plot in block B (autumn 2002 and 2003), where low microbial biomass exhibited high activity. Increased specific respiration was found also in plots fertilized by FYM and FYM + NPK (block III and IV, autumn samplings). Positive significant correlations between microbial biomass content and basal respiration were found in 2002 (spring: r = 0.716) and 2003 (spring: r = 0.765, autumn: r = 0.671).


2004 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. A. Paul ◽  
H. P. Collins ◽  
K. Paustian ◽  
E. T. Elliott ◽  
S. Frey ◽  
...  

Factors controlling soil organic matter (SOM) dynamics in soil C sequestration and N fertility were determined from multi-site analysis of long-term, crop rotation experiments in Western Canada. Analyses included bulk density, organic and inorganic C and N, particulate organic C (POM-C) and N (POM -N), and CO2-C evolved during laboratory incubation. The POM-C and POM-N contents varied with soil type. Differences in POM-C contents between treatments at a site (δPOM-C) were related (r2= 0.68) to treatment differences in soil C (δSOC). The CO2-C, evolved during laboratory incubation, was the most sensitive indicator of management effects. The Gray Luvisol (Breton, AB) cultivated plots had a fivefold difference in CO2-C release relative to a twofold difference in soil organic carbon (SOC). Soils from cropped, Black Chernozems (Melfort and Indian Head, SK) and Dark Brown Chernozems (Lethbridge, AB) released 50 to 60% as much CO2-C as grassland soils. Differences in CO2 evolution from the treatment with the lowest SOM on a site and that of other treatments (δCO2-C) in the early stages of the incubation were correlated to δPOM-C and this pool reflects short-term SOC storage. Management for soil fertility, such as N release, may differ from management for C sequestration. Key words: Multi-site analysis, soil management, soil C and N, POM-C and N, CO2 evolution


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).


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