Mechanical Grinding for Particulate Organic‐Matter Analysis

Abstract

Particulate organic matter (POM) is recognized as a valuable measure of labile soil organic matter. The method usually requires hand‐sieving through a 2‐mm sieve. Hand‐sieving has not been widely adopted by soil testing laboratories, where samples are generally mechanically ground. Composites of 20–25 cores (2×15 cm) were collected from a long‐term crop rotation×fertility treatment study in central Pennsylvania and from 11 central and eastern Pennsylvania farms. Subsamples of each sample were hand‐sieved through a 2‐mm sieve or mechanically ground and analyzed for POM carbon (C). The POM‐C of hand‐sieved and ground samples were similar except for one site with large POM concentrations; at this site, grinding generated lower POM‐C yields than hand‐sieving. Grinding soil samples may be an effective means to increase the availability of POM analysis, but additional work is necessary to determine if this method decreases POM yield, particularly in high POM samples.     

Methods to Estimate Aggregate Protected Soil Organic Carbon, 2: Does the Grinding of the Plant Residues Affect the Estimations of the Aggregate Protected Soil Organic Carbon?

A method to estimate the amount of soil organic carbon (SOC) physically protected within macroaggregates (>200 μm) consists of crushing soil samples and measuring the following SOC mineralization increase. This study investigated the effect of grinding the plant residues during soil crushing on the calculated amount of the protected SOC on two tropical soils (Arenosol and Ferralsol). Incubations of crushed and uncrushed soil samples amended with ground or unground plant residues were conducted. Our results showed that soil crushing increased SOC mineralization and that the presence of plant residues enhanced soil respiration also. The plant residues of the two soils had different decomposition rates, but grinding plant residues did not increase the amounts of cumulative carbon (C) mineralized after the 28 days of the experiment. We propose that the extra C mineralized after soil crushing is due to the breakdown of the soil structure and not to the grinding of plant residues.     

Methods to Estimate the Protection of Soil Organic Carbon within Macroaggregates, 1: Does Soil Water Status Affect the Estimated Amount of Soil Organic Carbon Protected inside Macroaggregates?

The additional mineralized soil organic carbon (SOC) after soil crushing is considered to be the amount of SOC protected within aggregates (>200 μm). This study investigated the effect of soil moisture in crushed and uncrushed soil samples on the calculated amounts of protected SOC in five tropical soils (Arenosol, two Ferralsols, Nitisol, and Vertisol). No differences in soil moisture optimum were observed between crushed and uncrushed soil samples, except in clayey soils with high SOC contents and high SOC mineralization rates (Nitisol and Vertisol). Crushing the soil increased soil respiration by 0.9 to 2.4 times. Soil moisture seemed to be a confounding factor in estimation of the SOC-protected amount only in soil with a high amount of protected SOC or with a low macroaggregate stability (Ferralsol and Vertisol). In these soils, the amount of protected SOC could be influenced by the method used to estimate it.     

Influence of Organic Matter Vis-à-Vis Humic Acid on the Transformation of Inorganic and Organic Forms of Nitrogen in a Typic Haplustept Soil

A laboratory experiment was conducted to study the changes in inorganic and organic forms of nitrogen (N) in a Typic Haplustept soil treated with mustard cake vis-à-vis humic acid in the presence and absence of inorganic N. Results revealed that irrespective of treatments, significantly higher amount of soluble nitrate (NO₃^-), hydrolysable ammonium (NH₄⁺), non-hydrolysable and total N were accumulated in the soil treated with mustard cake in the presence of inorganic N. However, on the other hand, a humic acid-treated system showed significantly higher content of exchangeable NH₄⁺ and hexosamine N. Application of humic acid alone leads to the accumulation of a significantly higher amount of total hydrolysable and unidentified N in the soil. Among the different treatments, NH₄⁺ fixation was more in mustard cake followed by humic acid-treated soil. Humic acid is more susceptible to mineralization than mustard cake, particularly with respect to total N accumulation in soils.     

Is the Period of 18 Years Sufficient for an Evaluation of Changes in Soil Organic Carbon under a Variety of Different Soil Management Practices?

The influence of differing soil management practices on changes seen in soil organic carbon (SOC) content of loamy Haplic Luvisol was evaluated. The field experiment included two types of soil tillage: 1. conventional tillage (CT) and 2. reduced tillage (RT) and two treatments of fertilization: 1. crop residues with nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK) fertilizers (PR+NPK) and 2. NPK fertilizers (NPK). The results of SOC fluctuated from 9.8 to 14.5 g kg^?1 and the tillage systems employed and fertilization status did not have a statistically significant influence on SOC. The SOC content was higher in RT (12.4 ± 0.86 g kg^?1) than in CT (12.2 ± 0.90 g kg^?1). On average, there was a smaller higher value of SOC in PR+NPK (12.4 ± 1.02 g kg^?1) than in NPK (12.3 ± 0.88 g kg^?1). During a period of 18 years, reduced tillage and application of NPK fertilizers together with crop residues build up a SOC at an average speed of 7 and 16 mg kg^?1 year^?1, respectively, however conventional tillage and NPK fertilizer applications caused a SOC decline at an average speed of 104 and 40 mg kg^?1 year^?1, respectively.     

How Can Organic Amendments Help to Bind Sulfadiazine in the Soil? – An Iranian Soil Study

ABSTRACT

Veterinary antibiotics can enter the environment especially agricultural soils via animal manure application in which Sulfadiazine (SDZ) is considered as one of the most used antibiotic. After soil application, it may be transported into subsurface water. The sorption behavior of SDZ is not only influenced by the soil type but also by soil organic matters as well. Hence, an experiment was executed aimed to study sorption/desorption processes of SDZ under experimental conditions in three various soils treated by different bio fertilizers including rice husk compost (RHC), rice husk biochar (RHB) and Micrococcus yunnanensis (My) bacterium. Sorption/desorption data of soils with and without bio-fertilizers were well fitted with Freundlich model (R² = 0.97). Results showed that bio-amended soils had higher values of k_d sorption ranged from 1.16 to 52.4 without and with bio-fertilizers application respectively, proposing low sorption of SDZ with substantial risk of leaching without bio-fertilizers application. Also for the desorption cycle values of K_d increased from 1.03 to 39.1 without and with bio-fertilizers application, respectively. Furthermore, there was a hysteresis effect using organic matter. As a result of bio-fertilizers application, a significant value of SDZ was strongly adsorbed on the soil particles which was not desorb through desorption process.     

Comparison of Soil Organic‐Matter Characteristics under the Energy Crop Giant Reed,Cropping Sequence and Natural Grass

The objective of this study was to determine, on the same pedological, topographic, and climatic conditions, the effects of a continuous giant reed cropping (GR), a cropping sequence (CS), and untilled natural grass (NG) on some soil characteristics. Selected characteristics included total soil organic carbon (TOC), light fraction carbon (LFC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and microbial biomass carbon (MBC). The various humic fractions and their ratios, humification ratio (HR), humification degree (HD), and humification index (HI) were also evaluated. Results indicate that GR, characterized by low tillage intensity, showed greater values than tilled management system (CS) for all the previously mentioned properties, with the exception of the humification parameters, which were not statistically different between the two systems. Regarding the difference between GR and NG (the latter usually considered as a reference or baseline for evaluating attributes of soil quality), GR generally showed greater values for all organic parameters, with the exception of MBC and humus characteristics.     

Study on the Topographic Effect on Soil Erosion Using RUSLE Model for Small Size Watershed

1 IntroductionSoil erosion has been recognized to be a serious environ-mental and soil degradation problem:it can reduce soil pro-ductivity,and it can also increase sedi ment load in receivingwater.The purpose of this researchis to evaluate an availa-bili…     

Soil Biological Fertility: Foundation for the Next Revolution in Agriculture?

Feeding the world’s population in 40 years will require improved efficiency in the use of plant nutrients and enhancement of soil resources. Over the past 60 years, agricultural production has rapidly increased; however, continued degradation of soil may limit further increases. Improving the soil through enhanced soil biological activity has been proposed as a method of increasing the capacity of the soil to produce crops. Ongoing evaluations of one soil biological fertilizer with a patented process to convert and complex manure into stable finished products (AgroBiotic fertilizers) have been conducted in research plots and producer fields and have shown positive effects on grain yield and potato production. These effects are larger in soils with limited biological activity, suggesting that adding this unique AgroBiotic fertilizer helps restore the biological nutrient cycling in the soil. New developments and innovations that improve nutrient availability and the efficacy of soil biological fertilizers have the potential to help restore degraded soils and improve their production efficiency and capacity to feed the world’s population.     

Does the diet of the Balearic population, a Mediterranean-type diet, ensure compliance with nutritional objectives for the Spanish population?

OBJECTIVES: To assess the dietary habits of Balearic Islands' consumers who are successful in meeting current nutritional recommendations, to find clues for the development of future food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG) that would be relevant to this population. DESIGN: Cross-sectional nutritional survey carried out in the Balearic Islands between 1999 and 2000. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Dietary habits were assessed by means of 24-hour recall (two non-consecutive days: warm and cold season) and a food-frequency questionnaire in a random sample (n=1200, aged 16-65 years) living in private households. Differences in percentage of compliers with the intermediate nutritional objectives for the Spanish population and differences in food consumption patterns between genders and between high (above the upper quartile of intake) and low (below the lower quartile of intake) consumers of fat, saturated fatty acids (SFA), fibre, and fruit and vegetables were analysed. RESULTS: Gender differences were observed in nutrient and energy intakes, as well as in attainment of the recommendations. Less than 25% of the population reached the intermediate nutritional recommendations for iodine, fruit, carbohydrates, SFA, fibre and vegetables. Low fat/SFA and high fruit and vegetables/fibre consumers kept a diet in line with the traditional Balearic diet and prevailing dietary pyramids, which ensured better compliance with the nutritional goals. CONCLUSIONS: The intermediate nutritional objectives for the Spanish population could be achieved through maintenance of the traditional Balearic diet, a Mediterranean-type diet in the Balearic population. Therefore, this dietary model could be used to develop FBDG relevant to this population.     

Is the Walkley–Black Method Suitable for Organic Carbon Determination in Chilean Volcanic Soils?

Although dry combustion (DC) carbon dioxide (CO₂) is an accurate method to measure total soil carbon (C), it is a rather expensive one. Therefore, wet oxidation by the Walkley–Black (WB) method is widely used in acidic Chilean volcanic soils, although there are no studies comparing both WB and DC. The aim of this article was to compare DC and WB in a range of volcanic soils containing between 2% and 9% of soil C on a regional scale. Results indicated that the recovery (R) of soil C by WB with respect to DC varied between 70% and 82%. Consequently, the correction factor (100 / R) ranged between 1.26 and 1.47. The standardized major axis regression analysis indicated that the slope and the intercept of the fitted line on volcanic soils were similar to 1:1 line. In conclusion, WB was an economically suitable method to determine the soil C content of Chilean volcanic soils.     

Application of Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy for the Assessment of Soil Quality in a Long‐Term Pasture

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to assess the ability of near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) to analyze chemical soil properties and to evaluate the effects of different phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) fertilization rates on soil quality in different layers of a long‐term pasture. The NIRS calibrations were developed for humus, total Kjeldahl nitrogen (N_Kjeldahl), and several humic substances (HA1, “mobile” humic acids fraction; ΣHA, sum of humic acids; FA1, “mobile” fulvic acids; ΣFA, sum of fulvic acids, etc.) using soil samples of rather heterogeneous origin, collected during 1999–2003. Different spectral preprocessing and the modified partial least squares (MPLS) regression method were explored to enhance the relation between the spectra and measured soil properties. The equations were employed for the quality prediction of a sod gleyic light loam (Cambisol) in five PK fertilization treatments. The soil was sampled in 2000 and 2003 in three field replicates at depths of 0–10, 10–20, 20–30, and 30–50 cm, n=60 samples yr^?1. The best coefficients of correlation, R², between the reference and NIRS‐predicted data were as follows: for N_Kjeldahl, 0.965; humus, 0.938; HA1, 0.903; HA2, 0.905; HA3, 0.924; ΣHA, 0.904; and FA1, 0.911; and ΣFA, 0.885. Our findings suggest that it is feasible to use NIRS for the assessment of the effects of the inorganic PK fertilizer on the soil quality in different depths of a long‐term pasture.     

Comparison of Soil Physical Properties between a Permanent Fallow and a Long-Term Rice–Wheat Cropping with Inorganic and Organic Inputs in the Humid Subtropics of Eastern India

A comparison was made between a long-term rice–wheat cultivation with fertilizer nitrogen–phosphorus–potassium (NPK) or added organics [farmyard manure (FYM), paddy straw (PS), green manure (GM)] and a permanent fallow on bulk density (BD), saturated hydraulic conductivity (K_sat), available water capacity (AWC), maximum water-holding capacity (MWHC), aggregation, and soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics on an Inceptisol of humid subtropics of eastern India. Continuous cropping caused a net decrease in SOC content. Undisturbed fallow was comparable to soils with FYM, PS, and GM amendments in structural and hydrophysical properties. Maximum WHC and AWC values were in the order of FYM followed by PS, GM, fallow, NPK, and control. The relative efficacy of the organics for physical buildup was FYM > PS > GM, which increased structural indices. This study represents further steps toward understanding the ecological importance of fallow management and integrated use of balanced fertilizer and organics.     

Does soil biology hold the key to optimized slurry management? A manifesto for research

The application of agricultural biosolids to land is likely to increase on farms as pressures intensify to manage nutrients and carbon, especially with regard to slurry. Although much work has been carried out in this area, it has tended to focus on specific aspects of the application‐use cycle, without a coherent framework and notably the role of soil biology has been little studied in this context, or considered appropriately in the development and application of slurry management systems. In this review article we present a hypothesis that the configuration of the soil microbial community is determined by the history of long‐term inputs to which the community has been subjected and that the resultant configuration determines the instantaneous responses of the associated soil to the presence of slurries, and posit a set of critical questions which would effectively test this.     

Does the Ammonium Fixation Capacity of Soils Have a Significant Effect on the Nitrogen Nutrition of Wheat?

Pot experiments were conducted on three soils differing in their ammonium (NH₄ ⁺) fixation capacity [high = 161 mg NH₄-nitrogen (N) kg^?1 soil; medium = 31.5 mg NH₄-N kg^?1 soil; and no = no NH₄-N was additionally fixed], and the effect of N fertilizer forms and doses on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) was investigated. Grain yields responded to almost all forms of N fertilizer with 80, 160, and 240 kg N ha^?1 in the high, medium, and no NH₄ ⁺ fixing soil process, respectively. Agronomic efficiency of applied N fertilizers was significantly greater in the no NH₄ ⁺ fixing soil. Thousand grain weights (TGW) of wheat grown on the high and medium NH₄ ⁺ fixing soil decreased with increasing N. Grain protein increased with increasing NH₄ ⁺ fixation capacity. Nitrogen doses and the forms of N fertilizers affected grain protein at a significance level. The combination of urea + ammonium nitrate (NH₄NO₃) was most effective in increasing grain protein content.     

How Much Does the Presence of a Competitor Modify the Within-Canopy Distribution of Ozone-Induced Senescence and Visible Injury?

Many natural vegetation species have been shown to be negatively affected by ozone. This study has investigated how the presence of competing species in a community affects two common responses to ozone: visible injury and senescence. Monocultures and mixtures of Trifolium repens and Lolium perenne were grown in large containers and were exposed in solardomes to either a rural episodic ozone profile (AOT40 of 12.86 ppm h) or control conditions (AOT40 of 0.02 ppm h) for 12 weeks. The proportion of ozone-injured or senesced leaves was different in the different regions of the canopy. The highest proportions of injured/senesced leaves were in the plant material growing at the edge of the canopy and the upper canopy, with a significantly lower proportion of injured leaves in the inner canopy. The presence of L. perenne increased the proportion of ozone-injured leaves in T. repens at the final harvest, whilst the presence of T. repens decreased the proportion of senesced leaves in L. perenne. In L. perenne, the proportion of injured leaves at the edge and inner canopy decreased significantly when grown in competition, whilst for T. repens the reverse effect occurred in the inner canopy only. Different mechanisms appeared to influence the interaction between response to ozone and competitors in these two species. In L. perenne the response to ozone may have been related to nitrogen supply, whereas in T. repens canopy structure was more important.     

Isotopic Model (NISOTOP) used to Investigate 15N-Urea Transformations in the Presence of Phenanthrene,Chrysene and Benzo(a)pyrene in a Soil–Plant System

An isotopic model (NISOTOP) has been developed to investigate the effect of the addition to soil of xenobiotics on urea hydrolysis, N mineralization and immobilization, nitrification and plant uptake of nitrogen in a soil-plant system, after addition of ¹⁵N enriched compounds. Therationale of the model follows from the errors in %¹⁵N abundance (^15N _D) and N concentration (C_N) determinations which cause high variability coefficients in the calculation of the amount of nitrogen present in the different compounds derived from the added ¹⁵N enriched urea. The extent of these errors, besides depending on C_N and ^15N _D errors, will also depend on natural ¹⁵N and ¹⁵N of the added compound, and therefore on the experimental conditions. The model is described by 18 first-order differential equations and is numerically solved by Euler's method with a time increment of 0.01 day. As an illustration, the model is applied to the effect of phenanthrene, chrysene and benzo(a)pyrene to a soil-plant system, following the addition of ¹⁵N-urea. These compounds have been chosen as examples of molecules having 3, 4 and 5 fused aromatic rings and are hereafter collectively referred to as PAHs. PAHs at the rate of 2 mg kg^-1 soiland ¹⁵N-urea at the rate of 166.7 mg N kg^-1 soil were added to wheat pots. At harvesting (after 14 days from plantation) the dry matter yield, the total N content and the N concentration of the wheat seedlings were not statistically affected by addition of the PAHs (P = 0.05). The efficiency of N uptake, that is the percentage of fertilizer taken up by the plants at harvesting in the absence of PAHs was 47.3%, while it was 11.7, 15.2 and 14.8% in the presence of phenanthrene, chrysene and benzo(a)pyrene,respectively. The computation of the first-order rate constants of the N transformations showed that N mineralization, nitrification and N-uptake were affected by the addition of phenanthrene, chrysene and benzo(a)pyrene, whilst benzo(a)pyrene inhibited urea hydrolysis more than phenanthrene and chrysene.     

Can a Single and Unique Cu Soil Quality Standard be Valid for Different Mediterranean Agricultural Soils under an Accumulator Crop?

The validity of the soil quality standard for copper (Cu) established by the Spanish legislation (Spanish Royal Decree 9/2005) is evaluated in representative agricultural Mediterranean soils under an accumulator crop (Lactuca sativa L. var. Romaine cv. Long Green), considering both the effect of the metal on crop growth (biomass production) and its accumulation in the edible part of the plant. For saline soils, such a soil quality standard seems not to be valid taking into account both of the aspects evaluated. For non-saline soils, the soil quality standard also seems not to be valid since, considering the metal accumulation in the edible part of the plant, the soil quality standard should be above such standard; but considering the productivity function of soil (biomass production), the standard should be much below, meaning that this function is being greatly affected by the presence of high concentrations of Cu. The soil quality standard for each soil considered should correspond to a value between its respective EC₅₀ and EC₁₀ values (effective concentrations of added Cu causing 50% and 10% inhibition on the biomass production), depending on the politicians and/or farmers' compromise with yield production and, therefore, with soil productivity. These threshold values were greater for the soil having more organic matter and clay content, showing that Cu toxicity also depends on these properties. Further research in other agricultural areas of the region would improve the basis for proposing adequate soil quality standards as highlighted by the European Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection.