耕作对土壤有机物和土壤团聚体稳定性的影响

Agricultural sustainability relates directly to maintaining or enhancing soil quality. Soil quality studies in Canada during the 1980‘s showed that loss of soil organic matter (SOM) and soil aggregate stability was standard features of non-sustainable land management in agroecosystems. In this study total soil organic carbon (SOC), particulate organic matter (POM), POM-C as a percentage of total SOC, and aggregate stability were determined for three cultivated fields and three adjacent grassland fields to assess the impact of conventional agricultural management on soil quality. POM was investigated using solid-state ^13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to determine any qualitative differences that may be attributed to cultivation. Results show a highly significant loss in total SOC, POM and aggregate stability in the cultivated fields as compared to the grassland fields and a significant loss of POM-C as a percentage of total SOC.Integrated results of the NMR spectra of the POM show a loss in carbohydrate-C and an increase in aromatic-C in the cultivated fields, which translates to a loss of biological lability in the organic matter. Conventional cultivation decreased the quantity and quality of SOM and caused a loss in aggregate stability resulting in an overall decline in soil quality.     

A DUNE CATENA ON THE CLAY PLAINS OF THE WEST CENTRAL GEZIRA, REPUBLIC OF THE SUDAN

Fixed dunes occupy 400 000 acres in the west central Gezira. Isolated dunes occur sporadically through the central Gezira, and trend NW from Sennar on the Blue Nile to El Geteina on the White Nile. They probably originated as channel deposits laid down by former distributaries of the Blue Nile. Minor aeolian re-sorting took place, and was followed by plant colonization and dune stabilization. Erosion of the dunes is locally active, resulting in exposure of the underlying clays. The catena comprises leached sands (Psammustents) on the dune crests and illuvial loams and clays (Orthustents) in the swales. Swale soils contain pedogenetic and relict lacustrine carbonate. The catena is often superimposed upon former soils, resulting in polygenetic profiles.     

The nitrogen content of particle size fractions separated from peat and its rate of mineralization during incubation

Particle size fractions, varying from 5 to 0.005 mm, were separated from samples of several peat types using a wet sieving technique. In all types, nitrogen content of fractions increased as particle size decreased, the fine fractions (0.15–0.005 mm) accounting for around 43–64% of the total nitrogen. During incubation, fractions from two blanket peats showed a net release of mineral nitrogen, whereas those from raised bog peats were characterized, for the most part, by net immobilization. Amounts of mineral nitrogen released in fractions from any one peat after 28 days incubation at 30°C did not always correlate with either total nitrogen content or C:N ratio. However, better correlations between mineral nitrogen production and total N were obtained for fractions of similar particle size. The proportion of the total nitrogen that was mineralized tended to be higher in coarse fractions > 0.15 mm, blanket peats giving much higher values than samples from raised bogs. Carbon dioxide release also varied with particle size, being highest in large particles and fibres and least in the size range 0.15–0.5 mm. Smaller particles < 0.15 mm, gave intermediate values that were higher in blanket than in raised bog peat.     

Slot-seeding investigations. 6. A comparison of the spread and productivity of different white clover varieties introduced into permanent pasture

Seeds of six cultivars of white clover were sown in 1983 in slots in tares of permanent pasture in soil-filled tanks in spring and in small plots in the field during midsummer. The clover cultivars investigated were the large-leaved Olwin and Milk nova, the medium-leaved Grasslands Huia and Aberystwyth S100, and the small-leaved Kent Wild White and Aberystwyth S184. Seeds from an indigenous clover population were also sown in the tanks. All herbage was defoliated at three- to six-week intervals to simulate rotational grazing and assessments were made until autumn 1984.
Leaf and stolon production and spread of stolons from the slots were more rapid in Milkanova, S184, Huia and Kent than in Olwen and S100 In the tanks, harvested yields of clover leaf and petiole were largest for Milkanova and Olwen and least for the indigenous population; both Olwen and S100 had a smaller percentage of their total weight outside the slot area than had the other varieties. In the field, Milkanova greatly out yielded all other varieties and S100 yielded the least, contributing 48 and 27%, resf actively, to total herbage yield. The yield of grass differed little between varieties in tanks but in the field it tended to be higher with the smaller than with the larger-leaved varieties. Total herbage yield was largest for Olwen and Milkanova in tanks and for Milkanova in the field. The greatest weight of stolons in tanks was produced by Olwen and in the field by Olwen and Kent, but the greatest length of stolons and number of nodes in both environments occurred in the smalt-leaved varieties, especially Kent. Least length of stolons and fewest nodes in the tanks were produced by Olwen and in the field by Milkanova.
It was concluded that all the varieties investigated could be successfully slot-seeded into permanent pastures but that the choice of variety will depend on subsequent use and management of the resulting swards.