ABSTRACT:
Soil nutrient concentrations vary with soil management system and landscape position, but limited information exists describing these interactions within a heterogeneous field. A three year experiment was conducted to evaluate pH, phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and zinc (Zn) concentrations at three depths, 0 to 5 cm, 5 to 15 cm, and 15 to 30 cm (0 to 2 in, 2 to 6 in, and 6 to 12 in), and three landscape positions, summit, sideslope, and drainageway, in a 9 ha (22 ac) field containing four different management systems. Management systems consisted of a conventional (chisel plowing/disking in-row subsoiling with no cover crops) and conservation tillage system (in-row subsoiling with cover crops) with or without dairy bedding manure. Soils ranged from Aquic to Typic Paleudults. Manure applications increased pH and nutrient concentrations in the soil surface at 0 to 5 cm (0 to 2 in) of conventional and conservation tillage systems, with highest values measured in conservation tillage. Landscape position affected soil pH and P concentrations; however, depth and landscape position interactions were observed for soil pH, P, and K concentrations. The lowest soil pH and P concentrations were measured from the sideslope position, while K concentrations did not exhibit consistent distributions across landscape positions. Future soil testing of Coastal Plain fields to account for erosion of the landscape may help direct future sampling methodology and interpretations for nutrient management.
Footnotes
Kipling S. Balkcom is a research agronomist and Randy L. Raper is an agricultural engineer at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service, National Soil Dynamics Laboratory in Auburn, Alabama. D. Wayne Reeves is a research leader for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service, Natural Resources Conservation Center in Watkinsville, Georgia. Joey N. Shaw is a soil scientist at the Department of Agronomy at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. Jose A. Terra is a research agronomist at INIA in Uruguay.
- Copyright 2005 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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