ABSTRACT:
Stocking rate (SR) effects on soil organic carbon (OC) and nitrogen content resulting from 10 year continuous management were determined Treatments were rotational grazing with four SR levels: light, moderate, heavy and non grazed Two soils, a Durant loam (Udertic Argiustolls) and a Teller silt loam (Udic Argiustolls) located within common paddocks were sampled. Total OC mass in the surface 60 cm of the Durant soil, averaged across treatments, was 95.7 t ha−1 compared to 56.7 t ha−1 in the Teller soil. In the Durant soil, OC decreased as SR increased, with the non grazed exclosure having the greatest amount of soil OC. In contrast, the Teller soil had similar amounts of OC in the soil profile with all grazing treatments, but less without grazing. Total soil nitrogen followed similar trend as the soil OC. Soil properties should be considered to accurately assess the potential of grazing land to sequester carbon.
Footnotes
Kenneth N. Potter is a soil scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service at the Soil and Water Research Laboratory in Temple, Texas. J.A. Daniel is a geologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural-Research Service at the Grazing land Research Laboratory in El Reno, Oklahoma. W. Altom is an agronomist with the Samuel R. Noble Foundation in Ardmore, Oklahoma. H.A. Torbert is a soil scientist scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service at the Grassland, Soil and Water Research Laboratory, Temple, Texas.
- Copyright 2001 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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