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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Morris, Minnesota » Soil Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #113900
Title: SOIL QUALITY ALTERATIONS FROM SOIL REDISTRIBUTION DUE TO TILLAGE TRANSLOCATION

Author
item Lindstrom, Michael
item SCHUMACHER, T - SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIV
item MALO, D - SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIV

Submitted to: Agronomy Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/9/2000
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The combined effects of tillage erosion and soil redistribution within the tilled layer can have a substantial effect on soil properties and crop production potentials. This study was conducted to determine the relative variation in productivity of soils that is the result of long-term application of intensive tillage management on a typical landscape found in nthe western Corn Belt, USA. Transects across an area exhibiting evidence o prior erosion in a 16 ha field located in west central Minnesota with a long history of a moldboard plow-based tillage management system were established. Detailed soil profile descriptions with chemical analysis for total carbon, inorganic carbon, and pH were measured by horizons taken at 10 m intervals along the established transects. Soil test phosphorus levels were determined in the tilled zone. Examination of selected points show a reduction in soil organic carbon contents in zones susceptible to high rates of tillage erosion. Exposure of subsoil material to the soil surface from tillage erosion and subsequent soil redistribution and mixing of this subsoil material in adjacent landscape positions was evident from the increase in free calcium carbonate content measured across the landscape.