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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #124590
Title: IMPACTS OF MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON SOIL ORGANIC CARBON CONTENT

Author
item Owens, Lloyd
item Starr, Gordon
item Shipitalo, Martin

Submitted to: ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/6/2001
Publication Date: 10/15/2001
Citation: Owens, L.B., Starr, G.C., Shipitalo, M.J. Impacts of Management Practices on Soil Organic Carbon Content. S11-Owens125133-P. CD-ROM. 2001 ASA Annual Meeting Abstracts.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Soil organic carbon (SOC) is one of the factors contributing to soil quality/soil health. Management practices that maintain or even sequester SOC promote sustainable agriculture. On silt loam soils in northeastern Ohio, SOC levels were compared with different kinds of management: 35 y of consecutive, no-till corn (Zea mays L.) with manure in addition to commercial fertilizer; 29 y of consecutive, no-till corn; 14 y of consecutive corn with conventional tillage (moldboard plow and disking); 1 y of corn with conventional tillage; and 20 y of meadow. In the top 2.5 cm soil layer, the SOC for the multi-year plowed, one-year plowed, meadow, no-till without manure, and no-till with manure was 10, 14, 31, 35, and 57 g/kg, respectively. Below 15 cm soil depth, the SOC concentrations under all 5 management practices were similar and continued to decrease with profile depth. The same relationship of management practice to SOC could be seen in the accumulative total SOC in the 0-2.5 cm depth (and 0-24 cm depth): 3.2 (42.1), 3.5 (51.5), 7.9 (48.5), 8.8 (50.7), and 11.6 Mg/ha (78.9 Mg/ha) for multi-year plowed, one-year plowed, meadow, no-till without manure, and no-till with manure, respectively. The SOC data from these management practices showed that practices that drastically disturb the soil, even one year, lead to less SOC in the soil profile.