Skip to main content
ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Parlier, California » San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center » Water Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #380531
Research Project: Develop Water Management Strategies to Sustain Water Productivity and Protect Water Quality in Irrigated Agriculture

Location: Water Management Research

Title: Influence of compost and biochar on soil biological properties under turfgrass supplied with deficit irrigation

Author
item Hale, Lauren
item CURTIS, DANIEL - University Of Oklahoma
item AZEEM, MUHAMMAD - Northwest A&f University
item MONTGOMERY, JOHNATHAN - Humboldt State University
item CROWLEY, DAVID - University Of California
item MCGIFFEN, MILT - University Of California

Submitted to: Applied Soil Ecology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/18/2021
Publication Date: 6/30/2021
Citation: Hale, L.E., Curtis, D., Azeem, M., Montgomery, J., Crowley, D., McGiffen, M. 2021. Influence of compost and biochar on soil biological properties under turfgrass supplied with deficit irrigation. Applied Soil Ecology. 168. Article: 104134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2021.104134.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2021.104134

Interpretive Summary: Organic amendments including biochar, compost, or their combination, were incorporated into soils, planted with turfgrass, supplied full or deficit irrigation, then assayed five years later. Compost amendment resulted in stark shifts of microbial biomass, community composition, and soil chemical properties which were sustained, but lessened, with time. Compared to the unamended plots, microbial community compositions were more similar under full and deficit irrigation when plots had compost, biochar, or their combination. Results of this work can inform sustainable turf management practices with aims of reducing water and agrochemical inputs.

Technical Abstract: Turfgrass landscapes are commonly maintained using deficit irrigation. Here we follow-up a prior study, which surveyed turfgrass establishment in plots amended with biochar or compost or a mixture of both and unamended control plots. Following establishment, the plots were differentially irrigated at either full (85% ETo replaced) or deficit (50% ETo replaced) levels for four years and sampled for this investigation. Relationships between soil chemical parameters and microbial community biomass and profiles based on phospholipid fatty acid analysis and high throughput sequencing of bacterial/ archaeal 16S rRNA genes were determined. Compared to the unamended control soils, compost amended soils with or without biochar underwent greater shifts in soil physiochemical and biological properties than those receiving biochar. Although the impact of compost on the microbial community lessened with time, even 5 years after its incorporation, compost amendment increased microbial biomass by 127% and 157% in full and deficit irrigated plots, respectively. Bacterial/archaeal communities compositionally were more divergent in response to deficit irrigation in the unamended soils than in those amended with compost or biochar. Both soil amendments resulted in reduced abundances of soil nitrifiers. In compost-amended soils many taxa associated with plant growth promotion and carbon cycling increased in relative abundance, whereas no such effect was observed with biochar. Altogether, these results provide mechanistic insights into how organic amendments affect turfgrass systems and their associated soil microbial communities under full and deficit irrigation regimens.