Effect of a Killed Sod Mulch on Nitrate Movement and Corn Yield<sup>1</sup>

Thomas, George; Blevins, R. L.; Phillips, R. E.; McMahon, R. L.

doi:10.2134/agronj1973.00021962006500050018x

Cited by 104 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Therefore, the general relevance of transport processes that are triggered under different initial and/or boundary conditions cannot be investigated with our database. Examples are unstable finger flow (Scheidegger, 1960;Raats, 1973;Hendrickx et al, 1993) and preferential transport due to soil hydrophobicity (Thomas et al, 1973;Ritsema and Dekker, 1996) or air-entrapment (Debacker, 1967;Sněhota et al, 2008). These flow and transport phenomena have been frequently investigated, but mostly with the aid of dye tracers and only occasionally by means of BTC experiments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meta-analysis of the effects of soil properties, site factors and experimental conditions on solute transport

Koestel

Moeys

Jarvis

2012

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Preferential flow is a widespread phenomenon that is known to strongly affect solute transport in soil, but our understanding and knowledge is still poor of the site factors and soil properties that promote it. To investigate these relationships, we assembled a database from the peer-reviewed literature containing information on 733 breakthrough curve experiments under steady-state flow conditions. Most of the collected experiments (585 of the 733 datasets) had been conducted on undisturbed soil columns, although some experiments on repacked soil, clean sands, and glass beads were also included. In addition to the apparent dispersivity, we focused our attention on three indicators of preferential solute transport: namely the 5 %-arrival time, the holdback factor, and the ratio of piston-flow and average transport velocities. Our results suggest that, in contrast to the 5 %-arrival time and the holdback factor, the piston-flow to transport velocity ratio is not related to preferential macropore transport but rather to the exclusion or retardation of the applied tracer. Confirming that the apparent longitudinal dispersivity is positively correlated with the travel distance of the tracer, our results also illustrate that this relationship is refined if the normalized 5 %-tracer arrival time is also taken into account. In particular, we found that the degree of preferential solute transport increases with apparent dispersivity and decreases with travel distance. A similar but weaker relationship was observed between apparent dispersivity, 5 %-tracer arrival time, and lateral observation scale, such that the degree of preferential transport increases with lateral observation scale. However, we also found that the travel distance and the lateral observation scale in the investigated dataset are correlated, which makes it difficult to distinguish their influence on these transport characteristics. We also found that the strength of preferential transport increased at larger flow rates and water saturations, which suggests that macropore flow was a more important flow mechanism than heterogeneous flow in the soil matrix. Nevertheless, our data show that heterogeneous flow in the soil matrix also occasionally leads to strong preferential transport. Furthermore, we show that preferential solute transport under steady-state flow depends on soil texture in a threshold-like manner: moderate to strong preferential transport was found to occur only for undisturbed soils that contain more than 8 % clay. Preferential flow characteristics were also absent for columns filled with glass beads, clean sands, or sieved soil. No clear effect of land use on the pattern of solute transport could be discerned, probably because the available dataset was too small and too strongly affected by cross-correlations with experimental conditions. Our results suggest that, in developing pedotransfer functions for solute transport properties of soils, it is critically important to account for travel distance, lateral observation scale, an...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meta-analysis of the effects of soil properties, site factors and experimental conditions on solute transport

Koestel

Moeys

Jarvis

2012

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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“…At some locations, decreased availability of soil N was associated with a loss of crop yield. In other studies lacking labeled fertilizer, symptoms of N deficiency were more evident in no-tilled crops than with conventional tillage (Thomas et al, 1973;Bandel et al, 1975). To date the effects of notillage on the chemical nature of SOM have received little attention.…”

Section: No-tillage In Temperate Climatesmentioning

confidence: 95%

Chemical stabilization of soil organic nitrogen by phenolic lignin residues in anaerobic agroecosystems

Olk¹,

Cassman

Schmidt‐Rohr

et al. 2006

Soil Biology and Biochemistry

110

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This review summarizes independent reports of yield decreases in several agricultural systems that are associated with repeated cropping under wet or submerged soil conditions. Crop and soil data from most of these agroecosystems have led researchers to attribute yield decreases to a reduction in crop uptake of N mineralized from soil organic matter (SOM). These trends are most evident in several long-term field experiments on continuous lowland rice systems in the Philippines, but similar trends are evident in a continuous rice rotation in Arkansas, USA and with no-till cropping systems in North American regions with cool, wet climatic conditions in Spring. Soil analyses from some of these systems have found an accumulation of phenolic lignin compounds in SOM. Phenolic compounds covalently bind nitrogenous compounds into recalcitrant forms in laboratory conditions and occurrence of this chemical immobilization under field conditions would be consistent with field observations of reduced soil N supply. However, technological shortcomings have precluded its demonstration for naturally formed SOM. Through recent advances in nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, agronomically significant quantities of lignin-bound N were found in a triple-cropped rice soil in the Philippines. A major research challenge is to demonstrate in the anaerobic agroecosystems that these lignin residues bind sufficient quantities of soil N to cause the observed yield decreases. A key objective will be to elucidate the cycling dynamics of lignin-bound N relative to the seasonal pattern of crop N demand. Anaerobic decomposition of crop residues may be the key feature of anaerobic cropping systems that promotes the accumulation of phenolic lignin residues and hence the covalent binding of soil N. Potential mitigation options include improved timing of applied N fertilizer, which has already been shown to reverse yield decreases in tropical rice, and aerobic decomposition of crop residues, which can be accomplished through field drainage or timing of tillage operations. Future research will evaluate whether aerobic decomposition promotes the formation of phenol-depleted SOM and greater in-season N mineralization, even when the soil is otherwise maintained under flooded conditions during the growing season. r

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“…This late-season growth extended harvest by more than a month and could have contributed to the increase in cotton yield in these plots. Soil moisture levels during Year 2 were probably more effectively conserved in plots with vigorous living mulch stands as more surface residue was produced from their clipping [28].…”

Section: Cotton Growth and Yieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Living Mulch Performance in a Tropical Cotton System and Impact on Yield and Weed Control

et al. 2018

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Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is a major crop in the Vidarbha region of central India. The vertisol soils on which much of the cotton is grown have been severely degraded by the tropical climate, excessive tillage and depletion of organic matter. Living mulches have the ability to mitigate these problems but they can cause crop losses through direct competition with the cotton crop and unreliable weed control. Living mulch height was controlled through mowing and herbicides were not used. Living mulches generated 1 to 13 tons ha −1 of dry matter across sites and years. Weed cover was negatively correlated with both living mulch biomass and cover. Where living mulches were vigorous and established quickly, weed cover was as low as 7%, without the use of herbicides, or inter-row tillage. In a dry year, living mulch growth had a negative impact on cotton yield; however, in a year when soil moisture was not limiting, there was a positive relationship between cotton yield and living mulch biomass. Use of living mulches in cotton production in the Vidarbha region of India is feasible and can lead to both effective weed suppression and acceptable cotton yields.

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Effect of a Killed Sod Mulch on Nitrate Movement and Corn Yield¹

Cited by 104 publications

References 2 publications

Meta-analysis of the effects of soil properties, site factors and experimental conditions on solute transport

Meta-analysis of the effects of soil properties, site factors and experimental conditions on solute transport

Chemical stabilization of soil organic nitrogen by phenolic lignin residues in anaerobic agroecosystems

Living Mulch Performance in a Tropical Cotton System and Impact on Yield and Weed Control

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Effect of a Killed Sod Mulch on Nitrate Movement and Corn Yield1

Cited by 104 publications

References 2 publications

Meta-analysis of the effects of soil properties, site factors and experimental conditions on solute transport

Meta-analysis of the effects of soil properties, site factors and experimental conditions on solute transport

Chemical stabilization of soil organic nitrogen by phenolic lignin residues in anaerobic agroecosystems

Living Mulch Performance in a Tropical Cotton System and Impact on Yield and Weed Control

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Effect of a Killed Sod Mulch on Nitrate Movement and Corn Yield¹