Soil Protein as a Rapid Soil Health Indicator of Potentially Available Organic Nitrogen

Hurisso, Tunsisa T.; Moebius‐Clune, Dan J.; Culman, Steve W.; Moebius‐Clune, Bianca N.; Thies, Janice E.; Es, Harold van

doi:10.2134/ael2018.02.0006er

Cited by 64 publications

(64 citation statements)

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“…As an aggregated measure of soil biological health, we selected three commonly-utilized metrics recommended by the USDA 83 and Cornell's Comprehensive Assessment of Soil Health 84 . Permanganate oxidizable carbon (POXC) 24,85 , autoclave citrate-extractable protein (which we refer to hereafter as "soil protein") 86 , and mineralizable C 87,88 were determined for each sample. These metrics were selected using two criteria: 1) the ability of the method to be adapted to the high-throughput context of commercial agronomy labs and 2) being conceptually representative of a component of biological N cycling processes.…”

Section: Soil Health Metricsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improved soil biological health increases corn grain yield in N fertilized systems across the Corn Belt

Wade

Culman

Logan

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Nitrogenous fertilizers have nearly doubled global grain yields, but have also increased losses of reactive N to the environment. Current public investments to improve soil health seek to balance productivity and environmental considerations. However, data integrating soil biological health and crop N response to date is insufficient to reliably drive conservation policy and inform management. Here we used multilevel structural equation modeling and N fertilizer rate trials to show that biologically healthier soils produce greater corn yields per unit of fertilizer. We found the effect of soil biological health on corn yield was 18% the magnitude of N fertilization, Moreover, we found this effect was consistent for edaphic and climatic conditions representative of 52% of the rainfed acreage in the Corn Belt (as determined using technological extrapolation domains). While N fertilization also plays a role in building or maintaining soil biological health, soil biological health metrics offer limited a priori information on a site's responsiveness to N fertilizer applications. Thus, increases in soil biological health can increase corn yields for a given unit of N fertilizer, but cannot completely replace mineral N fertilization in these systems. Our results illustrate the potential for gains in productivity through investment in soil biological health, independent of increases in mineral N fertilizer use. Since the Green Revolution, nitrogenous mineral fertilizers have helped to nearly double global grain crop yields 1. While this represents monumental gains in crop productivity, an estimated 41 to 50% of the N fertilizer applied to corn (Zea mays L.) globally since of the Green Revolution has been lost to the environment 2 , resulting in multifarious negative environmental effects 3-5. Many strategies to address N losses from cropping systems are centered on the management of N fertilizer (e.g., "4Rs" of fertilizer management 6), but neglect the role of soil 4,5 biology in supplying plant N which often supplies over 50% plant N uptake in a growing season 7-9. The framework of soil health seeks to highlight the critically important 10 , albeit inherently complex and uncertain 11,12 , role of soil biology in agroecosystems. Ultimately, soil health seeks to integrate soil biology with the historically emphasized chemical and physical soil components 13,14. Soil health has been widely embraced by farmers, researchers, and private industry alike 15-18. Additionally, soil health has also accrued broad legislative support in the form of nearly a dozen states incentivizing improved soil health as well as a Soil Health division within USDA 19. Buy-in from these stakeholders represents a nexus of several key sources of information growers use in making nutrient management decisions 20-22 , as well as a demonstrated financial commitment. While soil health has broad conceptual support, there is a dearth of empirical evidence connecting soil biological health measurements to vital soil functions or desired outcomes 23. Althou...

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Section: Soil Health Metricsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improved soil biological health increases corn grain yield in N fertilized systems across the Corn Belt

Wade

Culman

Logan

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

Self Cite

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“…Moebius-Clune, D.J. Moebius-Clune, Kurtz, & van Es, 2016;Hurisso et al, 2018). Roper, Osmond, Heitman, Wagger, & Reberg-Horton (2017) demonstrated that soil protein was positively related to corn grain yields (r=0.94).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil Health Assessment of Two Regenerative Farming Practices on Sandy Soils

Nan¹,

Bhadha²,

Rabbany³

et al. 2019

SAR

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The addition of organic amendments and cover cropping on sandy soils are regenerative farming practices that can potentially enhance soil health. South Florida mineral soils present low soil quality due to their sandy texture and low organic matter (OM) content. Few studies have focused on evaluating the effects of farm-based management regenerative practices in this region. The objective of this study was to evaluate changes in soil properties associated with two regenerative farming practices - horse bedding application in combination with cover cropping (cowpea, Vigna unguiculata), compared to the practice of cover cropping only for two years. The soil quality indicators that were tested included soil pH, bulk density, water holding capacity, cation exchange capacity, OM, active carbon, soil protein and major nutrients (N, P, K). Results indicated no significant changes in soil pH, but a significant reduction in soil bulk density and a significant increase in maximum water holding capacity for both practices. Cation exchange capacity and the amounts of active carbon increased significantly after 1.5-year of the farming practices. Horse bedding application with cover cropping showed a significant 4% increase in OM during a short period. A significant increase in plant-available P was also observed under these two practices. Based on this study, horse bedding application as an organic amendment in conjunction with cover cropping provides an enhanced soil health effect compared to just cover cropping. As local growers explore farming option to improve soil health particularly during the fallow period using regenerative farming practices on sandy soils, these results will assist in their decision making.

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“…The role of GRSP in improving soil C storage has been well documented [4], as GRSP can represent a significant proportion of OM, reaching as high as 5% of total C in soils [52]. Two main reasons can explain this.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Soil glomalin content is a valuable and reliable indicator of soil health [4]. Glomalin has been associated with increased soil water aggregate stability [5][6][7][8][9] as well as soil organic carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) content [4,[10][11][12][13]. However, there has been some controversy regarding the composition and the origin of soil glomalin.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Apatite Stimulates the Deposition of Glomalin-Related Soil Protein in a Lowbush Blueberry Commercial Field

et al. 2019

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Many wind-sensitive and unproductive soils could benefit from increased glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP), an operationally defined soil protein pool known to improve soil quality and nutrient storage. We expect at least part of this GRSP fraction to originate from fungal biomass. Although P-rich minerals such as apatite are known to increase C allocation from plants to mycorrhizal fungi, there are no studies directly linking apatite with GRSP. We investigated the effect of apatite on GRSP deposition rates in a cultivated field of wild lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium Aiton; Vaccinium myrtilloides Michx.) in the Saguenay‒Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec (Canada). A field incubation technique (145 days) using sterilized porous sand bags (50 µm pores) was used to measure in situ easily extractable GRSP (EE-GRSP) deposition rates from bags with (n = 10) and without (n = 10) apatite. Half of the bags (n = 10) were also soaked in Proline® 480 SC (Bayer CropScience, Calgary, Alberta, Canada) (Prothioconazole) to determine if EE-GRSP deposition rates were affected by this commonly applied fungicide. Our results indicated that adding apatite into sand bags significantly increased (+70%) EE-GRSP deposition rates, whereas soaking the bags in fungicide had no significant effect. Although the direct linkage between GRSP and lowbush blueberry plants remains to be detailed, our study reports for the first time GRSP concentrations from lowbush blueberry soils. Implications of these findings are discussed.

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Soil Protein as a Rapid Soil Health Indicator of Potentially Available Organic Nitrogen

Cited by 64 publications

References 1 publication

Improved soil biological health increases corn grain yield in N fertilized systems across the Corn Belt

Improved soil biological health increases corn grain yield in N fertilized systems across the Corn Belt

Soil Health Assessment of Two Regenerative Farming Practices on Sandy Soils

Apatite Stimulates the Deposition of Glomalin-Related Soil Protein in a Lowbush Blueberry Commercial Field

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