An assessment of diagnostic tools for improved soil and crop management

TL;DRAbstract

Soil quality and its determination have received much attention in recent years. A number of indicators have been suggested for inclusion in a minimum dataset for the determination of soil quality. The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) provided an opportunity for evaluation of particulate organic matter as an indicator of changes in organic carbon. A site in Taylor county, Southwest Iowa that had been under CRP for 8 years was selected for this study. The predominant soils at the site are Clarinda (fine montmorillonitic, mesic typic Argiaquolls) silty clay loam and Clearfield (fine montmorillonitic, mesic haplaquoll). The field was plowed in mid-June and maintained as a bare fallow until the end of the growing season. Soil samples were collected before plowing, three days after plowing and on a weekly basis thereafter. The objective of the study was to investigate temporal and spatial changes in particulate organic matter during the growing season. The following parameters were determ

Chat with Paper

AI Agents for this Paper