Chemical and biochemical properties in a silty loam soil under conventional and organic management

Melero, Sebastiana; Porras, Juan Carlos Ruiz; Herencia, Juan Francisco; Madejón, Engracia

doi:10.1016/j.still.2005.08.016

Cited by 252 publications

(158 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…When excluding these three results, the mean rate of change was similar in short-term and long-term experiments (0.61% ± 0.36). The increase in SOC in these three examples (Wells et al 2000;Melero et al 2006) was due to exceptionally high rates of compost application.…”

Section: General Resultsmentioning

confidence: 85%

Organic Farming and Soil Carbon Sequestration: What Do We Really Know About the Benefits?

Leifeld

Fuhrer

2010

AMBIO

133

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Organic farming is believed to improve soil fertility by enhancing soil organic matter (SOM) contents. An important co-benefit would be the sequestration of carbon from atmospheric CO 2 . Such a positive effect has been suggested based on data from field experiments though many studies were not designed to address the issue of carbon sequestration. The aim of our study was to examine published data in order to identify possible flaws such as missing a proper baseline, carbon mass measurements, or lack of a clear distinction between conventional and organic farming practices, thereby attributing effects of specific practices to organic farming, which are not uniquely organic. A total of 68 data sets were analyzed from 32 peer-reviewed publications aiming to compare conventional with organic farming. The analysis revealed that after conversion, soil C content (SOC) in organic systems increased annually by 2.2% on average, whereas in conventional systems SOC did not change significantly. The majority of publications reported SOC concentrations rather than amounts thus neglecting possible changes in soil bulk density. 34 out of 68 data sets missed a true control with well-defined starting conditions. In 37 out of 50 cases, the amount of organic fertilizer in the organic system exceeded that applied in the compared conventional system, and in half of the cases crop rotations differed between systems. In the few studies where crop rotation and organic fertilization were comparable in both systems no consistent difference in SOC was found. From this data analysis, we conclude that the claim for beneficial effects of organic farming on SOC is premature and that reported advantages of organic farming for SOC are largely determined by higher and often disproportionate application of organic fertilizer compared to conventional farming.

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Section: General Resultsmentioning

confidence: 85%

Organic Farming and Soil Carbon Sequestration: What Do We Really Know About the Benefits?

Leifeld

Fuhrer

2010

AMBIO

133

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“…Results from a Rothamsted long-term agricultural experiment in Great Britain showed that continuous application of farmyard manure almost tripled the SOC content over 100 years (McLauchlan, 2006). Melero et al (2006) reported that organic management maintained soil organic matter at higher levels than inorganic fertilization. The content of total nitrogen (TN) was related to the plant species applied ( Table 2).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arylsulphatase activity and sulphate content in relation to crop rotation and fertilization of soil

Siwik-Ziomek¹,

Lemanowicz²,

Koper³

2016

International Agrophysics

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A b s t r a c t. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of varying rates of FYM (0, 20, 40, 60 Mg ha -1 ) and nitrogen N 0 , N 1 , N 2 , and N 3 on the content of sulphate sulphur (VI) and the activity of arylsulphatase, which participates in the transformations of this element in Haplic Luvisol. The study report is based on a long-term field experiment with two different crop rotations: A -recognized as exhausting the humus from soil and B -recognized as enriching the soil with humus. During the cultivation of the plants, the soil was sampled four times from corn and a red clover cultivar and grass. The FYM fertilization rate for which the highest arylsulphatase activity and the content of sulphates were identified was 60 Mg ha -1 . An inhibitory effect of high rates (90 and 135 kg N ha -1 ) of ammonium nitrate on the arylsulphatase activity was also observed. A significant correlation between the content of carbon, nitrogen, and sulphates and the arylsulphatase activity was recorded. The investigation on the effect of combined application of farmyard manure and mineral nitrogen fertilization on the activity of arylsulphatase participating in the sulphur cycling was launched to examine the problem in detail.

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“…While conventional farming practice generally leads to a reduction of soil organic matter, organic management resulted in significant increases in total organic C and N, available-P, soil respiration, microbial biomass, and enzyme activities compared with those found under conventional management (Melero et al 2006). Organic amendments increase the organic carbon and nitrogen content in the soils (Madejón et al 2001) and the addition of large amounts of organic materials to the soil could potentially increase total soil C concentrations (Blair et al 2006).…”

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confidence: 99%

The influence of long-term organic and mineral fertilization on soil organic matter

Šimon¹

2008

Soil & Water Res.

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Parameters evaluating soil organic matter quantity (organic C and N content) and quality (hot water extractable C content, aliphatic compounds, microbial biomass C content, basal respiration activity) were determined in soils differently fertilized (NPK -mineral fertilization 64.6 kg N/ha/year, FYM -farmyard manure 38.6 kg N/ha/year, FYM + NPK -103.3 kg N/ha/year) in long-term field experiment established in 1955 in Prague. Variant without any fertilization was used as a control. Nine years crop rotation (45% cereals, 33% root crops, 22% fodder crops) is practiced in this long-term experiment. Soil samples were taken from the arable layer (0-20 cm) in spring over the period of 1994-2004. Continual application of FYM and FYM + NPK increased the organic carbon content, hot water extractable C (HWC) content, aliphatic compounds content and microbial biomass C content significantly compared to control variant. Mineral fertilization (NPK) increased only organic C content significantly compared to control variant; HWC content, aliphatic compounds content and microbial biomass C content were increased not significantly. Basal respiration activity did not differ significantly between the variants but the influence of plants cropped in individual years on the basal respiration was observed. The total N content was increased significantly only in FYM + NPK variant as compared to control variant. Presence of lucerne in crop rotation contributed positively to the total nitrogen content in soil of all variants due to the symbiotic N 2 fixation. C:N ratio varied from 9.96 to 10.46. Significant positive relationships (r = 0.30 to 0.68; P < 0.05) among the all parameters were determined with exception of basal respiration activity. The most of measured characteristics tended to be constant or slightly increase in the period of observation that shows evidence of stability of this soil management system.

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Chemical and biochemical properties in a silty loam soil under conventional and organic management

Cited by 252 publications

References 26 publications

Organic Farming and Soil Carbon Sequestration: What Do We Really Know About the Benefits?

Organic Farming and Soil Carbon Sequestration: What Do We Really Know About the Benefits?

Arylsulphatase activity and sulphate content in relation to crop rotation and fertilization of soil

The influence of long-term organic and mineral fertilization on soil organic matter

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