ARS | Publication request: CARBON AND NITROGEN CONTENT OF THE LIGHT FRACTION MATERIAL IN A COASTAL PLAIN SOIL UNDER L0NG-TERM TILLAGE

Submitted to: Agronomy Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: October 31, 1999
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: We evaluated the effects of long-term conservation and conventional tillage on light fraction (LF) characteristics in a Norfolk soil that had been shown to have differences in SOC contents. The LF material was isolated from soil collected in the top 20 cm (5 cm increments) using a 1.5 g/mL NaBr density gradient technique. The yields of LF material and its OC and N contents were examined by depth and tillage. Significant effects of tillage, depth, and depth*tillage interaction were found for the yields of LF and its N content. Conservation tillage had higher yields of LF material with a higher N content in the 0-5 cm layer while soil under conventional tillage had a higher amount of LF material in the 5-10 cm layer. Our results show that long-term tillage practices in a Norfolk soil will significantly influence characteristics of the LF pool of soil organic matter.