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Title: SOIL CARBON AND NITROGEN AS INFLUENCED BY TILLAGE AND POULTRY LITTER IN NORTH ALABAMA

Author
item PARKER, M - ALA.A&M UNIV.GRAD.STU
item NYAKATAWA, E - ALABAMA A&M UNIV.
item REDDY, K - ALABAMA A&M UNIV.
item Reeves, Donald

Submitted to: Southern Conservation Tillage for Sustainable Agriculture Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/24/2002
Publication Date: 6/24/2002
Citation: Parker, M.A., Nyakatawa, E.Z., Reddy, K.C., Reeves, D.W. 2002. Soil carbon and nitrogen as influenced by tillage and poultry litter in north alabama. In: Van Santen, E., editor. Proceedings of the 25th Annual Southern Conservation Tillage Conference for Sustainable Agriculture - Making Conservation tillage Conventional: Building a Future on 25 Years of Research. Special Report no. 1, Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station and Auburn University, June 24-26, Auburn, Alabama. p. 283-287.

Interpretive Summary: Soils under long-term cotton cropping are degraded by loss of soil carbon or organic matter. Cotton acreage can serve as a means to safely dispose of the large amounts of poultry waste produced annually in the southern USA. Poultry litter can provide valuable nitrogen to cotton and improve soil quality by adding carbon to the soil. Alabama A&M and ARS cooperators initiated a study in 1996 in northern Alabama to determine the impact of tillage system, cover cropping, and poultry litter applications on soil properties and soil carbon storage under cotton production. Four years of conservation tillage with winter rye cover cropping and poultry litter as a source of nitrogen did not have adverse effects on soil pH and winter-rye cover cropping and poultry litter use in conservation tillage increased soil carbon in the top two inches of soil. This information can be used by extension, NRCS, and private-sector consultants to promote the use of conservation tillage and a means of disposing of poultry litter to improve soil quality and productivity.

Technical Abstract: Conservation tillage and waste management are strategies for sequestering soil carbon in the Cotton Belt, where a large amount of poultry waste is being produced every year. A study was initiated in 1996 at Belle, Mina, AL, to study the effects of no-till and mulch-till systems, surface application of poultry litter, and a winter rye (Secale cereale L.) cover crop on soil pH, C and N concentrations and growth and yield of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). There were no differences in soil pH among treatments prior to cotton planting in 2001. In April 2001, soil C in the top 0-5cm soil profile in the mulch-till system was 12% greater than that under conventional till and 46% higher than that in bare fallow (BF) plots. In the cotton-winter rye cropping system soil C in the top 0-5cm soil profile was 25% and 42% greater than that under cotton-winter fallow and BF plots, respectively, while in plots which received 100 kg N ha-1 and 200 kg N ha-1 in the form of poultry litter (PL), it was 7% and 20%, greater than in plots which received 100 kg N ha-1 in the form of ammonium nitrate (AN), respectively. Total soil N in the 0-5 cm soil depth at the start of the season in April 2001 under no-till was not significantly different from that in the conventional till. However, mulch-till plots contained 10% and 25% greater total soil N, compared to conventional till and no-till, respectively. The results from this study show that four years of conservation tillage system with winter-rye cover cropping and poultry litter as a source of N did not have adverse effects on soil pH and that rye cover cropping and PL use in conservation tillage increased total soil C in the top 5 cm of soil.