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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #94040
Title: NIRS AND SOILS:WHAT CAN NIRS TELL US?

Author
item Reeves Iii, James
item McCarty, Gregory
item Meisinger, John

Submitted to: Eastern Analytical Symposium
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/18/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The objective of this work was to investigate the potential usefulness of NIRS in determining various constituents (total N and C, and active, biomass and mineralizable N, and pH) and parameters (soil source, depth from which sample was obtained, type of tillage used and rate of application of NH4NO3 fertilizer) of low organic matter soils. Samples (N = 179) were obtained from experimental plots consisting of two locations with plots under plow till and no till practices at each location with 3 rates of NH4NO3 for each plot. For each of these, samples were taken from 5 depths for a total of 180 samples (one lost). Investigations demonstrated that NIRS could be successfully used to determine some compositional parameters of low organic matter soils particularly total C and total N). It was also apparent that for non- biological parameters, excluding pH, that NIRS is generally not very useful. For other determinations, such as biomass N and active N, results were more variable and may be useful depending on the exact needs in question. Finally, NIRS was totally useless for determining mineralizable N (21 d) in soils.