HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Tiessen, H. Articles by Bettany, J. R. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Tiessen, H. Articles by Bettany, J. R. Agricola Articles by Tiessen, H. Articles by Bettany, J. R.

Cultivation Effects on the Amounts and Concentration of Carbon, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus in Grassland Soils¹

Cultivation has substantially reduced the organic matter contents of many prairie soils. This study attempts to quantify the losses of C, N, and P from three prairie soils of different textures during cultivation. For this purpose cultivated and adjacent uncultivated soils (2 Cryoborolls and 1 Cryorthent) were sampled and their C, N, and P contents as well as their bulk densities and horizon depths were compared.

Reductions of about 35% in the C concentration were observed in clay and silt loam soils after 60 to 70 years of cultivation. At the same time reductions in N concentrations were greatly influenced by the presence or absence of legume [alfalfa, (Medicago sativa L.)] crops grown in the fields and losses varied between 18 and 34%. Phosphorus concentrations were reduced by 12% and all P losses were accounted for by the organic fraction. During a similar period of cultivation a lighter textured sandy loam had experienced greater reductions in C, N, and P concentrations of 46, 46, and 29%, respectively. In this soil P was lost from both the organic and inorganic fractions. Prolonged cultivation of 90 years did not result in a decrease in the rates of losses of C, N, and P on the silt loam soil.

Conversion of concentration data to area based total C, N, and P budgets resulted in a decrease in the differences seen between cultivated and uncultivated soils. This was caused by an increase of soil bulk densities under cultivation and by an increase in the standard deviations of the data due to variability of horizon depths in cultivated fields.

Key Words: Organic matter losses • Erosion losses

² Graduate student, professor, and associate professor, prespectively, Dep. of Soil Science, Univ. of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Sask., Canada S7N OWO.

Received for publication May 4, 1981.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. K. Panda, R. Singh, D. K. Kundu, H. Chakraborty, and A. Kumar Improved Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon Storage Uncertainty Using First-Order Taylor Series Approximation Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., October 30, 2008; 72(6): 1708 - 1710. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. M. Sulc and B. F. Tracy Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems in the U.S. Corn Belt Agron. J., February 6, 2007; 99(2): 335 - 345. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. P. D'Acqui, C. A. Santi, and F. Maselli Use of Ecosystem Information to Improve Soil Organic Carbon Mapping of a Mediterranean Island J. Environ. Qual., January 9, 2007; 36(1): 262 - 271. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. A. Mikhailova and C. J. Post Effects of land use on soil inorganic carbon stocks in the Russian chernozem. J. Environ. Qual., July 1, 2006; 35(4): 1384 - 1388. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. A. Ortega, G. A. Peterson, and D. G. Westfall Residue Accumulation and Changes in Soil Organic Matter as Affected by Cropping Intensity in No-Till Dryland Agroecosystems Agron. J., July 1, 2002; 94(4): 944 - 954. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E.A. Mikhailova, R.B. Bryant, I.I. Vassenev, S.J. Schwager, and C.J. Post Cultivation Effects on Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Contents at Depth in the Russian Chernozem Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., March 1, 2000; 64(2): 738 - 745. [Abstract] [Full Text]