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- Title
Ammonium accumulation in soil: the long-term effects of tillage, rotation and N rate in a Mediterranean Vertisol.
- Authors
López‐Bellido, L.; Muñoz‐Romero, V.; Fernández‐García, P.; López‐Bellido, R. J.; Goss, Michael
- Abstract
Plant nutrition requires organic nitrogen to be mineralized before roots can absorb it. A 13-year field study was conducted on typical rain-fed Mediterranean Vertisol to determine the effects of tillage system, crop rotation and N fertilizer rate on the long-term NH4+-N content in the soil profile (0-90 cm). The experiment was designed as a randomized complete block with a split-split plot arrangement and three replications. The main plots tested the effects from the tillage system (no-tillage and conventional tillage); the subplots tested crop rotation with 2-year rotations (wheat-wheat, wheat-fallow, wheat-chickpea, wheat-faba bean and wheat-sunflower) and the sub-subplots examined the N fertilizer rate (0, 50, 100 and 150 kg N/ha). Soil NH4+-N content was greatest in the rainiest years and greater under the no-tillage ( NT) system than the conventional tillage ( CT) system (57 and 48 kg/ha, respectively). The deepest soil (30-60 and 60-90 cm) contained a greater NH4+-N content (21.0 and 21.4 kg/ha, respectively) than the shallowest soil (19.5 kg/ha in 0-30 cm). This observation may be related to Vertisol characteristics, especially crack formation that allows greater mineralization in the deepest layers by displacing organic matter.
- Subjects
AMMONIUM; SOILS; SOIL management; TILLAGE; AGRICULTURE
- Publication
Soil Use & Management, 2014, Vol 30, Issue 4, p471
- ISSN
0266-0032
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/sum.12147