Effect of organic inputs on strength and stability of soil aggregates under rice-wheat rotation
|
|
||||||||||
PDF
|
|||||||||||
| Authors: | B. Das1, D. Chakraborty2, V. Singh3, P. Aggarwal1, R. Singh1, B. Dwivedi2 1Division of Agricultural Physics, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012, India 2Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012, India 3Project Directorate for Farming Systems Research, Modipuram, Meerut, 250110, India |
||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract : | The study aims to elucidate the impact of organic inputs on strength and structural stability of aggregates in a sandy loam soil. Tensile strength, friability and water stability of aggregates, and the carbon contents in bulk soil and in large macro (>2 mm), small macro (0.25-2 mm), micro (0.053-0.25 mm) and silt+clay size (<0.053) aggregates were evaluated in soils from a long-term experiment with rice-wheat rotation at Modipuram, India, with different sources and amounts of organic C inputs as partial substitution of N fertilizer. Addition of organic substrates significantly improved soil organic C contents, but the type and source of inputs had different impacts. Tensile strength of aggregates decreased and friability increased through organic inputs, with a maximum effect under green gram residue (rice)-farmyard manure (wheat) substitution. Higher macroaggregates in the crop residue- and farmyard manure-treated soils resulted in a higher aggregate mean weight diameter, which also had higher soil organic C contents. The bulk soil organic C had a strong relation with the mean weight diameter of aggregates, but the soil organic C content in all aggregate fractions was not necessarily effective for aggregate stability. The soil organic C content in large macroaggregates (2-8 mm) had a significant positive effect on aggregate stability, although a reverse effect was observed for aggregates <0.25 mm. Partial substitution of nitrogen by organic substrates improved aggregate properties and the soil organic C content in bulk soil and aggregate fractions, although the relative effect varied with the source and amount of the organic inputs. |
||||||||||
| Keywords : | tensile strength, friability, aggregates, soil organic C, rice-wheat rotation mean weight diameter | ||||||||||
| Language : | English | ||||||||||