Soil pH and Exchangeable Cation Responses to Tillage and Fertilizer in Dryland Cropping Systems
2016
Reeves, Justin L. | Liebig, Mark A.
Long-term use of nitrogen (N) fertilizers can lead to fertility-lowering soil chemical changes. To examine this in geologically young soils in the northern Great Plains of North America, we present near-surface (0–7.6 cm) soil chemistry data from 16 years of two crop rotations: continuous crop (CC; spring wheat [ Triticum aestivum L.]—winter wheat [ T. aestivum ]—sunflower [ Helianthus annuus L.]) and crop-fallow (C-F; spring wheat—fallow) that underwent factorial tillage (none, minimum, conventional) and N rate (low, medium, high) treatments. For CC, the N rate (but not tillage) had a significant effect on pH, with the high N rate leading to the largest pH decline (−0.76). The nitrogen rate also had a significant effect on cation exchange capacity (CEC) for CC, whereby CEC increased with the N rate. Managers utilizing high N rates should be aware of the potential for soil acidification, even in the northern Great Plains of North America.
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