Fertilization and tillage effects on soil properties and maize yield in a Southern Pampas Argiudoll
Highlights
► Long term N and P fertilization enhanced C input but did not affect soil C content. ► Tillage practices affected C accumulation, and P and pH stratification. ► N fertilization reduced pH, and this trend was reverted by the application of lime. ► S and micronutrients did not affect any soil property nor increased maize yield. ► Among soil properties affected by fertilization, only available P altered maize yield.
Introduction
The Argentinean Southern Pampas region, due to its edaphic and climatic properties, is considered one of the areas with the highest agricultural potential in the world (Satorre and Slafer, 1999). However, the use of intensive crop production and traditional management practices has diminished the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil (Echeverría and Ferrari, 1993). This degradation process is related, among other factors, to the use of aggressive tillage systems (Steinbach and Alvarez, 2005), while other management practices, such as no-till and fertilization, can counteract this negative trend in temperate regions (Alvarez, 2005).
Nitrogen (N) is the main nutrient limiting crop growth in the Southern Pampas (Echeverría and Sainz Rozas, 2006a, Echeverría and Sainz Rozas, 2006b). As a result, crops respond to N fertilization, mainly by increasing above-ground and root biomass production (Tognetti et al., 2006). This increase leads to more crop residue returned to soil (Studdert and Echeverría, 2000) which, in temperate agro-ecosystems, is considered the main factor controlling total soil organic carbon (TOC) dynamics (Stevenson and Cole, 1999). In a review of published information about Typic Argiudolls, Alvarez (2005) demonstrated that from 20 medium-term experiments (under 10 years) involving N fertilization, 10 showed an increase and six a decrease in TOC compared to unfertilized plots, while four were unaffected (Reeder et al., 1998, Varvel, 1994, Fabrizzi et al., 2003). These disparate results are a result of the differences in the balance between the amount of residues returned to soil and their decomposition rate (Khan et al., 2007), and depend on many factors such as the cumulative N applied, rotation, climate and soil texture (Alvarez, 2005). So, the effects of N fertilization on the soil cannot be generalized and must be evaluated in each particular condition.
Also, other soil properties are highly related to TOC content and can therefore also be modified by N fertilizers. These are properties such as bulk density (BD) (Jagadamma et al., 2008), aggregate stability (AS) (Blair et al., 2006) and N mineralization potential (Kolberg et al., 1999, Carpenter-Boggs et al., 2000). Some fertilizers like urea can also reduce soil pH (Liebig et al., 2002, Franzluebbers and Hons, 1996), a process that can be limited by the application of lime (Caires et al., 2005).
Phosphorus (P) is another limiting nutrient for crop production in the Southern Pampas region, where the P Bray level in the soil surface ranges from 10 mg kg−1 to 20 mg kg−1 (Sainz Rozas et al., 2011). However, the effect of this nutrient on soil properties has never been studied in this area, or in soils with similar characteristics. In an experiment in a semi-arid area with P Bray values similar to those found in the Southern Pampas (13.4 mg kg−1), but with lower TOC (50 Mg ha−1 in 0–45 cm soil layer), Purakayastha et al. (2008) determined a 6.3% increase in the average annual root biomass yield generated by cumulative P fertilization. Although this caused an increase of 0.13 Mg ha−1 year−1 in the estimated C return, the TOC content was not altered. In the same area, Rudrappa et al. (2006) found a slight increase in C fractions between N and N + P treatments. As soils with high C content have a low C storage capacity (Hassink and Whitmore, 1997), we would expect this response to be lower on a Typic Argiudoll.
Although N and P deficiencies are widespread in the area, crops began to respond to nutrients that were not limiting before, for example sulphur (S) (Pagani et al., 2009) and some micronutrients (Sainz Rosas et al., 2003), due to soil degradation. Therefore, fertilization with these nutrients may increase the amount of crop residues returned to soil. However, it was found that S fertilization did not affect TOC in soils with low C content (Mandal et al., 2007, Masto et al., 2007), and there are no reports of its effect on high TOC soils.
Tillage systems also contributed to soil quality reduction in the Southern Pampas (Steinbach and Alvarez, 2005). Among them, conventional tillage (CT) comprises the use of moldboard plowing, disking and field cultivation, and acts aggressively on the soil. However, in the early 1990s no-till (NT) management practices were introduced, and by 2009 this method was used on more than 75% of the Pampas planted area (AAPRESID, 2011). The introduction of NT management leads to changes in soil properties, such as TOC content (Puget and Lal, 2005), AS, BD (Alvarez and Steinbach, 2009), potentially mineralizable N (Fabrizzi et al., 2003), pH and nutrients stratification (Franzluebbers and Hons, 1996). These changes could interact with those produced by fertilization, altering their effect on the soil. For example, Fabrizzi et al. (2003) determined that changes in the TOC caused by N fertilization are more pronounced in the first layer of soil using NT methods.
As soil properties have a direct effect on crop growth and development, variations in yield can be used to detect changes in the edaphic environment. Maize is a crop commonly planted in the area, and it has been found to be sensitive to the changes caused by tillage (Domínguez et al., 2009) and N fertilization (Jagadamma et al., 2008).
Understanding the combined effect of tillage practices and fertilization on soil and crops can help to develop strategies to restore soil quality in the Southern Pampas. To achieve this, information obtained from medium-term experiments is essential, because it not only allows for a comparative assessment between two or more contrasting situations (Larson and Pierce, 1994), but it also provides knowledge about the direction and magnitude of change being generated by a management practice (Wienhold and Halvorson, 1999).
The objective of this study was to determine the medium-term effects of N, P, S, micronutrients and lime application under two different tillage systems (CT and NT) on the physical, chemical and biological properties of a Typic Argiudoll and the response of maize to these changes in the Southern Pampas.
We hypothesized that: (1) medium-term N fertilization alters soil properties, and its effects depend on tillage systems; (2) medium-term fertilization with P, S and micronutrients, and liming do not affect soil properties; (3) maize crop is capable of detecting changes in soil properties caused by tillage and fertilization.
Section snippets
Site description
The experiment was initiated in 2001 in Balcarce, Argentina (37°45′ S, 58°18′ W; 870 mm mean annual rainfall; 13.8 °C mean temperature) on a Typic Argiudoll which had been farmed for more than 50 years using CT. This soil has a superficial loamy texture (23% clay, 36% silt, 41% sand), 5.8 pH (1:2 soil/water), 32 g kg−1 C content, 29 mg kg−1 P Bray and 654 mg K+ kg−1.
The experiment was designed using a randomized complete block with a split-plot arrangement. The tillage systems used in the main plot were
Biochemical properties
Medium-term fertilization with N, P, S and Mi, and liming did not alter biochemical properties or interact with tillage systems at any depth. However, tillage systems affected all the studied biochemical properties: TOC, POC, TN, PN and AN in the 0–5 cm layer, where NT had higher values relative to CT (Table 2). This trend was described by other authors (Puget and Lal, 2005, Domínguez et al., 2009), and it is explained by a stratification phenomenon, where NT has a higher accumulation of TOC and
Conclusion
Contrary to the hypothesis, the medium-term use of N fertilizers did not affect any physical or biochemical property of a Typic Argiudoll in the Southern Pampas region under a crop rotation involving maize, soybean and wheat, but did cause soil acidification. Nor did the application of P, S, micronutrients and lime affect soil properties, except for an increase in soil available P.
Tillage systems interacted with both chemical properties affected by medium-term fertilization (P Bray and pH),
Acknowledgments
We want to express our gratitude to J.L. Costa and his group for providing the facilities and material to determine physical soil properties. This study was carried out thanks to the financial support of the INTA project AERN 295561, the FCA-UNMP AGR319/10 and FONCyT-PICT 2007-446.
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