Soil compaction and poultry litter effects on factors affecting nitrogen availability in a claypan soil

Abstract

Soil compaction may affect N mineralization and the subsequent fate of N in agroecosystems. Laboratory incubation and field experiments were conducted to determine the effects of surface soil compaction on soil N mineralization in a claypan soil amended with poultry litter (i.e., Turkey excrement mixed with pine shavings as bedding). In a laboratory study, soil from the surface horizon of a Mexico silt loam soil was compacted to four bulk density levels (1.2, 1.4, 1.6 and 1.8 Mg m −3) with and without poultry litter and incubated at 25 °C for 42 days. A field trial planted to corn ( Zea mays L.) was also conducted in 2002 on a Mexico silt loam claypan soil in North Central Missouri. Soil was amended with litter (0 and 19 Mg ha −1) and left uncompacted or uniformly compacted. Soil compaction decreased soil inorganic N by a maximum of 1.8 times in the laboratory study; this effect was also observed at all depths of the field trial. Compacted soil with a litter amendment accumulated NH 4 +-N up to 7.2 times higher than the noncompacted, litter-amended soil until Day 28 of the laboratory incubation and in the beginning of the growing season of the field study. Ammonium accumulation may have been due to decreased soil aeration under compacted conditions. Application of litter increased soil N mineralization throughout the growing season. In the laboratory study, soil inorganic N in unamended soil was negatively correlated with soil bulk density and the proportion of soil micropores, but was positively related with soil total porosity and the proportion of soil macropores. These results indicate that soil compaction, litter application and climate are interrelated in their influences on soil N mineralization in agroecosystems.