Soil sample bag effects on pre‐sidedress soil nitrate test concentrations

Abstract

Most soil testing laboratories require soil samples collected for the pre‐sidedress soil nitrate test (PSNT) to be dried before shipment. Shipment of field‐moist samples would make it easier to use the test. The objective of this study was to measure the effect of bag type on changes in soil nitrate in samples collected for the PSNT. Soil samples were collected from the surface foot of soil when corn (Zea mays L.) plants were 15‐ to 30‐cm tall. Four fields with a history of manure applications were sampled. The bulk sample was subsampled in the field and the subsamples were kept cool during transport to the laboratory and were immediately air dried after arrival at the laboratory. Field‐moist subsamples from each bulk sample were placed into either cloth bags or plastic‐lined paper bags after arrival at the laboratory. Four replications of the subsamples were incubated at 30°C for 1, 2, 3, and 4 days. After removal from the incubator, the subsamples were immediately spread to air dry. The soils incubated in the plastic‐lined paper bags did not significantly increase in nitrate after one day of incubation. There was a significant increase, however, in nitrate each day after the second, third and fourth day of incubation. The soils incubated in the cloth bags did not significantly increase in nitrate until the fourth day of incubation. The average increase in nitrate‐N concentration in the cloth bags between day 3 and day 4 was 1.5 mg kg L‐1soil. The results suggest that cloth bags could be used to ship field‐moist soil samples for the PSNT without significant changes in soil nitrate concentrations.