The ash content of the plough layer of peat lands cultivated by different methods

Yrjö Pessi

doi:10.23986/afsci.71554

Abstract

The results of this investigation justify the conclusion that the ash content of peat increases under cultivation through the effects of the administered fertilizers and soil improving agents. The ash content is increased in a particularly remarkable degree by addition of mineral soil as a soil improving agent. The ash content in the plough layer of cultivated peat lands which had received an addition of mineral soil as long as 37 years ago was found to be quite high. This would seem to indicate a prolonged effect of mineral soil on the properties of the plough layer. The increase of the ash content in the plough layer of cultivated peat land is obviously one of the factors responsible for the phenomenon that long-term cultivation of peat land slowly deprives the peat of its original character.

Highlights

The ash content of the peat in Finnish bogs in their natural condition is rarely higher than 10 %
Addition of mineral soil as a soil improving agent on peat land has caused a remarkable increase in the ash content and it can be said that its effect on the properties of the soil seems to be very prolonged since the most recent addition in the present tests was made [25—27] years ago
The ash content in the plough layer of cultivated peat lands which had received an addition of mineral soil as long as 37 years ago was found to be quite high

Summary

Introduction

The ash content of the peat in Finnish bogs in their natural condition is rarely higher than 10 %. In the course of cultivation the ash content of the peat increases owing to the effects of fertilizers and soil improvement. Fertilizing and liming are not applied with this result in mind, but mineral soil is frequently added as a soil improving agent to peat soils with the express purpose of changing the physical properties of the peat. This measure is often repeated after a few decades on the assumption that the mineral soil has disappeared from the plough layer for one reason or another. Vesikivi (7) has given an account of this experiment and in part of its results from the first decades of its duration

Methods

Results

Conclusion