Abstract
Agricultural management practices affect the dynamics of soil organic matter (SOM) by influencing the amount of plant residues returned to the soil and rate of residue and SOM decomposition. Total organic C and δ13C of soil were measured in two field experiments involving corn cropping to determine the effect of tillage practices on SOM dynamics. Minimum tillage (MT) and no tillage (NT) had no significant impact on the soil C compared with conventional tillage (CT) in the 0- to 50-cm soil depth sampled at both sites. Continuous corn under MT and CT for 29 yr in a silt loam soil sequestered 61–65 g m−2 yr−1 of corn-derived C (C4-C), and it accounted for 25–26% of the total C in the 0- to 50-cm depth. In a sandy loam soil cropped to corn for 6 yr, SOM contained 10 and 8.4% C4-C under CT and NT, respectively. Reduced tillage practices altered the distribution of C4-C in soil, causing the surface (0–5 cm) soil of reduced tillage (MT and NT) plots to have higher amounts of C4-C compared to CT. Tillage practices did not affect the turnover of C3-C in soil. Key words: Soil organic matter, 13C natural abundance, tillage practices
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