Abstract
Managing the soil nitrogen (N) cycle is a major component of agricultural sustainability. Soil functional zone management (zonal management) is a novel agroecological strategy for managing row-crop agroecosystems. It may improve the efficiency of soil N cycling compared with conventional and no-tillage approaches, by managing the timing and location (crop row vs inter-row) of key soil N cycling processes. We compared N mineralization and availability during the period of maize peak N demand in crop rows and inter-rows in zonal management and conventional chisel plow tillage systems at four sites across the US Corn Belt over three growing seasons. Under zonal management, potential N mineralization and N availability during crop peak N demand were significantly greater in crop rows, where the majority of crop roots are found, compared with inter-rows. Averaged across all site-years, plant-available N in zonal management crop rows was 46 mg kg−1 compared with 21 mg kg−1 in inter-rows. In contrast, in conventional tillage, potential N mineralization and N availability were greater in inter-rows compared with crop rows; averaged across all site-years, plant-available N in conventional tillage crop rows was 24 mg kg−1 compared with 51 mg kg−1 in inter-rows. The results demonstrate that the active management of crop residues under zonal management can enhance the spatiotemporal efficiency of soil N cycling processes, by concentrating N mineralization and availability close to crop roots in synchrony with crop developmental needs. Zonal management therefore has potential to increase crop N-use efficiency compared with conventional tillage, and thereby reduce the impacts of row-crop agricultural production on water resources and greenhouse gas emissions that result from N leaching and denitrification.
Department
Soil Biogeochemistry and Microbial Ecology
Publication Date
7-25-2016
Journal Title
Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment
Publisher
Elsevier
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Document Type
Article
Recommended Citation
Alwyn Williams, Adam S. Davis, Patrick M. Ewing, A. Stuart Grandy, Daniel A. Kane, Roger T. Koide, David A. Mortensen, Richard G. Smith, Sieglinde S. Snapp, Kurt A. Spokas, Anthony C. Yannarell, Nicholas R. Jordan, Precision control of soil nitrogen cycling via soil functional zone management, Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, Volume 231, 2016, Pages 291-295, ISSN 0167-8809, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2016.07.010.
Rights
© 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.
Comments
This is an open access article published by Elsevier in Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment in 2016, available online: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2016.07.010