Developments in Agricultural Soil Quality and Health: Reflections by the Research Committee on Soil Organic Matter Management

The North Central Education and Research Activity Committee (NCERA-59) was formed in 1952 to address how soil organic matter formation and management practices affect soil structure and productivity. It is in this capacity that we comment on the science supporting soil quality and associated soil health assessment for agricultural lands with the goal of hastening progress in this important field. Even though the suite of soil quality indicators being applied by U.S. soil health efforts closely mirrors the “minimum data set” we developed and recommended in the mid-1990s, we question whether the methods or means for their selection and development are sufficient to meet current and emerging soil health challenges. The rush to enshrine a standard suite of dated measures may be incompatible with longer-term goals. Legitimate study of soil health considers soil change accrued over years to decades that influence on- and off-site function. Tailoring of methods to local conditions is needed to effectively apply and interpret indicators for different soil resource regions and land uses. Adherence to a set suite of methods selected by subjective criteria should be avoided, particularly when we do not yet have adequate data or agreed upon interpretive frameworks for many so-called “Tier 1” biological indicators used in soil health assessment. While pooling data collected by producer-groups is one of the most exciting new trends in soil health, standardizing methods to meet broad inventory goals could compromise indicator use for site or application-specific problem solving. Changes in our nation’s research landscape are shifting responsibility for soil stewardship from national and state government backed entities to public-private partnerships. As a result, it is critical to ensure that the data needed to assess soil health are generated by reproducible methods selected through a transparent process, and that data are readily available for public and private sector use. Appropriate methods for engagement need to be applied by public-private research partnerships as they establish and expand coordinated research enterprises that can deliver fact-based interpretation of soil quality indicators within the type of normative soil health framework conceived by USDA over 20 years ago. We look to existing examples as we consider how to put soil health information into the hands of practitioners in a manner that protects soils’ services

Developments in Agricultural Soil Quality and Health: Reflections by the Research Committee on Soil Organic Matter Management

The North Central Education and Research Activity Committee (NCERA-59) was formed in 1952 to address how soil organic matter formation and management practices affect soil structure and productivity. It is in this capacity that we comment on the science supporting soil quality and associated soil health assessment for agricultural lands with the goal of hastening progress in this important field. Even though the suite of soil quality indicators being applied by U.S. soil health efforts closely mirrors the “minimum data set” we developed and recommended in the mid-1990s, we question whether the methods or means for their selection and development are sufficient to meet current and emerging soil health challenges. The rush to enshrine a standard suite of dated measures may be incompatible with longer-term goals. Legitimate study of soil health considers soil change accrued over years to decades that influence on- and off-site function. Tailoring of methods to local conditions is needed to effectively apply and interpret indicators for different soil resource regions and land uses. Adherence to a set suite of methods selected by subjective criteria should be avoided, particularly when we do not yet have adequate data or agreed upon interpretive frameworks for many so-called “Tier 1” biological indicators used in soil health assessment. While pooling data collected by producer-groups is one of the most exciting new trends in soil health, standardizing methods to meet broad inventory goals could compromise indicator use for site or application-specific problem solving. Changes in our nation’s research landscape are shifting responsibility for soil stewardship from national and state government backed entities to public-private partnerships. As a result, it is critical to ensure that the data needed to assess soil health are generated by reproducible methods selected through a transparent process, and that data are readily available for public and private sector use. Appropriate methods for engagement need to be applied by public-private research partnerships as they establish and expand coordinated research enterprises that can deliver fact-based interpretation of soil quality indicators within the type of normative soil health framework conceived by USDA over 20 years ago. We look to existing examples as we consider how to put soil health information into the hands of practitioners in a manner that protects soils’ services

Effects of Phosphorus Rate, Placement, and Tillage on Irrigated Corn

This study was designed to look at the feasibility of placing fertilizer phosphorus into the soil at a depth of 8 inches or more with a chisel plow. Broadcasting fertilizer phosphorus before incorporating it into the soil by tillage or row banding as a starter fertilizer at planting time are the most commonly used methods of phosphorus fertilizer application. These methods of fertilizer P application as well as the effects of chisel plow placement on the growth of corn plants throughout the growing season were to be compared under both chisel plow and moldboard plow tillage. In addition, the distribution of fertilizer P in the soil was to be examined in comparing the placement methods. Leaf, plant, and grain analyses were also to be used in determining the phosphorus status in the corn plants grown on plots on which the various placement methods had been applied. Effects of varying rates of fertilizer P were to be monitored in a like manner. Finally, effects of irrigation levels were to be studied to determine the results of placement on the phosphorus nutrition and grain yield of corn under varying moisture conditions. Advisor: Robert A. Olso

Irrigation Water Sample Analysis

AE-136

Varietal variation in ear leaf and grain nitrogen content of corn grown at the Agricultural Science Center at Artesia

Introduction; Materials and methods; Results and discussion; Ear leaf N; Grain N; Yield prediction modeling; Summary and conclusions; Literature citedResearch report containing the results of a study to determine nitrogen baselines for corn varieties grown in New Mexico and to developp methods for using nitrogen levels in ear leaf and grain for yield predictions

Sampling for plant tissue analysis

Guide containing information on the purpose of and methods for sampling tissue from different types of plants

Effect of phosphorus and zinc application on alfalfa forage yield

Materials and methods; Results and discussion; Effects of fertilizer treatments on over-dry forage yield; Effects of fertilizer treatments on soil test values; Conclusions; ReferencesResearch report containing the results of a study to determine the effect of zinc supplementation on the yield of phosphorus-fertilized alfalfa in zinc deficient soils in New Mexico