Soil carbon and nitrogen and barley yield responses to repeated additions of compost and slurry
2017
The yields of spring barley during a medium-term (7 years) compost and slurry addition experiment and the soil
carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) contents, bacterial community structure, soil microbial biomass and soil respiration
rates have been determined to assess the effects of repeated, and in some cases very large, organic amendments
on soil and crop parameters. For compost, total additions were equivalent to up to 119 t C/ha and 1·7 t N/ha and
for slurry they were 25 t C/ha and 0·35 t N/ha over 7 years, which represented very large additions compared to
control soil C and N contents (69 t C/ha and 0·3 t N/ha in the 0–30 cm soil depth). There was an initial positive
response to compost and slurry addition on barley yield, but over the experiment the yield differential between
the amounts of compost addition declined, indicating that repeated addition of compost at a lower rate over
several years had the same cumulative effect as a large single compost application. By the end of the experiment
it was clear that the addition of compost and slurry increased soil C and N contents, especially towards the top of
the soil profile, as well as soil respiration rates. However, the increases in soil C and N contents were not proportional
to the amount of C and N added, suggesting either that: (i) a portion of the added C and N was more vulnerable
to loss; (ii) that its addition rendered another C or N pool in the soil more susceptible to loss; or (iii) that the
C inputs from additional crop productivity did not increase in line with the organic amendments. Soil microbial
biomass was depressed at the highest rate of organic amendment, and whilst this may have been due to genuine
toxic or inhibitory effects of large amounts of compost, it could also be due to the inaccuracy of the substrate induced respiration approach used for determining soil biomass when there is a large supply of organic
matter. At the highest compost addition, the bacterial community structure was significantly altered, suggesting
that the amendments significantly altered soil community dynamics.
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