Interrelationships of Chemical, Physical and Biological Soil Health Indicators in Beef-Pastures of Southern Piedmont, Georgia

Subash Dahal, Dorcas H. Franklin, Anish Subedi, Miguel L. Cabrera, Laura Ney, Brendan Fatzinger and Kishan Mahmud
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Subash Dahal: Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Miller Plant Sciences Building, 3111 Carlton St, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Dorcas H. Franklin: Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Miller Plant Sciences Building, 3111 Carlton St, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Anish Subedi: Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Miller Plant Sciences Building, 3111 Carlton St, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Miguel L. Cabrera: Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Miller Plant Sciences Building, 3111 Carlton St, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Laura Ney: Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Miller Plant Sciences Building, 3111 Carlton St, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Brendan Fatzinger: Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Miller Plant Sciences Building, 3111 Carlton St, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Kishan Mahmud: Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Miller Plant Sciences Building, 3111 Carlton St, Athens, GA 30602, USA

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 9, 1-15

Abstract: The study of interrelationships among soil health indicators is important for (i) achieving better understanding of nutrient cycling, (ii) making soil health assessment cost-effective by eliminating redundant indicators, and (iii) improving nitrogen (N) fertilizer recommendation models. The objectives of this study were to (i) decipher complex interrelationships of selected chemical, physical, and biological soil health indicators in pastures with history of inorganic or broiler litter fertilization, and (ii) establish associations among inorganic N, potentially mineralizable N (PMN), and soil microbial biomass (SMBC), and other soil health indicators. In situ soil respiration was measured and soil samples were collected from six beef farms in 2017 and 2018 to measure selected soil health indicators. We were able to establish associations between easy-to-measure active carbon (POXC) vs. PMN (R 2 = 0.52), and N (R 2 = 0.43). POXC had a noteworthy quadratic relationship with N and nitrate, where we found dramatic increase of N and nitrate beyond an inflection point of 500 mg kg −1 POXC. This point may serve as threshold for soil health assessment. The relationships of loss-on-ignition (LOI) carbon with other soil health indicators were discernable between inorganic- and broiler litter-fertilized pastures. We were able to establish association of SMBC with other soil variables (R 2 = 0.76) and there was detectable difference in SMBC between inorganic-fertilized and broiler litter-fertilized pastures. These results could be useful for cost-effective soil health assessment and optimization of N fertilizer recommendation models to improve N use efficiency and grazing system sustainability.

Keywords: soil health indicators; grazing systems; nitrogen; permanganate oxidizable carbon; soil microbial biomass (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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