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Soil Fertility & Plant Nutrition

Soil Biochemical Properties as Affected by Land Leveling in a Clayey Aquert

Dep. of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences, Univ. of Arkansas, 115 Plant Sci. Bldg., Fayetteville, AR 72701

^* Corresponding author (kbrye{at}uark.edu)

Land leveling or precision grading is an agricultural practice subsidized by the United States Government for water conservation purposes and is common in the Mississippi River Delta region of the mid-southern United States. Though undertaken to more uniformly deliver irrigation water, land leveling represents a severe soil disturbance that alters near-surface soil biogeochemical properties. The objectives of this study were to characterize the short-term impacts of land leveling on the magnitude, variance, and spatial variability and distributions of soil chemical properties and to evaluate the impact of land leveling on the relationships among soil chemical and biological properties in a Sharkey clay (very-fine, smectitic, thermic Chromic Epiaquert) used for irrigated soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] and rice (Oryza sativa L.) production in the Mississippi Delta region of northeast Arkansas. Soil pH, EC, and Mehlich-3 extractable soil K, Ca, Mg, Na, S, Fe, and Cu contents in the top 10 cm increased, while soil OM, total N and C concentrations, C/N ratio, and extractable soil P and Mn contents decreased following land leveling. Variances for soil pH, and extractable soil P, K, Na, S, Mn, Cu and Zn contents increased after leveling. Spatial variability and distributions of soil chemical properties were noticeably altered and many correlations among soil biochemical properties changed significantly after leveling. Increased variations in soil biogeochemical properties as a result of any soil disturbance will make uniform field and crop management more difficult. Precision agricultural technologies may aid in the restoration of uniform productivity and soil fertility to predisturbance levels.

Abbreviations: OM, organic matter • EC, electrical conductivity

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