Measuring and interpreting rangeland soil fertility

Mayland, H.F. (1968) Measuring and interpreting rangeland soil fertility. Agronomy Abstracts. 60:137.

PDF 125.pdf Download (29kB)

Abstract

Fertility (FI) and a potential yield increase (PI) indexes
were determined for 119 semiarid rangeland soils of south-eastern
Oregon. Four hundred-gram portions of the <2 mm
soil, representing 0 to 75, 75 to 150, or 150 to 300 mm depths,
were placed in 400-cm³ waxed cartons, seeded with 100
'Bonneville' barley (Hordeum vulgar, L.) seeds and watered
(—NS) daily to 0.3 atmosphere moisture tension. A second
group was handled identically except that 50 ml of complete
nutrient solution (+NS) was applied at 10-day intervals. Top
growth was harvested at 40 days, dried at 100 C and the mean
yield of three replications determined. The fertility index was
computed as F1 = (-NS yield)/ (+NS yield) and the potential
yield increase index as PI = 100 [(+NS yield) — (-NS yield)] /
(—NS yield). Percentage occupancy (PO) of Agropyron desertorum
was assumed to be a measure of reseeding success at the sites
represented by the soils. PO was not related to FI, but was
positively correlated with PI for each of the three soil depths.
It is concluded from this relationship that fertilization response
would be greatest on the more successfully reseeded sites.

Item Type:	Article
NWISRL Publication Number:	0125
Subjects:	Soil > Fertility Mass Import - autoclassified (may be erroneous)
Depositing User:	Dan Stieneke
Date Deposited:	20 Nov 2010 21:50
Last Modified:	15 Mar 2017 19:12
Item ID:	182
URI:	https://eprints.nwisrl.ars.usda.gov/id/eprint/182