Decomposition of wheat and barley straw treated with urea-sulfuric acid

Smith, J.H. and Jackson, T.L. (1987) Decomposition of wheat and barley straw treated with urea-sulfuric acid. Biology & Fertility of Soils. 4:199-203.

PDF 605.pdf Download (215kB)

Abstract

Wheat straw treated with 0.5 or 1.0 ml/g
urea-sulfuric acid (1 : 1 acid in water v/v) and incubated
in Protneuf or Woodburn silt loam soils in the
laboratory decomposed faster than nontreated straw
the first 4-6 weeks but at 12 weeks the nontreated
straw had decomposed 25% – 45% more. In a field experiment,
urea-sulfuric acid treated straw, removed at
40-day intervals over 160 days, decomposed faster
than nontreated straw. The differences were attributed
to salt buildup in the laboratory samples, where electrical
conductivities up to 17.6 dS/m were observed. In
the field, leaching removed the excess salts. Nitrification
produced up to 1875 mg NO3-N/kg Portneuf
silt loam soil in the laboratory, indicating that nitrifying
bacteria were not suppressed by the salt. Total
plate counts with no straw were 1.8 x 10^6 microorganisms/g
and with urea-sulfuric acid treated straw were
15.7 x 10^6/g soil after 14 days incubation. The respective
actinomycete counts were 0.3 x 10^6 and 6.7 x 10^6/g
for the no straw and straw-treated soils, respectively.
The urea-sulfuric acid treatments suppressed straw
decomposition in the laboratory and accelerated straw
decomposition in the field.

Item Type:	Article
NWISRL Publication Number:	0605
Subjects:	Irrigated crops > Small grain Mass Import - autoclassified (may be erroneous)
Depositing User:	Dan Stieneke
Date Deposited:	20 Nov 2010 21:53
Last Modified:	10 Jan 2017 23:39
Item ID:	481
URI:	https://eprints.nwisrl.ars.usda.gov/id/eprint/481