Evaluating Soil Organic Matter Pools and Earthworm Counts in Response to Land Restoration

Project Abstract

Organic matter depletion is a common type of degradation in garden soils which can be reversed by conversion to restorative land using various soil amendments. Per year in the US, there are two million acres of cropland eroded due intensive tillage management. Therefore, the objective of this study was to observe the responses of soils as affected by various amendments applications including composted swine manure, composted equine manure, local commercial poultry litter (LCPL), and municipal compost. Ten garden plots size 1.22 x 2.44 m2 were established in an alternating block design in January 2019. Each plot was constructed using cardboard and newspaper instead of tilling the soil. All soil amendments were applied at rates of 45.4 tons/ha to a depth of 10 cm, except for the LCPL amendment. The later amendment was applied at 4.5 tons/ha. Soil nutrients such as N, P, K, Ca, Mg, and K, soil pH, soil organic matter (SOM), particulate organic matter (POM), and earthworm counts were assessed periodically from January to November 2019. The results show that the effect of each organic amendments was different in magnitude among the soil properties. Particularly in SOM pools, the municipal compost provides the best local organic amendment to increase soil C sequestration. Details of the results will be described in the poster. This study would provide quantitative results regarding local soil amendments in restoring degraded land due to intensive tillage in agricultural land.

Conference

Conference name (full, no abbreviations): 2019 ASA-CSSA-SSA International Annual Meeting

Dates: November 10-13, 2019

Sponsoring body: American Society of Agronomy

Conference website: https://www.acsmeetings.org/

Funding Type

Travel Grant

Academic College

Hutson School of Agriculture

Area/Major/Minor

Agriculture Science/Agronomy

Degree

Bachelor

Classification

Junior

Name

Dr. Iin P. Handayani

Academic College

Hutson School of Agriculture

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