SOIL QUALITY RESPONSE OF REESTABLISHED GRASSLANDS TO MOWING AND BURNING

Prescribed burning and mowing are management practices commonly used o n grasslands even though there is limited knowledge of long-term effec ts on soil quality, The influences of mowing and burning on soil quali ty were determined on 2 reestablished tallgrass sites in eastern Nebra ska dominated by silty clay loam soils, Burn treatments included seaso nal (i.e., October, May, or July) prescribed burning at either 1-year or 4-year intervals, Mow treatments included seasonal mowing at 4-year intervals, Both burn and mow treatments have been imposed at Site 1 s ince fall 1981, Only the burn treatments have been applied at Site 2 s ince fall 1979, Soil quality measurements were made at both sites in s ummer 1994, Season of application of the mow and burn treatments and s eason X treatment interactions were not significant, Infiltration rate s at Site 1 for the mow and annual burn treatments were slower than fo r the control, whereas infiltration rate was comparable for the ii-yea r burn treatments and the control, Unlike Site 1, the 1-year and 4-yea r burn treatments at Site 2 had similar infiltration rates, and the bu rn treatments had slower infiltration rates than the control, Generall y, soil bulk density, pH, electrical conductivity, total nitrogen cont ent, and organic matter content were similar for all treatments, Resul ts demonstrate that repeated burning or mowing treatments can detrimen tally impact infiltration rates on silty clay loam sites; however, soi l properties other than those measured would need to be studied to exp lain infiltration response.