Ca. Campbell et al., TILLAGE AND FALLOW FREQUENCY-EFFECTS ON SELECTED SOIL QUALITY ATTRIBUTES IN A COARSE-TEXTURED BROWN CHERNOZEM, Canadian Journal of Soil Science, 77(4), 1997, pp. 497-505
An 11-yr study was conducted on a coarse-textured Brown Chernozemic so
il in the semiarid prairie of southwestern Saskatchewan. Soil was samp
led after 3, 7 and 11 yr, and the results were used to assess the infl
uence of fallow frequency and tillage on selected soil quality attribu
tes [e.g., total soil organic C and N, microbial biomass C (MB-C) and
microbial biomass N (MB-N), C mineralization (C-min) and N mineralizat
ion (N-min), and specific respiratory activity (SRA)] in the 0- to 7.5
-cm and 7.5- to 15-cm depths. Although it took 11 yr before we observe
d significant treatment effects on total organic C or N, effects on C-
min and N-min were observed in 7 yr in the 0- to 7.5-cm depth and by 1
1 yr, MB and SRA also showed significant treatment effects in this dep
th, Generally, soil quality attributes were greater in no-tillage (NT)
systems than in conventional mechanical tillage (CT) or minimum tilla
ge (MT), and greater in continuous wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) (Cont
W) than in fallow-wheat (F-W) systems. With time, the labile constitue
nts tended to increase under the Cent W cropping, but to decrease when
F-W was coupled with MT. After 11 yr there was a strong, direct assoc
iation between the labile attributes (viz., C-min, N-min and MB-C) in
the 0- to 7.5-cm depth and the mean annual straw produced (kg ha(-1)yr
(-1)) in the four cropping systems tested. Of the soil quality attribu
tes tested, C-min and N-min were the most sensitive indices to tillage
and fallow frequency effects.