Long-term effects of cropped vs. fallow and fertilizer amendments on soil organic matter II. Nitrogen

The present study evaluated the effect of fertilizer amendments (organic manure and mineral fertilizers), management practices (fallow and untilled vs. cropped and tilled) on changes of N in bulk soil and N associated with different particle-size fractions. The long-term field experiment was conducted since 1962 in Gumpenstein, Austria, on a Dystric Cambisol. The N content of the topsoils changed distinctively during 28 and 38 yr of treatments under both fallow and cropped management practices. Highest increase in total N content was found in animal-manure (liquid)-treated plots. The remaining ranking was: animal manure (solid) > cattle slurry > half cattle slurry + straw = PK = NPK. Quite short N-half-life values of around 2 yr were found for the cattle-slurry application, while animal manure exhibited longer N-half-lives of around 8 yr. Crop removal of N and mineralization losses in cropped plots obviously were higher than N losses from the bare soil plots lacking a plant cover to keep N in the system. This was confirmed by a consistent shift in the natural (15)N abundances. Comparing the mean N contribution of particle-size fractions to the total N amounts revealed the following ranking after 28 and 38 yr of different treatments: silt > clay > fine sand > coarse sand, with small exceptions. Particle-size separates showed more significant responses to changes in the N dynamics of the system due to the various treatments than the bulk soil and can be regarded as the better indicators in this respect.