Soil carbon change across ten New South Wales farms under different farm management regimes in Australia

This paper examines the potential influence of soil management and land use on soil carbon on cropping farms in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Soil organic carbon (SOC) data from ten farms spatially distributed across NSW were examined on two occasions. Soil cores to a depth 0-30 cm were measured for SOC and, as expected, SOC in the A horizon (1.16%) was significantly (p < .001) greater than in the B horizon (0.74%) of all profiles. Analysis of the 2013 and 2015 SOC data indicated that in many ways, the results runs counter to other SOC studies in Australia. Importantly, the mean SOC concentration in these agricultural soils was significantly (p < .001) less under cropping (2013-1.05%, 2015-0.97%) than in native sites (2013-1.20%, 2015-1.16%). Out of the total of 35 sites sampled from 10 farms, SOC in 49% of sites did not change significantly over 2 years, in 17% it increased significantly, whereas in 34% it decreased. Further, a clear implication of drought on SOC was seen on sites that were uncropped based on a critical value for a 95% confidence interval (p < .05) and complemented by the significant correlation (p < .05) between average annual precipitation deficit (ANPD) and SOC across the state with R-2 = 0.39. The mean SOC was found to be directly proportional to standard deviation and standard error. In terms of spatial variability, the C0 (nugget) value was greatest for farms with a large mean SOC and the average variogram in this study has a range of approximately 200 m which is potentially useful in determining sampling spacing for soil carbon auditing purpose. Similar empirical data over more years are required to better estimate SOC levels and to determine whether at a farm scale, factors such as land management, land use and climate can be related to soil carbon change and variability.