269-3 Effect of Soil Organic Carbon Level On the Erodibility of a U.S. Piedmont Soil.



Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Henry Gonzalez Convention Center, Hall C, Street Level

Jordan Sedlock1, Charles Raczkowski2, Gudigopuram B. Reddy1, Warren Busscher3, Alan Franzluebbers4 and Philip Bauer3, (1)North Carolina A&T University SASES Chapter, Greensboro, NC
(2)North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC
(3)USDA-ARS, Florence, SC
(4)USDA-ARS, Watkinsville, GA
Intensive soil cultivation and high soil erosion has impoverished levels of soil organic carbon (SOC) in the southeastern U.S. Piedmont region. Sound soil management practices that build SOC levels are needed to reduce soil erodibility and restore soil quality. We studied the relationship of SOC content and soil erodibility using a Piedmont soil that has been managed for 7-years using key practices that increase SOC levels, including winter cover cropping, compost applications and no tillage. The soil used, an Enon sandy loam (fine, mixed, thermic, Ultic Hapludalf), was collected in June 2010 from the following treatments in a field study that began in 2003: (i) no tillage summer vegetable planting, (ii) fall applied poultry hatchery compost + winter rye-clover cover crop + no tillage summer vegetable planting, (iii) summer vegetable planting after disk tillage and, (iv) fall applied poultry hatchery compost + winter rye-clover cover crop + summer vegetable planting after disk tillage. A rainfall simulator was used to apply 75 mm hr-1 intensity rain for 1.5 h on a 1 m2 soil pan adjusted to a 9% gradient. Soil erodibility was found to decrease by 14% with each 1% increase in SOC.
See more from this Division: S06 Soil & Water Management & Conservation
See more from this Session: Impact of C3 (Crop Rotation, Cover Crops, and Conservation Tillage) On Soil Quality: II