Impact of Long-Term Tillage and Manure Application On Soil Physical Properties.

Soil physical properties play an integral role in maintaining soil quality for sustainable agricultural practices. Agronomic practices such as tillage systems and organic amendments have been shown to influence soil physical properties. Thus, a study was conducted to evaluate effects of long-term manure application (>10 years) and tillage under continuous corn and soybean cropping systems. Soils were evaluated from plots with and without manure under conventional and no-tillage systems at the Sand Mountain Substation in the Appalanchian Plateau region of Northeast Alabama on a Hartsells fine sandy loam. Soil properties were greatly affected in this long-term study. No-tillage (NT) with manure had higher total C, N and CEC followed by NT without litter. Also NT plot had a greater water retention capacity compared to CT. This was probably attributed to the increase in organic in NT. On the other hand, no-tillage greatly affected the compaction of the soil with NT having more compaction compared to conventional tillage (CT). The information acquired from this study may aid in better understanding the effects management practices have on soil quality.