Correlations Between Commercial Soil Nitrogen Tests and the Haney Soil Health Test.

Soil samples were analyzed for commercial soil nitrate and ammonium soil tests (A&L Lab) and for the new Haney Soil Health Test (Ward Lab) on June 6th to evaluate the correlations between the two tests.  Five soil treatments included a 1) sod (Festuca spp), 2) tillage with 30% crop residue, no cover crop (disc chisel), 3) Trifolium pretense, 4) Pisum sativium, and 5) a multi-species legume mix (Pisum sativium, Crotalaria junceau, Vigna unguiculata) with Raphanus sativus and Avena sativa on an Ohio Epiaqualf soil. The five treatments were performed on wheat stubble going to corn the following year.  Direct correlations between the commercial soil nitrate test and the Haney test for nitrate was .74 and for commercial ammonium test and the Haney test, the correlation was .93.  The commercial nitrate test also tested favorably to the Haney test for total nitrogen (.91), Solvita (.89), organic matter (.87), soil health index (.97), available nitrogen (.91), and nitrogen mineralization (.90).  The commercial ammonium test correlation to the Haney total organic nitrogen was .78.  Negative correlations were found between the commercial ammonium test and Haney percent bacteria (-.72) and between commercial nitrate test and Haney total bacteria (-.91), total fungus biomass (-.93), total fungi percent (-.69), and arbuscular mycorrhizae fungi biomass (-.90). The commercial soil nitrate ($11) and ammonia tests ($12.75) are less expensive per sample than the Haney soil test ($50), but the Haney test evaluates several additional soil health parameters including total biomass, microbial diversity, carbon, and other macronutrients (phosphorus and potassium).  Overall, the correlations were high and the results were similar except the Haney test gives additional information at a higher cost per sample.