Caking Caliche (Lime-Pan)
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C CAKING CAPILLARITY Changing of a powder into a solid mass by heat, pressure, The tendency of a liquid to enter into the narrow pores or water. within a porous body, due to the combination of the cohe- sive forces within the liquid (expressed in its surface ten- sion) and the adhesive forces between the liquid and the solid (expressed in their contact angle). CALICHE (LIME-PAN) Bibliography Introduction to Environmental Soil Physics. (First Edition). 2003. (I)A zone near the surface, more or less cemented by sec- Elsevier Inc. Daniel Hillel (ed.) http://www.sciencedirect.com/ ondary carbonates of Ca or Mg precipitated from the soil science/book/9780123486554 solution. It may occur as a soft thin soil horizon, as a hard thick bad, or as a surface layer exposed by erosion. Cross-references (II) Alluvium cemented with NaNO3, NaCl and/or other Sorptivity of Soils soluble salts in the nitrate deposits of Chile and Peru. Bibliography CAPILLARY FRINGE Glossary of Soil Science Terms. Soil Science Society of America. 2010. https://www.soils.org/publications/soils-glossary The thin zone just above the water table that is still satu- rated, though under sub-atmospheric pressure (tension). The thickness of this zone (typically a few centimeters or CANOPY STRUCTURE decimeters) represents the suction of air entry for the par- ticular soil. Plant canopy structure is the spatial arrangement of the above-ground organs of plants in a plant community. Bibliography Introduction to Environmental Soil Physics. (First Edition). 2003. Elsevier Inc. Daniel Hillel (ed.) http://www.sciencedirect.com/ Bibliography science/book/9780123486554 Russel, G., Marshall, B., and Gordon Jarvis, P. 1990. Plant Cano- pies: Their Growth, Form and Function. Cambridge University Cross-references Press. Sorptivity of Soils Jan Gliński, Józef Horabik & Jerzy Lipiec (eds.), Encyclopedia of Agrophysics, DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-3585-1, # Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011 108 CARBON LOSSES UNDER DRYLAND CONDITIONS, TILLAGE EFFECTS substantially. Studies under different conditions are CARBON LOSSES UNDER DRYLAND CONDITIONS, required to assess the broader of the greenhouse gas TILLAGE EFFECTS impacts of CT (Ventera et al., 2006). Tillage often increases short-term CO2 flux from the soil due to Félix Moreno, José M. Murillo, Engracia Madejón a rapid physical release of CO2 trapped in the soil air Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla spaces (Bauer et al., 2006; Álvaro-Fuentes et al., 2008; (IRNAS-CSIC), Sevilla, Spain Reicosky and Archer, 2007; López-Garrido et al., 2009). This rapid flux of CO2 is influenced by the tillage system Definition and the amount of soil disturbance (Reicosky and Archer, CO2 emissions are mainly produced by inadequate soil 2007). tillage combined with intensive cropping systems and Root and microbial activity together constitute soil res- climatic conditions. piration. Root and rhizosphere respiration can account for as little as 10% to greater than 90% of total “in situ” soil Introduction respiration depending on vegetation type and season of the year (Hanson et al., 2000). Nevertheless, only soil Losses of soil organic carbon (SOC) are associated with organic matter (SOM)-derived CO2 contributes to reductions in soil productivity and with increases in CO2 changes in atmospheric CO2 concentration. Long resi- emissions from soil to the atmosphere (Lal et al., 1989; dence time of soil organic matter (SOM) results in very Bauer et al., 2006; Ventera et al., 2006; Conant et al., slow turnover rates relative to other less-recalcitrant 2007). Gas exchange between soils and the atmosphere respiratory substrates. This implies that SOM is the only may be an important contributing factor to global change C pool that can be a real, long-term sink for C in soils. due to release of greenhouse gases (Ball et al., 1999). Despite long residence times in steady state, if decompo- Intensive agriculture frequently causes important losses sition exceeds humification, the pool of C in SOM of soil carbon. Conservation tillage (CT) agriculture becomes a very large potential source of CO2 (Kuzyakov, (reduced tillage) has been promoted since approximately 2006). 1960 as a means to counteract all these constraints (Gajri Long-term adoption of conservation tillage (reduced et al., 2002). Moreover, CT improves soil quality and crop and no tillage) in Mediterranean Spanish areas has proven performance, especially under semiarid conditions to be an effective way to increase soil organic matter and, (Moreno et al., 1997; Franzluebbers, 2004; Muñoz et al., especially, to improve biochemical quality at the soil sur- 2007). face (Madejón et al., 2009). However, as the climatic con- ditions of the semiarid areas are an important limiting Tillage effects on carbon losses factor for the accumulation of organic carbon in the top Degradative effects of tillage on soil include rapid decline soil layers, the simple determination of total organic car- of soil organic carbon due to mineralization rate increase bon (TOC) is not always the best indicator of the improve- (Lal, 1993). This is particularly important under semiarid ment caused by conservation tillage. Under these conditions using conventional tillage in which moldboard conditions, it may be more interesting to study the stratifi- plowing with soil inversion is the main operation (López- cation ratio of TOC calculated by the division of TOC Garrido et al., 2009). Moldboard plowing is one of the content at surface between TOC content at deeper layers most important factors increasing CO2 emissions by soil (Franzluebbers, 2002). This approach could also be microbial activity stimulation due to greater soil aeration applied to other variables related to soil biology, such as and breakdown of soil macroaggregates that conduces to MBC (microbial biomass carbon) and enzymatic activities a greater release of labile organic matter previously micro- (Madejón et al., 2009), which are normally significantly bial protected. There are studies that suggest that the correlated with TOC. Changes in soil biochemical proper- greenhouse gases contribution of agriculture, such as ties with conservation tillage and in their stratification CO2, can be mitigated by widespread adoption of conser- ratios should provide practical tools to complement phys- vation tillage (Lal, 1997; Lal, 2000). ical and chemical test and, thus, evaluate the effect of con- Conservation tillage (CT) is any tillage and planting servation tillage in dryland conditions. Despite some system that maintains at least 30% of the soil surface studies have reported similar or even greater TOC accu- covered by residue after planting to reduce soil erosion mulation in the total profile (1 m and more) under conven- by water. Where soil erosion by wind is a primary concern, tional tillage than under CT (Baker et al., 2007), the the system must maintain at least 1.1 Mg haÀ1 flat small improvements made by CT surface are very important grain residue equivalent on the surface during the critical for the soil functions. wind erosion period (Gajri et al., 2002). This system These processes are very influenced by the local condi- reduces the number of operations and trips across the field, tions and management. Franzluebbers (2004) reported that and of course, avoids the soil inversion that buries most low benefit of no tillage on TOC storage could be crop residues into the soil. expected in dry, cold regions, in which low precipitation The effectiveness of CT in mitigating the greenhouse would limit C fixation by plants and decomposition, even gas impact of individual agroecosystems could vary when crop residues are mixed with soil by tillage. CARBON LOSSES UNDER DRYLAND CONDITIONS, TILLAGE EFFECTS 109 However, for most soils, the potential of carbon (C) Bauer, P. J., Frederick, J. R., Novak, J. M., and Hunt, P. G., 2006. sequestration upon conversion of plow tillage to no-tillage Soil CO2 flux from a Norfolk loamy sand after 25 years of con- 90 farming with the use of crop residue mulch and other ventional and conservation tillage. Soil and Tillage Research, , – À1 205–211. recommended practices is 0.6 1.2 Pg C year (Lal, Conant, R. T., Easter, M., Paustian, K., Swan, A., and Williams, S., 2004). The important ecological and agronomic benefits 2007. Impacts of periodic tillage on soil C stocks: a synthesis. that can derive from these practices could be limited not Soil and Tillage Research, 95,1–10. only by plowing but also by using crop residues for other Franzluebbers, A. J., 2002. Soil organic matter stratification ratio as purposes. Numerous competing uses of crop residues an indicator of soil quality. Soil and Tillage Research, 66, under arid and semiarid conditions (Bationo et al., 2007) 95–106. Franzluebbers, A. J., 2004. Tillage and residue management effects can be a constraint for CT establishment (e.g., grazing on soil organic matter. In Magdoff, F., and Weil, R. R. (eds.), Soil and feed livestock). Biofuel production may be another Organic Matter in Sustainable Agriculture. Boca Raton: CRC destination (Lal and Pimentel, 2007). There is at present Press, pp. 227–268. an imperious necessity of using cellulosic biomass instead Gajri, P. R., Arora, V.K., and Prihar, S. S., 2002. Tillage for Sustain- of crop grain for producing biofuel (mainly ethanol) and, able Cropping. Lucknow: International Book Distributing. currently, few sources are supposed to be available in suf- Hanson, P. J., Edwards, N. T., Garten, C. T., and Andrews, J. A., ficient quantity and quality to support development of an 2000. Separating root and soil microbial contributions to soil res- piration: a review of methods and observations. Biogeochemis- economically sized processing facility, except crop resi- try, 48,115–146. dues (Wilhelm et al., 2004). Kuzyakov, Y., 2006. Sources of CO2 efflux from soil and review of Despite the suitability of CT to avoid C losses, this sys- partitioning methods. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 38, tem may also has some drawbacks, such as the greater 425–448.