Total and Active Soil Organic Carbon from Long-term Agricultural Management Practices in West Tennessee

Soil organic carbon (SOC) content is strongly influenced by agricultural management practices. Leveraging three long-term field experiments in Tennessee, this study analyzed the effect of crop rotation, tillage, and cover crops on SOC and permanganate-oxidizable C (POXC) at various soil depth increments (0–2.5, 2.5–5, 5–7.5, 7.5–10, 10–15, 15–22.5, 22.5–30, 30–45, and 45–60 cm), as well as at the 0- to 15-cm profile. Corn ( L.) and cotton ( L.)–based systems showed increased SOC from 0 to 22.5 cm compared with soybean [ (L.), Merr.]–based systems. Additionally, no-till systems accumulated more SOC than tilled systems from 0 to 5 cm, but cover cropping showed no effects. Results also showed a significant positive relationship between SOC and POXC ( < 0.0001, = 0.93). This study revealed that SOC and POXC are strongly influenced by management practices in the surface shallower depth increments of southeastern US croplands.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC-ND

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