Soil carbon stock beneath an established irrigated pasture grazed by dairy cattle

Soil carbon stock beneath an established irrigated pasture grazed by dairy cattle

Soils were sampled at intervals to 0.8 m depth on an irrigated dairy farm in the Canterbury region of New Zealand and a nearby (control) area with unimproved grasses which was not known to have been irrigated, fertilised or grazed by farmed animals. Eleven years earlier, the dairy farm had been conv...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:New Zealand journal of agricultural research Vol. 58; no. 1; pp. 78 - 83
Main Authors: Kelliher, FM, West, PJS, Moir, JL
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis 02-01-2015
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects:
Analysis
bulk density
Carbon
carbon sinks
Dairy cattle
dairy farm
dairy farming
farms
Grasses
grassland
irrigated soils
Irrigation
Nutrition
Pastures
sheep
soil
Soil structure
Soils
New Zealand
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Summary:Soils were sampled at intervals to 0.8 m depth on an irrigated dairy farm in the Canterbury region of New Zealand and a nearby (control) area with unimproved grasses which was not known to have been irrigated, fertilised or grazed by farmed animals. Eleven years earlier, the dairy farm had been converted from an unirrigated sheep farm. For each depth interval, we measured the bulk density and organic carbon (C) concentration. By volumetric calculations to depth 0.3 m, the irrigated site's mean soil C stock was 28% greater than the control (10.0 ± 0.3 kg C m ⁻² [±standard error] vs 7.8 ± 0.6 kg C m ⁻²), a statistically significant difference (P < 0.05). In contrast, by volumetric calculations to depth 0.8 m and on an equivalent soil mass basis, the corresponding differences were not statistically significant (13.0 ± 0.4 vs 12.9 ± 0.2 kg C m ⁻² and 11.6 ± 0.4 vs 12.9 ± 0.2 kg C m ⁻², respectively). Although C stock change was inferred by sampling soils on irrigated and control sites, these results suggested changes can depend on the sampling depth and calculation basis.
Bibliography:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00288233.2014.937878
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ISSN:1175-8775
0028-8233
1175-8775
DOI:10.1080/00288233.2014.937878