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CARBON STUDIES ON THE IRRIGATED SOILS OF THE SUDAN GEZIRA
Author(s) -
JONES T. A.
Publication year - 1958
Publication title -
journal of soil science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.244
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2389
pISSN - 0022-4588
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2389.1958.tb01917.x
Subject(s) - soil water , environmental science , total organic carbon , cropping , soil carbon , mineralization (soil science) , arid , soil fertility , nitrogen , agronomy , carbon fibers , soil science , environmental chemistry , chemistry , mathematics , biology , ecology , agriculture , organic chemistry , algorithm , composite number
Summary The seasonal variation in the organic‐carbon content of Gezira soil under irrigated rotational cropping has been studied over three successive years. Emphasis has been placed on the cotton phases of the rotations. Significant differences in organic carbon occuring between rotations did not produce differences in degrees of nitrogen fixtion. It is suggested that fixation and mineralization of nitrogen occur so rapidly in this soil that it is not possible by chemical analysis to determine the amount of nitrogen fixed. Seasonal changes in organic‐carbon content display a phase of slow fluctuation when the soil is wet and carries a crop, and a phase of rapid fluctuation when the soil is bare, dried by insolation, and cracked. Attention is drawn to this phase and to the need for better understanding of the associated phenomena which contribute to the maintenance of high fertility in these arid soils.