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Effects of Sixteen Years of Green Manuring on the Fertility of a Kirkland Silt Loam Soil
Author(s) -
Plice M. J.
Publication year - 1951
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj1951.036159950015000c0053x
Subject(s) - loam , silt , fertility , soil fertility , citation , mathematics , environmental science , soil science , computer science , library science , demography , sociology , geology , soil water , paleontology , population
IN 1933 a series of plots was laid out so that a study could be made of the continuous culture of cotton, grain sorghum, and oats, both with and without green manure. Nine plots were used for darso, nine for cotton, and 10 for oats. The plots were 1/10-acre in size, and one-half of each plot was planted to a green manure crop. Vetch or winter peas were used on the cotton and darso land and cowpeas or mungbeans on the oat plots. The legumes were drilled between the cotton and darso rows in October. Cotton stalks were left on the land, but the darso forage was removed. On the oat land the legumes were double-rowed (21-inch rows) after 'the oat crop was harvested. The study was discontinued after the sixteenth year. An examination of the crop yields for the various years shows that the green manures have produced disappointing results. While cotton and darso just about broke even in yields, oats was superior on the no-greenmanure plots 75% of the time. Since it is universally believed that the addition of green manure to soils is highly desirable, and' since the results here obtained are contrary to this belief, a systematic study of the soils of all plots was made to see whether the reason for the disagreement could be found.