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The Effect of Anhydrous Ammonia on Water Stability of Soil Aggregates¹

ABSTRACT

The effect of anhydrous ammonia (NH₃) on the water stability of soil aggregates was investigated from 1954 to 1957 in the field and laboratory. Ammonia was applied with a commercial applicator to corn in field plots. Soil aggregates from some of these plots were treated in the laboratory by a procedure for NH₃ application set up to reproduce as nearly as possible conditions in the field along the applicator path. In field experiments conducted in 1954 there was a trend toward an increase in soil aggregate stability as a result of NH₃ treatment at 23 locations in Maryland. Soil samples from the check plots of these locations increased greatly in stability when treated with NH₃ in the laboratory. These increases were correlated with the total organic matter content (r = 0.661, n = 14). The increase in soil aggregate stability due to NH₃ treatment was not as large from 1955 to 1957 as in 1954. The difference in the effect of NH₃ on soil aggregate stability between 1954 and 1955 to 1957 suggested that the increase in aggregate stability was related to a specific, although not identified, fraction of the organic matter rather than total organic matter. An explanation of the effects of NH₃ on soil aggregate stability is proposed.

¹ Paper No. A651 Contribution No. 2841 of the Maryland Agr. Exp. Sta. (Department of Agronomy). Part of a thesis submitted by the senior author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the M.S. degree.

² Graduate Assistant and Associate Professor of Agronomy, respectively, University of Maryland, College Park, Md.

Received for publication October 9, 1957. Accepted for publication January 29, 1958.