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Tillage Effects on Legume Decomposition and Transformation of Legume and Fertilizer Nitrogen-15

Dep. of Agronomy, Mississippi State Univ., Mississippi State, MS 39762

W. W. Frye, M. S. Smith and C. T. MacKown

(USDA-ARS) Dep. of Agronomy, Univ. of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546-0091

*Corresponding author.

ABSTRACT

The inclusion of legumes in cropping systems raises questions about their effectiveness as a N source. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of tillage on legume cover crop decomposition and transformation dynamics of legume and fertilizer ¹⁵N. Nitrogen-15-labeled hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth.) residue or fertilizer was added to soil cores contained in open-ended Plexiglas tubes placed in the field. Vetch residues were either placed on the soil surface for notillage (NT), or mixed with the soil for conventional tillage (CT). In 1984, ¹⁵NH₄¹⁵NO₃ was applied at rates of 0 and 100 kg N ha^–1 and, in 1985, (¹⁵NH₄)₂SO₄ was applied at rates of 0 and 150 kg N ha^–1 to both NT and CT cores with a history of winter fallow. Fertilizer ¹⁵N was applied in solution to the soil surface. Within 30 d, 77% of the original vetch residue weight was lost with CT, compared with 45% with NT. Nitrogen lost from the residue by 30 d averaged 89% with CT and 60% with NT. At 15 d in 1985, soil inorganic ¹⁵N recovery for fertilizer was 78% with CT and 57% with NT, and for vetch it was 47% with CT and 12% with NT. Vetch ¹⁵N immobilization averaged 2.3 times greater than fertilizer ¹⁵N with CT and 1.7 times greater with NT. The results indicate that N availability as measured by soil inorganic N is less from vetch residue than fertilizer due to both greater vetch N immobilization and the dependence of vetch N mineralization on decomposition rate.

Contribution from the Dep. of Agronomy and USDA-ARS, Kentucky Agric. Exp. Stn. Journal Paper no. 92-3-236.

Received for publication February 27, 1992.

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