Integrated Crop-Livestock Management Effects on Soil Quality Dynamics in a Semiarid Region: A Typology of Soil Change Over Time
Table 5
Mean values of near-surface soil properties within annually cropped fields according to grazing treatment.
Variable
Field A
Field B
Grazed
Ungrazed
value
Grazed
Ungrazed
value
Soil bulk density (Mg m−3)
1.04 ± 0.05
0.68
1.18 ± 0.12
1.15 ± 0.06
0.46
Electrical conductivity (dS m−1)
0.22 ± 0.05
0.24 ± 0.04
0.26
0.20 ± 0.04
0.22 ± 0.05
0.40
Soil pH (−log[H+])
5.76 ±0.16
5.78 ± 0.15
0.70
5.99 ± 0.13
6.27 ± 0.24
<0.01
Soil nitrate (mg kg−1)
9 ± 4
9 ± 4
0.64
10 ± 10
6 ± 4
0.13
Soil ammonium (mg kg−1)
3 ± 1
3 ± 2
0.67
4 ± 6
3 ± 1
0.31
Available phosphorus (mg kg−1)
9 ± 4
7 ± 4
0.29
12 ± 5
9 ± 4
0.04
Potentially mineralizable N (mg kg−1)
61 ± 16
62 ± 13
0.83
75 ± 20
65 ± 20
0.16
Soil organic carbon (g kg−1)
30.4 ± 5.5
31.2 ± 2.0
0.54
26.5 ± 3.1
24.9 ± 4.0
0.18
Total nitrogen (g kg−1)
2.7 ± 0.5
2.8 ± 0.2
0.34
2.4 ± 0.3
2.3 ± 0.3
0.15
C : N ratio
11.4 ± 0.5
11.2 ± 0.3
0.37
10.9 ± 0.2
10.9 ± 0.3
0.99
standard deviation; value associated with mean comparison within a field between grazed and ungrazed treatments. Field A corresponds to clusters 1 and 2, while field B corresponds to clusters 3 and 4 (Figure 4).
