Overseeding legumes in natural grasslands: Impacts on root biomass and soil organic matter of commercial farms

The Science of the Total Environment
Viviana BondarukGervasio Piñeiro

Abstract

Overseeding legumes in natural grasslands coupled with phosphorous fertilization are management practices oriented to increase forage production and quality, and to restore nutrient losses generated by livestock. Several studies show increases in forage due to this practice, but less is known about impacts on soil fertility and carbon sequestration. The objective of this study was to evaluate under real farm conditions changes in root C and N stocks and soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (SON) stocks in two different soil pools, the particulate organic matter (POM) and the mineral associated organic matter (MAOM), after the introduction in natural grasslands of a legume species, Lotus subbiflorus cv. "El Rincón", accompanied with phosphorous fertilization. We also evaluated changes in the natural abundance of 15N and 13C in soils and roots to understand changes in N fixation and species composition. We selected 12 adjacent paddocks of natural grasslands (NG) and natural grasslands overseeded with legumes and fertilized with phosphorous (NGLP) located in commercial farms in Uruguay. We found that overseeding legumes increased root C and N stocks and SOC and SON stocks in some farms but decreased them in others. On average, n...Continue Reading

References

Feb 17, 2001·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·D Robinson
Nov 23, 2016·Ecological Applications : a Publication of the Ecological Society of America·Richard T ConantKeith Paustian
Feb 29, 2020·Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry·Xiaoxia ZhangMelanie Kah

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