Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Measuring and estimating sulfur mineralization potential in soils amended with poultry litter or inorganic fertilizer

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Biology and Fertility of Soils Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The effect of long-term (more than 10 years) application of poultry litter (PL) or inorganic fertilizer (IF) on sulfur (S) mineralization potential (So) was evaluated using four different soils (Delaware 1, Delaware 2, Iowa, and Georgia). Also, different methods to estimate S availability (extraction with KCl, NaHCO3, and KCl after a wetting-drying cycle, aerobic incubations for 7 and 14 days, and NH4 + quantification after an anaerobic incubation) were compared to So. When compared to long-term application of IF, long-term application of PL generated an increase in total soil S ranging from 0 to 0.14 g kg−1, which was positively associated with the soil clay content (R 2 = 0.98), and resulted in an increase in So ranging from 0 to 21.2 g kg−1. From the evaluated methods to estimate So, only three of them were significantly (p < 0.05) correlated to So: aerobic incubation for 7 days (r = 0.85), extraction with NaHCO3 (r = 0.85), and nitrogen anaerobic incubation (r = 0.99). Based on the reduced time and labor involved and in their capacity to distinguish between treatments, we recommend further use and further evaluation of the last two methods as estimators of So.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Blair GJ, Chinoim N, Lefroy RDB, Anderson G, Crocker G (1991) A soil sulfur test for pastures and crops. Soil Res 29:619–626

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cambardella C, Elliott E (1992) Particulate soil organic-matter changes across a grassland cultivation sequence. Soil Sci Soc Am J 56:777–783

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christensen BT (1992) Physical fractionation of soil and organic matter in primary particle size and density separates. In: Stewart BA (ed) Advances in soil science. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 1–90

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Eriksen J, Mortensen JV (1999) Soil sulphur status following long-term annual application of animal manure and mineral fertilizers. Biol Fertil Soils 28:416–421

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eriksen J, Mortensen JV, Nielsen JD, Nielsen NE (1995) Sulphur mineralisation in five Danish soils as measured by plant uptake in a pot experiment. Agr Ecosyst Environ 56:43–51

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Galantini JA, Rosell RA (1997) Organic fractions, N, P and S changes in an Argentine semiarid Haplustoll under different crop sequences. Soil Till Res 42:221–228

  • Ghani A, McLaren R, Swift R (1991) Sulphur mineralisation in some New Zealand soils. Biol Fertil Soils 11:68–74

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gharmakher HN, Machet J, Beaudoin N, Recous S (2009) Estimation of sulfur mineralization and relationships with nitrogen and carbon in soils. Biol Fertil Soils 45:297–304

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janzen H, Campbell C, Izaurralde R, Ellert B, Juma N, McGill W, Zentner R (1998) Management effects on soil C storage on the Canadian prairies. Soil Tillage Res 47:181–195

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kellogg LE, Bridgham SD, López-Hernández D (2006) A comparison of four methods of measuring gross phosphorus mineralization. Soil Sci Soc Am J 70:1349–1358

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kilmer VJ, Nearpass D (1960) The determination of available sulfur in soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 24:337–340

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kirkby C, Kirkegaard J, Richardson A, Wade L, Blanchard C, Batten G (2011) Stable soil organic matter: a comparison of C: N: P: S ratios in Australian and other world soils. Geoderma 163:197–208

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Knights J, Zhao F, McGrath S, Magan N (2001) Long-term effects of land use and fertiliser treatments on sulphur transformations in soils from the Broadbalk experiment. Soil Biol Biochem 33:1797–1804

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ladd JN, Foster R, Nannipieri P, Oades JM (1996) Soil structure and biological activity. In: Stotzky G, Bollag JM (eds) Soil Biochemistry, vol 9. Marcel Dekker, New York, pp 23–78

    Google Scholar 

  • Maynard D, Stewart J, Bettany J (1983) Sulfur and nitrogen mineralization in soils compared using two incubation techniques. Soil Biol Biochem 15:251–256

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maynard D, Kalra Y, Radford F (1987) Extraction and determination of sulfur in organic horizons of forest soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 51:801–806

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McGill W, Cole C (1981) Comparative aspects of cycling of organic C, N, S and P through soil organic matter. Geoderma 26:267–286

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • National Agricultural Statistics Service (2012) Poultry production and value: 2011 summary:14

  • Pirela HJ, Tabatabai MA (1988) Sulfur mineralization rates and potentials of soils. Biol Fertil Soils 6:26–32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rawls W (1983) Estimating soil bulk density from particle size analysis and organic matter content. Soil Sci 135:123–125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reddy KS, Singh M, Tripathi AK, Swarup A, Dwivedi AK (2001) Changes in organic and inorganic sulfur fractions and S mineralisation in a Typic Haplustert after long-term cropping with different fertiliser and organic manure inputs. Soil Res 39:737–748

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Reussi Calvo NI, Sainz Rozas H, Echeverría H, Berardo A (2013) Contribution of anaerobically incubated nitrogen to the diagnosis of nitrogen status in spring wheat. Agron J 105:321–328

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riffaldi R, Saviozzi A, Cardelli R, Cipolli S, Levi-Minzi R (2006) Sulphur mineralization kinetics as influenced by soil properties. Biol Fertil Soils 43:209–214

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sainz Rozas H, Calviño PA, Echeverría HE, Barbieri PA, Redolatti M (2008) Contribution of anaerobically mineralized nitrogen to the reliability of planting or presidedress soil nitrogen test in maize. Agron J 100:1020–1025

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • SAS Institute Inc (2013) SAS® 9.4 In-database products: user's guide, 3rd edn. SAS Institute Inc., Cary

    Google Scholar 

  • Schomberg HH, Wietholter S, Griffin TS, Reeves DW, Cabrera ML, Fisher DS, Novak JM, Balkcom KS, Raper RL, Kitchen NR, Locke MA, Potter KN, Schwartz RC, Truman CC, Tyler DD (2009) Assessing indices for predicting potential nitrogen mineralization in soils under different management systems. Soil Sci Soc Am J 73:1575

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Six J, Conant R, Paul E, Paustian K (2002) Stabilization mechanisms of soil organic matter: implications for C-saturation of soils. Plant Soil 241:155–176

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stanford G, Smith SJ (1972) Nitrogen mineralization potentials of soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 36:465–472

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tabatabai MA, Al-Khafaji AA (1980) Comparison of nitrogen and sulfur mineralization in soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 44:1000–1006

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tabatabai M, Chae Y (1991) Mineralization of sulfur in soils amended with organic wastes. J Environ Qual 20:684–690

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tanikawa T, Noguchi K, Nakanishi K, Shigenaga H, Nagakura J, Sakai H, Akama A, Takahashi M (2014) Sequential transformation rates of soil organic sulfur fractions in two-step mineralization process. Biol Fertil Soils 50:225–237

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tisdale S, Reneau R, Platou J (1986) Atlas of sulfur deficiencies sulfur in agriculture. In: Tabatabai MA (ed) Sulfur in agriculture. Agronomy, Madison, pp 295–322

    Google Scholar 

  • Waring S, Bremner J (1964) Ammonium production in soil under waterlogged conditions as an index of nitrogen availability. Nature 201:951–952

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Williams C, Steinbergs A (1959) Soil sulphur fractions as chemical indices of available sulphur in some Australian soils. Crop Pasture Sci 10:340–352

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao F, McGrath S, Crosland A (1994) Comparison of three wet digestion methods for the determination of plant sulphur by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP‐AES). Commun Soil Sci Plant 25:407–418

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou W, Li ST, Wang H, He P, Lin B (1999) Mineralization of organic sulfur and its importance as a reservoir of plant-available sulfur in upland soils of north China. Biol Fertil Soils 30:245–250

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We are indebted to Dr. Antonio Mallarino and Dr. Tom Sims for providing the soil samples from Iowa and Delaware, respectively. We would also like to thank Dr. Jake Mowrer for his help and advice for the quantification of inorganic S.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Crop and Soil Sciences Department, University of Georgia, 120 Carlton St., Athens, GA, USA

    Nicolás Wyngaard & Miguel L. Cabrera

  2. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, UNMDP, Ruta 226 km 73.5, C.C. 276, 7620, Balcarce, Argentina

    Nicolás Wyngaard

Authors
  1. Nicolás Wyngaard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Miguel L. Cabrera
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nicolás Wyngaard.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wyngaard, N., Cabrera, M.L. Measuring and estimating sulfur mineralization potential in soils amended with poultry litter or inorganic fertilizer. Biol Fertil Soils 51, 545–552 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-015-1000-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-015-1000-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation