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Abstract

Adisa, S.J., N.V. Nkongolo, N.O. Hoilett, K. Schmidt, R.M. Paro and S.S. Johnson. 2008. Soil total carbon and nitrogen concentrations of surface and sub-surface soils in corn and soybean fields in central Missouri: impact on fluxes of greenhouse gases. JEMREST 5:00-00

Agricultural soils have the potential to improve soil carbon (C) storage and act as atmospheric CO₂sink. However, little is known of these potentials in the soils in this study. We quantified the total carbon and nitrogen (N) concentrations in surface (0-10cm) and sub-surface (10-20cm) soils adjacent to 52 greenhouse gas chambers installed in two agricultural fields sown to corn (Zea mays) and soybean (Glycine max), clarified the relationship between soil C and fluxes of greenhouse gases (CO₂, N₂O and CH₄) in these agricultural soils, and determined the C and N stratification ratios. Results showed that total C and N concentrations in the surface soils of the corn field varied from 9.17 to 15.03 g C kg^-1 and 0.58 to 1.29 g N kg^-1 respectively compared with the sub-surface soils which varied from 8.0 to 12.3 g C kg^-1 and 0.29 to 1.31 g N kg^-1 respectively. In the soybean field, total C and N concentrations in the surface soils varied from 9.59 to 15.90 g C kg^-1 and 0.82 to 1.66 g N kg^-1 respectively compared with the sub-surface soils which varied from 8.54 to 14.40 g C kg^-1 and 0.57 to 1.27 g N kg^-1 respectively. Total C was correlated with CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes. The C and N stratification ratio (SR) (0-10cm/10-20cm) of these agricultural soils were calculated to indicate the present C status and their potential to sequester C. Carbon SR in both soils were < 2, suggesting the potential for soil C enhancement.