Quantifying aggregate stability of a clay soil under annual forage crops

Abstract

This study explored the influence of 10 annual forage legumes belonging to the Lathyrus and Vicia genera on wet aggregate stability (WAS) and dispersion ratio (DR) indices of a clay soil. Five Lathyrus and five Vicia species were sown in autumn. Seed-to-seed and row-to-row distance was maintained at 5 cm and 20 cm, respectively. The experiment was planned in a randomized block design with three replications. After 90 d following seed harvest, soil cores were collected from two depths (0-15, 15-30 cm) in each plot and WAS and DR were determined. Annual forage legumes increased WAS of the soil but decreased the DR index. The WAS and DR values were affected at level of p < 0.001 by genus, species, and soil depth. Values of WAS and DR of the control plots without plant on the average were found to be 44.5% and 9.3% for 0-15 cm, and 41.2% and 10.1% for 15-30 cm, respectively. For 0-15cm depth, the highest WAS (77.7%) and the lowest DR (6.4%) values were found in L. sphaericus L. (wild) plots. For 15-30cm depth, the highest WAS value (62.6%) was obtained in L. annuus L. (wild) plots and the lowest DR value (6.7%) was in L. sativus L. (Gurbuz-2001) plots.