Soil Organic Carbon and Total Nitrogen Under No-till and Conventional till in Oklahoma.

Soil organic carbon and total nitrogen under no-till and conventional till in Oklahoma Silvano L. Abreu, Chad Godsey, Jeff Edwards, Jared Crain, Jason Warren, Soils across the State of Oklahoma, where areas of conventional and long term no-till are under similar climate conditions and have similar soil properties (same soil series), were sampled in 4 points across a transect in each field to a depth of 110 cm depth and divided in 5 different depths (0-10; 10-20; 20-40; 40-70; and 70-110 cm). Samples were air dried and sieved to pass a 2mm mesh. Sixteen farm fields (eight no-till and eight conventional till) were sampled in the principal agricultural areas of Oklahoma. Also, three tillage experiments that have no-till and conventional till treatments combined with different crop rotations where sampled and compared as well. Organic C and total N were analyzed. In addition, bulk density was determined at each depth and sampling point in order to account for the amount of organic carbon and nitrogen storage in the soil profile. Results were analyzed using Paired T-test. Organic carbon and total nitrogen was analyzed through dry combustion. For most Oklahoma studied areas, no-till soils had higher organic carbon and total nitrogen stock in the soil profile compared to conventional till. Surface soils under no-till have more organic carbon compared to conventional till soils.