SAES-422 Multistate Research Activity Accomplishments Report
Sections
Status: Approved
Basic Information
- Project No. and Title: NCERA_OLD59 : Soil Organic Matter: Formation, Function and Management (new project)
- Period Covered: 10/01/2008 to 09/01/2009
- Date of Report: 02/22/2010
- Annual Meeting Dates: 08/17/2009 to 08/19/2009
Participants
[Minutes]
Accomplishments
Developed materials for K-12 teacher education and lesson plans for pre-college students as well as in-service training about these materials for Extension educators.
Co-organized a special symposium for 2009 Soil Science of America annual meetings. Title: Linking soil enzyme activities to ecosystem functions. Includes 8 invited speakers.
Developed models to describe the rate of C sequestration in grasslands across 5 states located in the prairie pothole region of the northern Great Plains area.
Continued collaborative coordination with eOrganic working group.
Met with colleagues located in China to develop an educational exchange focusing on the management of soil organic matter.
Hosted a multi-state meeting of Extension educators and agricultural consultants from the north central region in August 2009. The meeting focused on farmer adoption of organic-N management.
Impacts
- Examination of the transformation of microbial products during decomposition suggest that there may be a trend of slower initial decomposition of bacteria gram (+) and possibly a long-term persistence or stabilization of fungi in soil. (see California state report)
- Studies to determine the effect of common agricultural management practices on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from subsurface tile drains suggest that lagoon effluent application and fertilizer N rates do not affect long-term losses of DPC from tile drains.
- Models developed to assess the rate of carbon sequestration in grasslands assist public officials and land managers in establishing more accurate carbon credits for grassland soils.
Publications
See listing of journal and non-refereed articles in individual state reports which are included in committee meeting minutes or see the attached file.