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Respiration in cropped and fallow soil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

D. T. Pritchard
Affiliation:
Physics Department, Bothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts
N. J. Brown
Affiliation:
Physics Department, Bothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts

Summary

Soil air was sampled daily at depths of 5, 10, 20 and 30 cm in fallow and cropped plots, which had either been rolled or cultivated. Carbon dioxide was measured by gas chromatography.

Carbon dioxide concentrations were greater in the cropped than in the fallow plots. The rolled plots were wetter than the cultivated plots and carbon dioxide concentrations were also greater.

In the fallow plots, carbon dioxide was correlated with soil temperature but variations in soil moisture content had little immediate effect.

In the cropped plots, temperature effects were overshadowed by the response to irrigation which immediately increased the carbon dioxide concentration. These increases were attributed to enhanced root respiration, rather than to restricted diffusion or increased microbial activity.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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