NUTRIENT CYCLING AND MANAGEMENT IN MONTANA'S AGRICULTURAL SOILS

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1015479
• Project Start Date: Jul 1, 2018
• Project End Date: Sep 21, 2020
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
BOZEMAN,MT 59717

Performing Department
Land Resources & Environmental Sciences

Non Technical Summary
The current MAES project incorporates three studies/sub-projects related to nutrient cycling and management of agricultural soils in Montana, and is planned to run over a three-year time window. The first sub-project is directed at remediation and management of acid affected cultivated soils. Soil acidity and aluminum toxicity crop production problems are a recent development in Montana, this has been caused by increased consumption of ammonium-N fertilizers. The acidity problems have further been exasperated by the increase in no-till or minimum disturbance cropping systems which became popular in the 1990's with the introduction of direct seeding equipment. On-farm field-scale trials are planned in central and northern Montana (two important agricultural regions of the state) to evaluate the efficacy of sugar beet lime applications to correct or remediate acid affected fields (pH < 5.0). In addition, replicated small-plot trials are planned to identify crop species and cultivars aluminum tolerance/susceptibility, and the impact of P fertilization on aluminum tolerance. Lab studies are planned to define the best protocols for estimating lime requirements. This project will identify effective and feasible mitigation and prevention strategies. Education and outreach activities include field day and workshop presentations, video, a soil acidification webpage, short summaries in grain grower newsletters and magazines, and an Extension Bulletin on acidification mitigation and prevention. Farmer surveys are planned to quantify the impact of this study on knowledge of the soil acidification process and soil acidity remediation. The potential significance of this project is tremendous as soil sampling data show a downward trend in pH, which is likely to continue unless this problem is addressed. The second sub-project will look to conclude an ongoing study on soil emissions of greenhouse gases from three diversified cropping management systems including an organic-till, organic-grazed (reduced-till), and chemical no-till. The organic-grazed systems incorporate sheep grazing into the crop production system to control weeds as a replacement for tillage, and so tillage intensity is reduced relative to the organic-till system. Field plots are located at the MSU Fort Ellis Experiment Station east of Bozeman, Montana. The three management systems are run under a 5-year crop rotation. Soil emissions of greenhouse gases, i.e. N2O, CH4, and CO2 are monitored with a vented chamber system following USDA-ARS GRACEnet protocols. Net greenhouse warming potential (GWP) in CO2 equivalent will be compared among the three crop management systems. This study will address the overarching question of whether integrated crop-livestock organic systems can be a component of a global strategy aimed at increasing the provision of ecosystems services, while mitigating the emission of anthropogenic greenhouse gases. The third sub-project will look to conclude an ongoing study on fertilizer management strategies for enhanced N recovery by crops. Previous research under this sub-project has shown that nitrate sources of N fertilizer have resulted in greater fertilizer N recovery than ammonium sources in Montana's semiarid climate. Two issues may be causing this phenomenon. First, ammonium-N sources such as urea are subject to loss into the atmosphere because of volatilization susceptibility. Second, 15N labelled fertilizer studies have shown that ammonium-N sources are more readily immobilized by soil microbes compared to nitrate-N sources. In Montana, N fertilizer is typically a farmers largest annual cost input and N is the nutrient most often limiting crop yield and quality. Maximizing fertilizer N recovery is therefore important to the economic viability of farming systems. In addition, if nitrate-N fertilizer sources are shown to be more effective than ammonium-N sources, then this would provide an alternate approach to manage acid soils, as nitrate-N fertilizer use does not result in acidification of soils. This study will incorporate use of 15N labelled fertilizers in the field to trace the movement and fate of fertilizer N in the soil and into crops. Education and outreach activities include field day and workshop presentations, and extension bulletins available on the web.

Animal Health Component

100%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

100%

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
102	0110	2000	100%

Knowledge Area
102 - Soil, Plant, Water, Nutrient Relationships;

Subject Of Investigation
0110 - Soil;

Field Of Science
2000 - Chemistry;

Keywords

soil acidity

sugar beet lime

greenhouse gases

fertilizer n

fertilizer 15n recovery

sheep grazing

Goals / Objectives
i. Soil acidity remediation and management (modified from Western SARE Proposal)To develop and execute an on-farm soil acidity remediation and prevention program in central and northern Montana.Identify soil buffer test methods that provide the best estimate of lime requirements for cultivated soils in MontanaIdentify canola, pea, barley, and wheat cultivars along with crop species grown in cover crop polycultures or cocktails that are best adapted to low pH environments.Provide agricultural stakeholders with the research results they need to make informed decisions on acid soil mitigation and prevention with both direct engagement, through Field Days, workshops, one-on-one, and indirect contacts including press releases, webpage, radio interviews, and a video, and evaluate the impact of this outreach and engagement effort. Our goal is to reach >500 people directly and have another >5,000 indirect contacts (April 2018- April 2020).ii. Fertilizer management strategies for enhanced N recovery by cropsTo evaluate/contrast fertilizer 15N recovery in dryland crops applied from different commercial N sources including N fertilizer augmented with nitrification and urease inhibitors.To identify fertilizer N management strategies that result in the maximum recovery of fertilizer N by dryland crops in Montana.iii. Trace gas emissions from soils under organic management (from USDA-NIFA proposal)To monitor and quantify soil emissions of N2O, CH4, and CO2 from three diversified cropping systems managed under organic till, grazed organic till, and chemical no-till.To address the potential for integration of livestock into diversified organic crop production systems to reduce tillage intensity and mitigate GHG emissions.

Project Methods
i. Soil acidity remediation and managementObjective 1 - Sugar beet lime strip trialsWe will conduct on-farm field scale strip trials with four sugar beet lime application rates at three locations. Sugar beet lime will be provided by Western Sugar Cooperative in Billings, Montana and the lime will be hauled to our field sites by a private contractor. Two of three farm locations are under a continuous crop management program (principally wheat) and one location under fallow-wheat rotation. Lime application treatments will include an unlimed control, low (e.g 2240 kg ha-1), moderate (e.g. 4480 kg ha-1) and high (e.g. 6720 kg ha-1) application rates. The individual strips will have a long (e.g. 800 m) and narrow (e.g. 16-36 m) configuration to incorporate natural variances in terrain and/or background soil pH that are anticipated across individual field sites. Lime applications will be made with the Stoltzus wet Lime spreader during the fall 2017, followed by incorporation into the surface 10 cm of soil.Objective 2 - Buffer test and lime requirementsThe primary goal of this objective will be to identify soil chemical buffer tests among several published protocols that provide the best estimate of lime requirement for acid-affected soils of central and northern Montana. This objective will be achieved by collection of surface soil samples (0-15 cm)agricultural fields incentral and northern Montana..The soils will be dried and processed for 1) a laboratory incubation with calcium carbonate to determine the theoretical lime requirement necessary to achieve a desired soil pH; and 2) analysis of lime requirements utilizing five established soil buffer protocols including the Shoemaker McLean and Pratt (SMP) test (Shoemaker et al., 1961), Adams and Evans test (Adams and Evans, 1962), Woodruff 6 test (Gavlak et al., 2005, modified Mehlich test (Hoskins, 2008), and Sikora test (Sikora 2006). Agricultural fields chosen for sample collection will have soil pH less than 5.2, and will represent different soil series (defined from USDA-NRCS soil surveys) that are common to Montana and representative of soils under crop production. The laboratory incubation with calcium carbonate will be performed over several months (e.g. 90 days) using at least five levels of calcium carbon ranging from 0 to 11.2 Mg ha-1 (= 5 tons per acre). Regression analysis will be used to determine the theoretical lime requirement for each soil to achieve a target pH value (e.g. pH 5.5, 6.0, and 6.5). A predicted lime requirement to achieve a pH of 6.0 will be estimated from each of the five soil buffer protocols. Regression and correlation analysis will then be used to compare predicted lime requirements with theoretical lime requirements. This analysis will enable us to identify the best soil chemical buffer test for our region and any correction factors that can be applied to soil buffer test calculations to improve their performance.Objective 3 - Canola, pea, barley, and wheat cultivars (lead by Dr. Carr in cooperation with Dr. Engel)We will identify canola, pea, barley and spring wheat (including several durum entries) cultivars adapted to Montana's dryland agriculture for susceptibility and resistance to low pH and/or aluminum toxicity. Our approach here will be to embed replicated small plot trials inside of fields that have been identified as having production related problems due to soil acidity. Two locations will be identified with pH ≤5.2 on private farms in central Montana. The study will run for two growing seasons (2018 and 2019) and will consist of a minimum of ten entries per crop species and two pH management levels (-lime, +lime). Treatments will be replicated four times in a split-split-plot design with pH management as main-plots, crop species as sub-plots and cultivar selection/entry as sub-sub-plots. The four individual crop species will be seeded in separate areas. Individual plots (1.5 x 7.6 m) will be seeded with a small-plot cone seeder.Objective 4 - Outreach plan to cause a change in knowledge, actions or conditions of target audienceWe will provide agricultural stakeholders with the research results they need to make informed decisions on acid soil mitigation and prevention by direct engagement at Field Days, workshops, one-on-one contact, and through indirect contacts achieved through press releases, webpage, radio interviews, and video production. Our goal will be to achieve >500 direct people contacts and >5,000 indirect contacts.Field days will be planned in 2018 and 2019 at our Research and or strip-trial locations (Objective 1 and 3).. In late fall or early winter of 2019/20, we will lead a workshop in Choteau County summarizing the results of our study, and again invite producers (through local contacts) and ag professionals. Most importantly, at Field Days and at this workshop, we will ask the farmer-collaborators to discuss their observations given that farmer-farmer education is often the most impactful. ii. Fertilizer Management Strategies for Enhanced N RecoveryThis study will be established in grower fields and at MAES Research Centers using small plot replicated trials techniques. A key component of this study will be the inclusion of 15N fertilizer enriched microplots to trace the movement and fate of fertilizer N. Yield estimates will be made by harvesting grain from each plot with a small-plot combine. Biomass measurements will be collected at maturity by harvesting the above-ground biomass (straw + grain) from the 15N microplots. Biomass samples will be oven-dried (60 °C) and then hand-threshed to determine grain to straw ratio. This ratio will then be applied to the measured grain yield to estimate straw yield. Samples (straw or grain) were ground to pass through a UDY mill (UDY Corp., Fort Collins, CO). Subsamples were analyzed for total N (LECO Corporation, St. Joseph, MI) and 15N abundance by mass spectrometry at UC-Davis Stable Isotope Facility (Davis, CA). Estimates of fertilizer 15N recovery will be calculated using the equation below.iii. Trace gas emissions from soils under organic management (from USDA-NIFA proposal)Field plots are located at the MSU Fort Ellis Experiment Station 1.5 miles east of Bozeman, MT. The experiment consists of three management systems (main-plots), i.e. certified organic-till, certified organic-grazed reduced-till, and chemical no-till. The three management systems are run under a 5 yr crop rotation: Yr1 - safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) under-sown to sweet clover (Melilotus alba), Yr2 - sweet clover cover crop, Yr3 - winter wheat, Yr4 - lentil (Lens culinaris), and Yr5 - winter wheat. The crop rotations are fully phased so that the three main-plots (reps) are divided into five sub-plots in a split-plot design.Soil emissions of N2O, CO2, and CH4 will be measured following USDA-ARS GRACEnet protocols (Parkin and Venterea, 2010). Vented chambers (0.50-m long, 0.20-m wide, 0.15-m high), similar to the design described by Engel et al (2010) are being used to collect gas samples. Gas sampling begins in the early spring and continues into the fall, with sampling intensity varying in response to soil wetness and anticipated emission activity. Gas sampling events occur at mid-day by first filling channel anchors with water, and covering the anchors with lids.. Aliquots of air inside the chamber are collected 0, 20, and 40 min following placement of the lid on the anchors and transferred to pre-evacuated 13-mL septum-capped Exetainers (Labco International Inc., Houston, TX). Concentrations of N2O, CO2, and CH4 are then determined using a gas chromatograph equipped with 63Ni electron capture, flame-ionization, and thermal conductivity detectors. Soil moisture content (0-10 cm depth) and soil (5 cm depth) and air temperature are monitored continuously site using soil dielectric constant probes ECHO NRC weather stations (Onset Computer Corporation, Bourne, MA).

Progress 10/01/18 to 09/30/19

Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience is the Montana agricultural community and communities from neighboring state and provinces, including farmers, fertilizer dealers, consultants, and agricultural industry; and agricultural scientists in general (national and international). Regional and national meetings Engel, R., C. Jones, S. Powell, P. Carr, and S. Fordyce. 2019. Challenges and Opportunities to Soil Acidity Remediation in the Semiarid Northern Great Plains. Soil Science Society America National Meetings. San Diego, CA Jan 9, 2019. Engel, R., C. Jones, and P. Carr. 2019. Soil acidification of cultivated fields in Montana: Remediation, adaptation, and challenges. Alberta Soil Science Workshop. Calgary, AB. Feb 20, 2019. Engel, R., C. Jones, S. Powell, and P. Carr. 2019. Soil Acidification of cultivated fields in semiarid Montana: remediation and challenges. Canadian Soil Science National Meetings, Saskatoon, SK. July 11, 2019. Jones, C., R. Engel, S. Ewing, P. Miller, and K. Olson-Rutz. 2019. Soil Acidification: ID, Prevent, Adapt, Restore. Western Nutrient Management Conference, Reno, NV. March 7, 2019. Jones, C., R. Engel, P. Carr, P. Miller, S. Ewing, S. Fordyce, J. Holzer, S. Brown, and S. Powell. 2019. Soil Acidification: an Emerging Threat to No-Till. American Society of Agronomy Conference, San Antonio, TX, Nov 14, 2019. Grower meetings in Montana MSU Crop and Pest Management School (Bozeman, Jan 15, 2019, 60 people) NWARC Winter Crop Production Update (Kalispell, Jan 17, 2019, 70 people) Herdsmanship class (Hall, Feb 5, 2019, 6 people) MSU- Northern Agricultural Research Center - Advisory Meeting (Havre, Feb 14., 2019) Three County Crop School (Three Forks, Feb 20, 2019, 70 people) Winter Series (Sidney, Culbertson, Sheridan, Circle, Daniels, Feb 26-38, 2019, 80 people) Conservation District Workshop (McCone, Feb 27, 2019, 17 people) MonDak Ag Days (Sidney,March 7, 2019, 25 people) Integrated Pest Management School, Bozeman (June 18, 2019, 30 people) Highwood Bench Soil Acidity Management Field Day (Highwood,June 26, 2019, 45 people) Certified Crop Adviser Training, Huntley (Aug 8, 2019, 30 people) Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? This past year our program hired one full-time Research Associate and two undergraduate students as research assistants or aides. Training and professional development was provided to each of these students in several areas, including lab protocols and methodology for analysis and processing of soil samples for nitrogen, soil pH, soil extractable aluminum and exchangeable bases. Field protocols for soil and plant tissue sampling and trace greenhouse gas sampling was provide to three of the four students hired. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Results have been disseminated to communities of interest through printed media, web sites, presentations to farmers, commodity groups, and ag-industry, and at regional conferences. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We expect by the end of the next reporting period to have one journal article published that summarizes results from soil acidity/remediation. Our study to monitor trace gas emissions from three croppingsystems (chemical no-till, grazed no-till, and grazed-till) will be summarized into a research publication sometime in 2020

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? 1. On-farm sugarbeet lime strip trials were established at three farm in the fall of 2017. Sugar beet lime was applied at variable rates ranging from 0 to 6 tons/acre. Composite soil cores (0-20 cm) were collected prior to the application of sugarbeet lime from all strips, and then again in the falll of 2018 and 2019. The cores were divided into four depth increments of 0-5, 5-10, 10-15 and 15-20 cm, and the soil was dried and processed for chemical analysis including pH, extractable Al and exchangeable bases.. 2. A 90-day lab incubation study was conducted in 2018 of soils from 11 fields with acidic pH (pH 5.2) in support of this project goal. The soils were incubated with varing rates of CaCO3 in order to indentify the quantity of lime need to mitigate acidity to a target pH level. 3. Replicated small plot crop species and cultivar (wheat, barley, pea, and canola) trials were conducted at two farm locations in 2018 and 2019 in support of this project goal. Yield measurments were collected. 4. Outreach activites were conducted in support of this objective included presentations at a grower workshop meeting in Fort Benton (Nov 7, 2018), Soil Science Socieyt American National Meeting (San Diego, Jan. 9, 2019), Montana Grain Growers Association Convention (Great Falls, Montana Nov 28, 2018), MSU-Northern Agricultural Research Center Advisory Group meeting (Havre, Montana, Feb 14, 2019), Alberta Soil Science Workshop (Calgary, Alberta, Feb 20, 2019), Highwood Bench Soil Acidity Management Field Day (Highwood, Montana, June 26, 2019) and Canadian Soil Science National Meetings (Saskatoon, Sk July 11, 2019), Publications were produced including Montana Fertilizer eFact and Canadian Journal of Soil Science. A final report was submitted to NIFA related to trace gas emission from soils under ogranic managements.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Miller, P., Bekkerman, A., Jones, C., Holmes, J., Engel, R. (2019). Agro-economic returns were reduced for four years after conversion from perennial forage. Agronomy Journal 111. Romero, C., Engel, R., D'Andrilli, J., Miller, P., Wallander, R. (2019). Compositional tracking of dissolved organic matter in semiarid wheat-based cropping systems using fluorescence EEMs-PARAFAC and absorbance spectroscopy. Journal of Arid Environments. 167:34-42. Engel, R., Romero, C., Torrion, J., Carr, P. (2019). Performance of nitrate compared to urea fertilizer in a semi-arid climate of the northern Great Plains. Canadian Journal of Soil Science, 99(3):345-355.
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Jones,C., R.Engel, S. Ewing, P. Miller, K. Olson-Rutz and S. Powell. 2019. Soil acidification: An merging problem in Montana. Montana Fertilizer eFacts. Number 78. Jones, C., R. Engel, and K. Olson-Rutz. 2019. Soil acidification. Crop and Soils Magazine. March-April. p 28-30,56.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Engel, R., C. Jones, S. Powell, P. Carr, and S. Fordyce. 2019. Challenges and Opportunities to Soil Acidity Remediation in the Semiarid Northern Great Plains. Soil Science Society America National Meetings. San Diego, CA Jan 9, 2019. Engel, R., C. Jones, and P. Carr. 2019. Soil acidification of cultivated fields in Montana: Remediation, adaptation, and challenges. Alberta Soil Science Workshop. Calgary, AB. Feb 20, 2019 Engel, R., C. Jones, S. Powell, and P. Carr. 2019. Soil Acidification of cultivated fields in semiarid Montana: remediation and challenges. Canadian Soil Science National Meetings, Saskatoon, SK. July 11, 2019

Progress 07/01/18 to 09/30/18

Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience is the Montana agricultural community and communities from neighboring state and provinces, including farmers, fertilizer dealers, consultants, and agricultural industry; and agricultural scientists in general (national and international). Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? This past year our program hired one full-time Research Associate, and four undergraduate studentsas research assistants or aides. Training and professional development was provided to each of these students in several areas, including lab protocols and methodology for analysis and processing of soil samples for nitrogen, soil pH, soil extractable aluminum and exchangeable bases. Fieldprotocols for soil and plant tissue sampling and trace greenhouse gas sampling was provide to three of the fourstudents hired. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been disseminated to communities of interest through printed media, web sites, presentations to farmers, commodity groups, and ag-industry, and at region conferences. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We expect by the end of the next reporting period to have two journalarticles published that summarize results from soil acidity/remediation and N fertility managementprojects.. Our study to monitor trace gas emissions from three cropping systems (chemical no-till, grazed no-till, and grazed-till) will be summarized in 2019 and a research publicaiton is expected from this study sometime in 2020.18.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? i. Soil acidity remediation and management On-farm sugarbeet lime strip trials were established at three farm in 2018.Sugar beet lime was applied at variable rates ranging from 0 to6 tons/acre.Composite soil cores (0-20 cm) were collected prior to the application of sugarbeet lime (i.e.fall of 2017) from all strips. The cores were divided intofour depth increments of 0-5, 5-10,10-15 and 15-20 cm, andthe soil was dried and processed forchemical analysis including pH, extractable Al and exchangeable bases.. Soil core were again collected in the fall of 2018 using the same protocol as in the fall 2017 sampling. A 90-day lab incubation study was conducted in 2018 of soils from 11 fields with acidic pH (pH 5.2) in support of this project goal. The soils were incubated with varing rates of CaCO3 in order to indentify the quantity of lime need to mitigate acidity to a target pH level. Replicatedsmall plot crop species and cultivar (wheat, barley, pea, and canola) trials were conducted at two farm location in 2018 in support of this project goal. Yield measurments were collected. Outreach activites were conducted in support of this objective included presentations ata grower workshop meeting in Fort Benton (Nov 7, 2018) and Montana Grain Growers Association Convention (Great Falls, Montana Nov 28, 2018). Publications and news releases were produced including Montana Fertilizer eFact, Praire Star, and Montana Grain News. ii. Fertilizer management strategies for enhanced N recovery by crops - an article title,"Nitrate fertilizerperformance in a semi-arid climate relative to urea fertilizers" is being developed for publication and in support of the project goals. iii. Trace gas emissions from soils under organic management (from USDA-NIFA proposal) - soil emissions of trace greenhouse gases were monitored in 2018 atthe field research site identified in the USDA-NIFA proposal. A summary report publiciaton is in progresss. Prelimary results were presented in March at the Great Plains Soil Fertlity Conference in Denver.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Engel, R. and R. Wallander. 2018 Soil emissions of N2O under organic tilled and organic reduced-till gazed and chemical no-till cropping systems. Great Plains Soil Fertility Conference. Denver, CO. March 6-7. vol 17 page 235-241.