An experiment on the effects of straw ploughed in or composted on a three-course rotation of crops

Abstract

An experiment on the use of wheat straw (ploughed in or composted at the rate of 53⅓ cwt./acre every second year) and NPK fertilizers in the maintenance of fertility was carried out at Rothamsted between 1933 and 1958. The effects of these treatments on the yields of the crops of the rotation used in the experiment—barley, sugar beet, potatoes—are discussed in the present paper.The treatments appear to have had no effect on crop yields through improvements to the soil caused by better structure or increased organic matter content. All the effects obtained can be attributed to changes in the supplies of available nutrients. The most important of these changes appear to have been: (1) nitrogen deficiencies due to the immobilization of soil nitrogen or nitrogen fertilizer by the straw: there is some evidence that this added to the store of slowly available nitrogen; (2) additions to potassium supplies from potassium in the straw. Factor (1) affected all three crops. Factor (2) affected potatoes, the only crop of the three to give good responses to potassium.It was found that when the straw was ploughed in directly about 0·08 ewt. N fertilizer applied to the crops for each ton of straw was sufficient to overcome losses in yield due to nitrogen deficiencies. The straw improved the yields of potatoes in the first and second years after application. Provided that allowance was made for losses of available nitrogen the yields of potatoes from ploughed-in straw were about the same as the yields obtained by adding K fertilizer to the crop, equal in amount to the potassium in the straw. When part of the fertilizers was ploughed in with the straw instead of being given directly to the crop the yields of potatoes were reduced.Compost made with NT fertilizers and straw and ploughed in with K fertilizer gave much poorer yields than were obtained by ploughing the straw in directly and applying the fertilizers to the crops. Losses of available nitrogen were severe, all the N fertilizer used in making the compost (0·15 cwt. N for each ton of straw) being either lost through drainage or immobilized by the straw. In addition, more than one half of the potassium in the straw was lost in composting.There was no evidence that any of the nitrogen immobilized in the decomposition of the straw became available in the first or second years after application. Residues from repeated applications of straw every second year over 18 years increased the yields of potatoes and sugar beet in the last 6 years of the experiment. The increases may have been due to the release of previously immobilized nitrogen.