| The various elements of an arable cropping system, such as crop type and cultivar, soil tillage, crop protection measures, use of mineral fertilizers and animal manure, crop-residue disposal, and addition of town-derived organic refuses all interact in a complex manner with basic soil properties (texture and mineralogy), and this interaction determines the general productivity of the cropping system. The same elements also influence soil organic matter (SOM) turnover, some more than others. The SOM holds large pools of organically bound plant nutrients, which, through mineralization, may become available for crop uptake or loss from the soil-plant system through leaching or gaseous losses. Additionally, SOM is important to both soil structure and the... |
