ÉTUDE COMPARATIVE DE L'AGRÉGATION ET DE LA MATIÈRE ORGANIQUE ASSOCIÉE AUX FRACTIONS GRANULOMÉTRIQUES DE SEPT SOLS SOUS CULTURE DE MAÏS OU EN PRAIRIE

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Abstract
Water-stable aggregation and organic matter associated with particle-size fractions were compared for seven pairs of soils that were either under meadow or continuous corn cropping for more than 5 yr. Soils that have remained under meadow contained 25 and 29% more carbon and nitrogen than those under continuous corn. Carbon contents of the sand- and silt-size fractions were also 61 and 15% higher, respectively, under meadow than under continuous corn. The cropping system had no significant effect on the carbon and nitrogen contents of the clay-size fractions. The amount of water-stable aggregates (> 1 mm) was on average 34% higher in soils under meadow than in soils under corn cropping. Significant correlations were found between water-stable aggregates and total C (r = 0.77) and C in sand-size fraction (r = 0.79). The results also indicate that the beneficial effect of meadow over continuous corn on soil aggregation increases as soil clay content increases. Key words: Aggregation, organic matter, particle-size fractions, corn, meadow