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Effects of Soil Balancing Treatments on Soils, Vegetable Crops and Weeds in Organically Managed Farms

Leiva Soto, Andrea S

Abstract Details

2018, Master of Science, Ohio State University, Horticulture and Crop Science.
In Ohio, many organic farmers use the term `balancing’ to express the rationale of using a wide variety of soil amendments to improve soil quality and plant health. Soil balancing or the base cation saturation ratio (BCSR) approach is a method first proposed more than 100 years ago that aims to achieve the `ideal soil’. William Albrecht in the 1970’s concluded that if saturation of the major exchangeable cations is 65-85% for Ca, 6-12% for Mg, and 2-5% for K, plant nutrition will be balanced. Research conducted by Zwickle et al. (2011) indicated that many organic farmers believe balanced soils produce higher quality crops and have diminished weed infestations compared to unbalanced soils. For many farmers, soil balancing includes using amendments thought to enhance soil biology and increase the soil’s capacity to store and release minerals needed by plants. Combined mineral and these organic/bio-active soil products can be very costly, as much as US $1000-1250/ha in the first year. While farmers believe they are benefiting from these expenditures, there is no objective evidence to confirm their belief. I conducted on-farm studies at six locations in Northeast Ohio, with the overall goal of determining the effect of gypsum, with or without “biological stimulants”, on the soil microbial community, crop quality, weed populations, and soil chemical characteristics. Soil seed bank and soil health/biological properties were measured, including soil respiration, active carbon, protein content, microbial biomass, and complete mineral analysis. Crop foliage for nutrient analysis, and crop quality was determined after harvest. Differences in final soil nutrient levels, base saturation, crop and weed community effects were influenced more by the farm than by the treatments applied. After two years, soil sulfur levels were significantly higher in plots amended with gypsum. Failure to detect treatment response by other mineral amendments suggests the relatively narrow differences between the mineral blend applied to all plots and the soil balancing treatments. Crops foliage tended to be deficient in K and Mg regardless of the treatment applied. Marketable yield of butternut squash at one farm was higher in plots treated with gypsum and biological stimulant (BIO) compared to gypsum alone. The polar:equatorial diameter ratio of cabbage heads from plots amended with gypsum and BIO, were always closer to the ideal ratio compared to those from control plots. Active carbon (POXC) at one farm was higher in plots treated with gypsum. The weed seed bank density was lower at, one farm in plots treated with gypsum alone compared to the control and BIO treatment. The most important finding of this research is that farmers who attempt to balance soils must pay very careful attention to not induce deficiencies of K and Mg while raising Ca saturation. These findings are also in general agreement with those of previous investigators that a soil balancing approach is costly with questionable benefits. However, this experimentation shares a shortcoming with those earlier works, in that the term of research may have been too short to demonstrate beneficial outcomes.
Douglas Doohan (Advisor)
Warren DIck (Committee Member)
Kleinhenz Matthew (Committee Member)
Steve Culman (Committee Member)
104 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Leiva Soto, A. S. (2018). Effects of Soil Balancing Treatments on Soils, Vegetable Crops and Weeds in Organically Managed Farms [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu151514193894181

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Leiva Soto, Andrea. Effects of Soil Balancing Treatments on Soils, Vegetable Crops and Weeds in Organically Managed Farms . 2018. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu151514193894181.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Leiva Soto, Andrea. "Effects of Soil Balancing Treatments on Soils, Vegetable Crops and Weeds in Organically Managed Farms ." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu151514193894181

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)