Soil

Plant

Nutrient

Research

Unit

Soil & Nutrient Resources

Management

Climate Change Adaptation/Mitigation

Assessment Tools

GRACEnet Database

SPNRU Mission Statement:

• To improve soil and crop management practices, help mitigate global climate change, enhance energy production, increase soil C stocks and sustain soil productivity and water quality and provide this information to producers, land managers and policy makers.

Research to Impact the Future of AgricultureFertilizer

Polyculture/cover crops

Soil Health - Microbial

GHG

Cropping

Water

Quality

Models/Tools

Soil and crop

management

practices to

promote soil &

plant

productivity,

health and

sustainability.

Development of

assessment tools

and strategies to

adapt

management

practices and

mitigate against

global climate

change.

Tillage

Soil

amendments

Research Scientists

Nutrient ManagementDr. Jorge Delgado (acting RL)

GHG Modeling/InventoryDr. Stephen Delgrosso

Water Quality/Bioremediation

vacant

Soil Health/BiologyDr. Daniel Manter

Soil (C) Productivity Dr. Catherine Stewart

Agronomist/Economistvacant

Dr. Jorge DelgadoNutrient research & modeling

• macro/micro nutrients• N-use efficiency• Fertilizer studies• Models/Tools

N-LeapN-index

Cover Crop Research

Winter Cover Crops

• Reduce wind erosion• Reduce soil organic matter losses• Reduce nutrient losses• Reduce clay and silt losses to preserve soil quality and soil fertility

Deep rooted (cover)crops:

• Increase nutrient use efficiency • Mine NO3-N that was leached from previous shallower root crop• Mine NO3-N from underground water, protecting water quality

We know from previous studies in the San Luis Valley that cover crops can have positive impacts. Some take-home messages are:

•Cover crops increased the tuber size.

•Sudan sorghum cover crops increased yields over wet fallow.

•Sudan sorghum extracted twice the amount of copper and manganese as radish, canola, or mustard. Sudan sorghum’s zinc content

was also higher.

•Mustard, radish and canola had higher calcium content.

San Luis Valley cover crops.Some take-home messages are:

Fertilizer studies

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0 112F 134CRF 202CRF 269FN Application Rate (kg N/ha) & Method

Control Release Urea (Meister)Potato Yield

In the San Luis Valley, the use of controlled release

fertilizer (CRF) can reduce fertilizer

requirement but ½ without affecting yield

Delgado et al. 1998, Shoji et al. 2001

Dr. Catherine Stewart

Soil productivity & C sequestration

• Soil organic matter management• Plant/microbial contribution• d13C• GC-MS / PLFA markers in soil

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120-150

90-120

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Mol percent

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pth

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)Actinomycetes

AMF

Bacteria

Fungi

G-

G+

Universal

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120-150

90-120

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Mol percent

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(cm

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Actinomycetes

AMF

Bacteria

Fungi

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Universal

Agricultural management impacts on C cycling.

Management OptionsTillageFertilizerSoil amendmentsResidue managementPerennial/cover crops

Benefits of managing for SOC• increase soil N• increase water infiltration• decrease erosion potential• increase soil microbial biomass

Result in greater plant yield & productivity

Agricultural management impacts on C cycling.

So

il O

rga

nic

C

time

Management change

conventional

No-till

perennial

Perennial +

amendment

Dr. Steven DelgrossoGHG inventory & modeling

• GRACEnet• EPA inventory analysis• Management/fertilizer

effects on GHG emissions

COMET-Farm

Provide a means for non-GHGspecialists (farmers, consultants, NRCS field staff, etc.) to easily estimate farm-scale GHG emissions and to explore alternative management and land use strategies.

Employ state-of-the-art methods/ models based on USDA Guidelines and consistent with US national GHGinventory

Further development of previous COMET-VR and COMET2.0 tools.

Free access on the internet

COMET-Farm

Full farm-level GHG accounting Soil and biomass C stock changes

Soil N2O and CH4 emissions

Livestock – enteric CH4 and manure CH4 and N2O

Energy – Fossil C emissions; on-farm renewables

Other emissions – burning, liming, …

Assessment and Management of

Soil Microbial Communities

Daniel K. Manter

USDA-ARS

Soil-Plant-Nutrient Research

Soil (per g)• 104 to 105

species/strainsRoot system

• 103

species/strains

Foliage• 102 species/strains

Microbes, microbes, everywhere!

Assessment of microbial communities

DNA

Cellvibrio vulgaris (AF448513)

OTU 30 (9130 42)

OTU 79 (95265 1582)

OTU 3 (9130 828)

OTU 14 (9130 1311)

OTU 5 (9130 1059)

OTU 63 (95265 1013)

Cellvibrio mixtus (AF448515)

Pseudomonas syringae (EU906856)

Pseudomonas fluorescens (AF134705)

OTU 70 (9130 1760)

Pseudoxanthomonas sp. (EU276093)

Pseudoxanthomonas mexicana (AF273082)

OTU 6 (9130 1075)

OTU 38 (9130 1016)

OTU 17 (9130 1023)

Acidovorax sp. (EU304287)

Acidovorax defluvii (DQ358210)

OTU 80 (9130 102)

Devosia riboflavina (AF501346)

Devosia sp. (EF433462)

OTU 13 (9130 1111)

Sphingopyxis witflariensis (AJ416410)

Sphingopyxis panaciterrae (AB245353)

OTU 86 (9130 1505)

Flavobacterium succinicans (AM230493)

OTU 32 (9130 1706)

OTU 47 (9130 909)

Flavobacterium sp. (AM934668)

OTU 73 (9130 1070)3637

54

100

9296

100

100

99100

6863

99

86100

96 90

88

96

100

62

84

58

33

4282

5

ProductsMethodology Improvement:• Assessment of technique specificity

(Manter & Vivanco 2007)

• Sampling strategies and

methodological biases (Manter et

al. 2010)

New Analysis Tools:• OTUshuff – new beta-diversity score

and statistical test to account for

incomplete sampling (in review)

• PhyloDB – database and analysis

software for metagenomic studies

(in development)

Management of microbial communities.

Plants play a major role is shaping microbial communities:

Cover crops

(Manter et al. 2007)

Species/cultivar selection

(Broz et al. 2007, Manter et al. 2010)

Root exudates

(Broeckling et al. 2008)

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isonicotinic acidthreonic acidxylonic acid2-5-diketopiperazine NISTglycolic acidaspartic acidinositol myo-glycinetryptophanN-acetyl-D-hexosaminesaccharopineN-acetyl-glutamic acidsuberyl glycineguanineallantoinGABAarabitolguanosineuridinehomoserinegalactonic acid2-deoxyerythritolserinearabinosehomocystine3-aminoisobutyric acidmethionineglutamic acidxylitolglucoheptulosepseudo uridinepentitol2,3-dihydroxybutanoic acid NIST2-hydroxyglutaric acidmannonic acid NISTthreitolthymineN-acetyl-D-mannosaminexylonolactone NISTfucosevalineribitolglutamineerythronic acid lactoneidonic acid NISTO-acetylserinearginine + ornithinealanineasparaginesaccharic acidcitrullinelysineN-acetylornithinekynureninebutyrolactam NISTmethionine sulfoxide2-hydroxyvaleric acidglycerolpyrazine 2,5-dihydroxy NISTxyloseadenosinelevanbiosesalicylic acidUDP GlcNAcphosphoric acidphthalic acidcyclohexylamine NISTbeta-gentiobiose1,2-anhydro-myo-inositol NISTcellobioseaminomalonic acidlauric acidtrehalose3-hydroxypropionic acidglycerol-3-galactosidegalactinolmaltoseerythritol2'-deoxyguanosine4-hydroxybutyric acidurea1-kestoseglycerol-alpha-phosphatemyristic acidpalmitic acidN-methylalaninecytidineadipic acidcapric acidadenosine-5-phosphatenicotianamineoxalic acidinositol-4-monophosphatecysteine-glycinecitramalic acidglyceric acidisocitric acidglucuronic acidbeta-sitosterolmethylmaleic acidazelaic acidparabanic acid NIST3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaric acidsuccinic acidalpha ketoglutaric acidmalic acidcitric acidfumaric acidleucinecysteineaconitic acidmethylhexadecanoic acidcellobiotolphenylalaninebeta-alanineisoleucineornithinethreoninecyano-L-alanineprolinefructoseglucoseoxoproline4-hydroxybenzoateuracilmaleimidelactic acidferulic acidenolpyruvate NISTitaconic acid

-0.6 0 0.6Value

Color Key

Identification of novel compounds to

manipulate beneficial microbes:(collaborator: Dr. Vivanco, CSU)

Compound-microbe associations

Add

selectedcmpd

to soil0

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N-fixing bacteria

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pp

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soil NH4-N

Development of a

new Soil Biology

Index (SBI)

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Till NoTill Till NoTill Till NoTill

Sterling Stratton Walsh

N-fixation P-solubility BiocontrolRoot-growth Nutrient-acquisition

Taxonomic and functional

diversity of microbes poses

many challenges…

What should we manage for?

• Microbial abundance

• Microbial diversity

• Specific processes

Soil biological index

incorporates microbial

abundance and ecosystem

services provided by microbes:

• n-fixation

• p-solubility

• Biocontrol

• Root-growth

• Nutrient acquisition

Effect of no till (25 years) on SBI

↑ All

Effect of cover crops on SBI

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Fallow Canola Honey Mustard Sordan

N-fixation P-solubility Biocontrol Root-growth Nutrient-acquisition

Canola: biocontrol

Sordan:nutrients

biocontrol

Potential Benefits of SBI

Assessment

• How does management influence soil biology based on

known beneficial microbial processes.

• Are biologicals required and/or achieving our desired

goals. Pre-assessment can avoid the potential cost of

applying redundant biologicals at a cost of $70+ per acre

Problem-specific solutions:

• Cover crops

Canola – promotes biocontrol

Sorghum – promotes root growth/ nutrient acquisition

• Biological prescription

Bacillus spp.

Pseudomonas spp.

Other

Our goal is to continue cooperating with the SLV CSU Research Station, NRCS, consultants and farmers in the area soil

and nutrient management to increase yields,

sustainability and reduce our dependency on soil

inputs/fertilizer.

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Control Release Urea (Meister)Potato Yield

Our StaffSupport StaffBrittany BarnetAmber Brandt Robert D’AdamoTravis DeloreanBrad Floyd Erin Grogan Ryan MatheRobin Montenieri

Graduate StudentsAlexandra Blevins Caleb Tebbe

ScientistsJorge DelgadoStephen Del GrossoDaniel ManterCatherine Stewart

Work-study StudentsMeghan CareyAdryan GardnerMatthew KorsaJoshua PadillaKedge StokkeElizabeth StreeterCodie West

Donna NeerKristopher NicholsElizabeth PruessnerMelissa Reyes-FoxDamaris RoosendaalMary SmithRachel StongStacey Wilkins