ORGANIC SOILS and PEAT MATERIALS for SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE - CHAPTER 1 doc

Government works International Standard Book Number 0-8493-1458-5 Library of Congress Card Number 2002022951 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Organic soils and peat mat

ORGANIC SOILS

and PEAT MATERIALS

for SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

CRC PR E S S

Boca Raton London New York Washington, D.C

ORGANIC SOILS

and PEAT MATERIALS

for SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

Edited by

Léon-Etienne Parent Piotr Ilnicki

Cover photograph courtesy of Léon-Etienne Parent

This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources Reprinted material

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No claim to original U.S Government works International Standard Book Number 0-8493-1458-5 Library of Congress Card Number 2002022951

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Organic soils and peat materials for sustainable agriculture / edited by Léon-Etienne Parent, Piotr Ilnicki.

p cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8493-1458-5 (alk paper)

1 Histosols 2 Peat soils 3 Sustainable agriculture I Parent, Léon-Etienne II.

Ilnicki, Piotr.

S598 O725 2002

To the memory of Professor Henryk Okruszko (1925–2000), Research Soil Scientist, Institute of Land Reclamation and Grassland Farming (IMUZ) at Falenty, Poland, who described and documented the moorsh-forming process as a generic soil concept for the

management of drained organic soils.

Auspices Declaration

The International Peat Society, founded in Québec, Canada, in 1968, is a governmental, nonprofit organization Its mission is to promote wise use of mires,peatlands, and peat by advancing scientific, technical, economic, and social knowl-edge and understanding

non-The members are involved in the study and use of peat, for instance, in ture, forestry, horticulture, energy, chemical technology, environmental protection,balneology, medicine, and related areas Therefore, they explore a broad range ofpeat-related issues

agricul-Research institutes, commercial companies, government, nongovernment nizations, as well as private individuals form a unique base not only for informationexchange concerning the role of peatlands in the world’s geology, hydrology, climate,and ecology, but also for their wise and sustainable utilization

orga-To promote knowledge and cooperation among its members, the InternationalPeat Society organizes international congresses, symposia, and workshops and pro-

vides several publications, such as the International Peat Journal The Secretariat

of the International Peat Society is located in Jyväskylä, Finland

International Peat Society

Jyväskylä, Vapaudenkatu 1240100

Finland Tel +358 14 3385 440 Fax + 358 14 3385 410 ips@peatsociety.fi

The Ramsar Convention defined the wise use of peatlands as “their sustainableuse for the benefit of mankind in a way compatible with the maintenance of thenatural properties of the ecosystem.” Land sustainability relates to definite periodsand land uses According to the International Peat Society (IPS) and the InternationalMire Conservation Group (IMCG), the wise use of peatlands in forestry and agri-culture should include careful land-use planning and water management sustainingsocioeconomic development in rural areas and preservation of flora and fauna (Peat-lands International 2/1998: 25) Therefore, peatland management must account forunacceptable ecological impacts on the contiguous and global environment It iswell recognized that unsuitable practices must be alleviated within a relatively shorttimeframe (i.e., a few years) This book, initiated during the IPS Congress held inBremen in 1996 by an international working group of IPS Commission III, is anattempt to define organic soil quality attributes leading to a wiser soil management

in peatlands used for agriculture

Irreversible processes occurring in drained organic soils must be managed tiously The moorsh-forming process is the main step in the degradation of organicsoil materials, driving the physical deformation of peat colloids, peat decompositionand related processes such as CO2 production, organic N and P mineralization,nitrification and denitrification, as well as the leaching of inorganic phosphate,nitrate, and soluble carbon Those processes are at risk to the contiguous and globalenvironment, and must be constrained during the short-living exploitation of organicsoils There are many scientific and technical reports indicating significant contri-bution of drained organic soils to off-farm water pollution by nitrate, phosphate andsoluble C, and to greenhouse gas emissions, primarily as CO2 and N2O On the otherhand, organic soils contribute greatly to the production of food and ornamental plants

cau-to the benefit of mankind The authors hope that this book will prompt action in thefield and stimulate research for the wise management of organic soils and peatmaterials, shifting the present paradigm of input-based and unsustainable use to themodern paradigm of knowledge-based and sustainable agriculture and horticulture.The authors collected up-to-date information in order to define quality indicatorsfor the optimum use of organic soils in the agricultural and horticultural productions

The soil quality attributes make up its pedigree (from the French expression

pied-de-grue or crane foot, meaning the three typical traits of a thing — living or

nonliving, similarly to a crane footprint) The soil pied-de-grue is documented

through its physical, chemical and biological attributes Soil quality can be assessedboth quantitatively or qualitatively Soil quality is related to sustainable productivity,and to its limited capacity to act as an environmental buffer Soil buffering capacity,

as related to organic matter content and pH, comprises resistance to carbon, nitrogen,and phosphorus release, as well as water, pesticide, and metal retention Soil con-servation practices include water regulation, crop cover, fertilization, and liming, aswell as soil restoration after peat wastage or cutting

This book is composed of 10 chapters: the characteristics of organic soil genesisand degradation, (Chapter 1), the irreversible peat drying in drained organic soils

(Chapter 2), the physical attributes required for the water management of organicsoils (Chapter 3) and peat substrates (Chapter 4), pH determination and correlationamong methods (Chapter 5), the N and P pollution indicators (Chapter 6), Cusorption (Chapter 7), pesticide reactions (Chapter 8), cultivation of cutover peatlands(Chapter 9), and conservation of organic soils (Chapter 10) The book covers a large

spectrum of organic soil materials used in situ or in containers.

Léon E Parent, chairman of the IPS-WG

Department of Soil Science and Agri-Food Engineering

Laval University, Québec, Canada G1K 7P4

The Editors

Dr Léon Etienne Parent received his Ph.D.

in soil fertility from McGill University, Montreal,

Canada He is a member of the Soil Science

ety of America, the Canadian Soil Science

Soci-ety, the International Soil Science SociSoci-ety, and the

International Peat Society (IPS) He has chaired

the Histic Soil Quality Working Group of IPS

since 1996 He has authored or coauthored over

60 peer-reviewed articles, more than half related

to organic soils and peat substrates He has also

contributed to seven book chapters and technical

papers on organic soils His major contributions

to organic soil science concern soil

transforma-tions after drainage, agricultural capability

clas-sification, crop rotation and nutrient diagnosis, as well as the use of peat as a mineralsoil amendment and as a source of humic substances for enhancing phosphorusfertilizer efficiency in mineral soils

Dr Piotr Ilnicki received his Ph.D in soil science

from the Agricultural University in Szczecin, Poland

He is a former vice-president of the International Peat

Society (IPS), and president of Commission III of IPS

(agriculture) and of the Polish National Committee of

IPS He is member of the Polish Soil Science Society

and of the International Association for Landscape

Ecology He has authored or coauthored more than 70

peer-reviewed articles He also edited a Polish

hand-book on peatlands and peat

ContributorsTomasz Brandyk

Department of Environmental

Development and Land Improvement

Warsaw Agricultural University

Development and Land Improvement

Warsaw Agricultural University

Léon E Parent

Department of Soil Science andAgri-Food EngineeringLaval UniversityQuébec, Canada

Louis-Marie Rivière

Unité Mixte de RecherchesSciences Agronomiques Appliquées àl’Horticulture

Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique

Institut National d’HorticultureBeaucouzé, France

Jan Szatylowicz

Department of Environmental

Development and Land Improvement

Warsaw Agricultural University

Berlin, Germany

Chapter 1

The Moorsh Horizons as Quality Indicators of Reclaimed Organic Soils

Henryk Okruszko and Piotr Ilnicki

Chapter 2

Irreversible Loss of Organic Soil Functions after Reclamation

Piotr Ilnicki and Jutta Zeitz

Chapter 3

Water-Related Physical Attributes of Organic Soils

Tomasz Brandyk, Jan Szatylowicz, Ryszard Oleszczuk, and Tomasz Gnatowski

Chapter 4

Quality of Peat Substrates for Plants Grown in Containers

Jean Caron and Louis-Marie Rivière

Chapter 5

Soil Acidity Determination Methods for Organic Soils and Peat Materials

Léon E Parent and Catherine Tremblay

Chapter 6

Nitrogen and Phosphorus Balance Indicators in Organic Soils

Léon E Parent and Lotfi Khiari

Chapter 7

Retention of Copper in Cu-Enriched Organic Soils

Antoine Karam, Caroline Côté, and Léon E Parent

CHAPTER 1

The Moorsh Horizons as Quality Indicators

of Reclaimed Organic Soils

Henryk Okruszko and Piotr Ilnicki

CONTENTS

Abstract

I Introduction

II Organic Soil Classification

III Moorsh Formation

IV Soil Morphology as an Indicator of Organic Soil Quality

V Prognostic Soil Moisture Complexes (PSMC) as Related to

Organic Soil Quality

by changes in soil morphology and structure such as peat transforming into grainsand aggregates, thus altering physical properties The descriptive criteria for thosetransformations are as follows:

• Three diagnostic horizons (moorsh layers M1 to M3 in the 0–30 cm root zone,peat layers T1 in the 30–80 cm vadose zone, and peat layers T2 in the 80–130 cmzone of lateral groundwater flow)

• Three genetic layers in the vertical sequence M1 to M3 (M1 as grain moorsh inthe sod, M2 as humic moorsh, and M3 as peaty moorsh above peat layers)

• Three stages of MFP development (I, II, and III) in the moorsh layers; and threedegrees of peat decomposition (a for fibric, b for hemic, and c for sapric materials)for T1 and T2

For water management, five prognostic soil moisture complexes are recognizedfrom those criteria: wet (A), periodically wet (AB), moist (B), periodically dry (BC),and dry (C) Irrigation and water table regulation must be carefully designed forimproving soil quality in BC and C complexes

I INTRODUCTION

In Poland, a wetland showing peat accumulation is designated as a mire forundrained, or as a peatland for drained, conditions Mires are further classifiedaccording to trophic levels into fens, transitional bogs, and raised bogs Organic soilsare concerned with two major soil processes: paludification for peat accumulatingunder waterlogged conditions, and decession with moorsh forming and peat miner-alization occurring after drainage and reclamation of the former mire ecosystem.Polish soils are classified as organic if the upper layer contains organic materialsthicker than 30 cm, where roots proliferate Below the root layer, organic soils arefurther divided according to the thickness of organic materials into shallow (30–80cm), moderate (80–130 cm), and deep (>130 cm) soils, as well as the nature of theunderlying mineral material (Okruszko, 1994) The paludic soils, coded “Pt,” char-acterize peat accumulated in fen, transitional, or bog mire ecosystems Peat dryingand aeration result in the loss of organic substances, and typical soil morphologythroughout the organic soil profile Transformation of the peat materials into post-

paludic soils is designed as the MFP (from the Polish name murszenie), which is

similar to, but more documented than, the muck-forming process (Okruszko, 1960,1993; van Heuveln et al., 1960; Pons, 1960; Skrynnikova, 1961; Illner, 1977; Schmidt

et al., 1981; Zeitz, 1992; Sponagel et al., 1996) The post-paludic soils, coded “Mt,”are classified according to the stage of MFP The moorsh intensity factor is a soilquality indicator for water management (Tomaszewski, 1950; Okruszko, 1960).Proper water management is required not only to fulfill crops’ needs, but also to slowdown soil subsidence and thus sustain the productive life of cultivated organic soils.The aim of this chapter is to present the organic soil classification system used

in Poland, and the moorsh intensity factor as a quality indicator of reclaimedorganic soils

II ORGANIC SOIL CLASSIFICATION

In soil classification systems (Agriculture Canada, 1992; Soil Survey Staff, 1996;Schwerdtfeger, 1996; Marcinek, 1997; Sauerbrey and Zeitz, 1999), organic soils arecharacterized by a histic horizon (Table 1.1), and are genetically related to gleysols(Table 1.2) In Poland, organic soil materials may be peat, mud, mud-peat or gyttja

as its organic matter content (OMC) (Zawadzki, 1970) and humification degree(Okruszko, 1993) Organic soil materials must show more than 20% OMC Thebotanical origin of the peat (Table 1.3), its ash content, and the degree of peat decom-position (Tables 1.4 and 1.5) confer many quality attributes to the soil such as OMC,bulk density, and volume of the solid phase (Tables 1.6 and 1.7) (Ilnicki, 1967;

Table 1.1 Symbols for Histic Horizons in Different Soil

Classification Systems Histic Horizon FAO a USA Germany England Russia

a Food and Agriculture Organization.

Source: From Schwaar J and Schwerdtfeger, G 1992 Proc 9th Int.

Peat Congr., Uppsala, Sweden,1:40–45 With permission.

Table 1.2 Comparison between Organic Soil Classification Systems

Hss, Terric Organic soils Hss, Terric Organic soils Hss, Terric Organic soils Hss, Terric Organic soils

IV A2 Peat

IVA2a – fen

IVA2b – transition bog

IVA2c – raised bog

Eutri – Haplic Organic soils Dystri – Haplic Organic soils Fibric Organic soils

Eutri-Hss, Eutri-Terric Organic soils, HSt, Fibric Organic soils Dystri-HSf, Dystri-Fibric Organic soils

Dystri-HSf, Dystri-Fibric Organic soils

HSs, Terric Organic soils HSs, Terric Organic soils HSs, Terric Organic soils HSs, Terric Organic soils

Histi-GLm, Histi-Mollic Gleysols Areni-GLm, Areni-Mollic Gleysols Areno-GLm, Areni Mollic Gleysols

Source: From Marcinek, J 1997 Proc Comparison between Polish and German Soil fication Systems, 13–40 With permission.