Sampling probes affect bulk density and soil organic carbon measurements
Date
2020Author
Sharma, Sumit
Wilson, Tracy
Ochsner, Tyson
Warren, Jason G.
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Soil sampling equipment can be a major source of bias in soil organic carbon (SOC) stock estimations. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of sampling probes on soil bulk density (BD) and SOC stocks calculated using fixed depth (FD) and equivalent soil mass (ESM) methods. Soil samples were collected to 30�cm using three probes with different diameters and divided into 0-10-, 10-20-, and 20-30-cm layers. The probe with smallest diameter measured higher BD at 0-10 cm in 42% of fields and was significantly different when averaged across fields, while no consistent differences were observed at lower depths. This study shows that sampling probes with different diameters may introduce biases in BD and SOC measurements at individual or combined soil layers when calculated using the FD approach. The ESM approach reduced the differences in mean SOC stocks calculated using different probes.
Citation
Sharma, S., Wilson, T., Ochsner, T., & Warren, J. G. (2020). Sampling probes affect bulk density and soil organic carbon measurements. Agricultural and Environmental Letters, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/ael2.20005