Wheat yield and soil properties reveal legacy effects of artificial erosion and amendments on a dryland Dark Brown Chernozem

Erosion leads to substantial loss of soil productivity. To abate such decline, amendments such as manure or fertilizer have been successfully employed. However the longevities of erosion and soil amendment legacy effects are not well quantified. In 1957, a Dark Brown Chernozem soil at Lethbridge, AB was land-levelled, creating three degrees of topsoil removal or erosion: non-eroded, moderate erosion, or severe erosion. Two amendment studies (1980–85, 1987–91) were superimposed on the erosion treatments. Both studies were cropped to spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) from 1993–2010 to examine legacy effects of erosion and soil amendments on wheat yield and soil properties. Without amendment, mean wheat yield with moderate erosion was 40% of the non-eroded treatment, while severe erosion was 34% of the non-eroded treatment, 36–42 yr (1993–99) after erosion. With moderate or severe erosion, the restorative power of manure diminished substantially in the first 10–15 yr following cessation of addition, but then levelled off resulting in wheat yields up to 35% higher than equivalent non-amended treatments. Legacy effects of erosion (54 yr) and amendment (27–31 yr) on soil organic C and total N were also observed.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author