TY - JOUR
T1 - Base cation saturation ratios vs. sufficiency level of nutrients
T2 - A false dichotomy in practice
AU - Culman, Steve W.
AU - Brock, Caroline
AU - Doohan, Douglas
AU - Jackson-Smith, Douglas
AU - Herms, Catherine
AU - Chaganti, Vijayasatya N.
AU - Kleinhenz, Matthew
AU - Sprunger, Christine D.
AU - Spargo, John
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank all the soil fertility scientists who responded to our survey. We also want to thank Spectrum Analytic for providing soil test data. We would like to thank the Ohio Ecological Food and Farming Association and members of our stakeholder advisory board (Bill McKibben, Raymond Yoder, Jr., David Campbell, Bob Jones, Jr., Joe Nester, and Lou Kozma) for valuable input and feedback throughout the project. We thank all of the soil balancing practitioners who shared their experiences and ideas with us through surveys and interviews. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture NIFA Organic Agriculture Research & Extension Initiative (2014‐51300‐22331).
Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank all the soil fertility scientists who responded to our survey. We also want to thank Spectrum Analytic for providing soil test data. We would like to thank the Ohio Ecological Food and Farming Association and members of our stakeholder advisory board (Bill McKibben, Raymond Yoder, Jr., David Campbell, Bob Jones, Jr., Joe Nester, and Lou Kozma) for valuable input and feedback throughout the project. We thank all of the soil balancing practitioners who shared their experiences and ideas with us through surveys and interviews. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture NIFA Organic Agriculture Research & Extension Initiative?(2014-51300-22331).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Agronomy Journal © 2021 American Society of Agronomy
PY - 2021/11/1
Y1 - 2021/11/1
N2 - Base cation saturation ratio (BCSR) or “soil balancing” is a soil management philosophy which strives to maintain targeted base cation saturation percentages in soil. Despite lack of Land Grant University (LGU) endorsement for decades, BCSR is widely practiced by many farmers in the United States, particularly in the organic farming community. Here, we explore BCSR persistence and present a framework around BCSR that reflects how it is conceived and practiced on working farms, with a key premise that BCSR practitioners typically use both LGU-endorsed sufficiency level of available nutrients (SLAN) and BCSR in a hybrid approach. Drawing on (a) a survey of LGU soil fertility scientists’ perspectives on BCSR, (b) decades of published literature on impacts of lime and gypsum application, (c) soil test data from organic corn fields in a four-state region of the Midwest, and (d) a large state-wide soil test dataset from Ohio, we examined and tested five unique hypotheses about BCSR. We provide evidence to support the following statements: (a) published peer-reviewed literature on BCSR is limited and dated, (b) there is widespread agreement among soil fertility scientists that BCSR is not a legitimate practice of soil management, (c) studies of lime and gypsum application on soils can lend insight into the efficacy of BCSR, and (d) in many soils, managing soil acidity will also balance soils in BCSR ideal saturation percentages. Collectively, we summarize key findings from our interdisciplinary effort to provide an updated overview and a more nuanced perspective of BCSR in practice.
AB - Base cation saturation ratio (BCSR) or “soil balancing” is a soil management philosophy which strives to maintain targeted base cation saturation percentages in soil. Despite lack of Land Grant University (LGU) endorsement for decades, BCSR is widely practiced by many farmers in the United States, particularly in the organic farming community. Here, we explore BCSR persistence and present a framework around BCSR that reflects how it is conceived and practiced on working farms, with a key premise that BCSR practitioners typically use both LGU-endorsed sufficiency level of available nutrients (SLAN) and BCSR in a hybrid approach. Drawing on (a) a survey of LGU soil fertility scientists’ perspectives on BCSR, (b) decades of published literature on impacts of lime and gypsum application, (c) soil test data from organic corn fields in a four-state region of the Midwest, and (d) a large state-wide soil test dataset from Ohio, we examined and tested five unique hypotheses about BCSR. We provide evidence to support the following statements: (a) published peer-reviewed literature on BCSR is limited and dated, (b) there is widespread agreement among soil fertility scientists that BCSR is not a legitimate practice of soil management, (c) studies of lime and gypsum application on soils can lend insight into the efficacy of BCSR, and (d) in many soils, managing soil acidity will also balance soils in BCSR ideal saturation percentages. Collectively, we summarize key findings from our interdisciplinary effort to provide an updated overview and a more nuanced perspective of BCSR in practice.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111913475&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85111913475&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/agj2.20787
DO - 10.1002/agj2.20787
M3 - Letter
AN - SCOPUS:85111913475
SN - 0002-1962
VL - 113
SP - 5623
EP - 5634
JO - Agronomy Journal
JF - Agronomy Journal
IS - 6
ER -