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ABSTRACT: A study was conducted to evaluate the effects of 100 years of continuous soil and crop management on soil physical properties at Sanborn Meld, University of Missouri. Undisturbed soil cores were used to evaluate bulk density, saturated hydraulic conductivity, water retention, and pore-size distributions. Results indicate that annual additions of manure decreased bulk density by an average of 0.12 g cm−3 compared to unfertilized treatments. Saturated hydraulic conductivity was increased by about nine times with annual additions of 13.5 t ha−1 (6 tons/acre) of manure. Implications are that soil and crop management have only subtle effects on bulk density and pore-size distribution for this soil. However, annual additions of manure increased hydraulic conductivity, which may reduce runoff and the potential for soil erosion.
Anderson et al. (Mon,) studied this question.