I often encounter a common question on measuring soil organic matter (SOM) while discussing regenerative agriculture. It’s followed by another query on the relationship between soil organic carbon (SOC) and SOM. let me try to clarify such confusion in this article.
Soil organic matter contains plant and animal
tissues at different stages of decomposition. It comprises carbon, hydrogen,
oxygen and small amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and other elements.
Depending on how old the organic matter is it is categorized into passive and
active types. Passive SOM consists of materials that are several decades old
while residues in active SOM are few years old.
Broadly SOM fractions can be divided into 3 types.
The interaction of plants and microorganisms produce byproducts during
decomposition plus root exudates and sugars referred to as dissolved organic
matter. It’s a continuous process that keeps happening every moment. Dissolved
organic matter contributes to less than 5% of the total soil organic matter
composition. The second type is fresh, decomposing plant and animal tissues called
particulate organic matter. Depending on the soils it contributes up to 25% of
SOM. Humus is the next category that is dark black or brown organic matter that
is formed in the soil due to the decaying plant and animal residues. In fertile
soils humus constitutes up to 50% of SOM and is the stable organic matter.
Soils with high organic matter offer several
benefits for farmers and ranchers like,
- Improves
aeration, water holding capacity, infiltration and prevents runoff.
- Nutrient
storehouse for crops and provides essential nutrients over time (cation
exchange capacity CEC)
- Enhances
soil microbial activity and diversity and provides nutrition for billions of diverse
microorganisms.
Soil carbon is often mentioned during discussions on carbon sequestration, carbon offsets, regenerative agriculture and climate smart agriculture. Interestingly carbon is called the ‘king of elements’. The term carbon is derived from Latin ‘carbo’ meaning coal. In the human body carbon is the second most abundant element after oxygen. Soil carbon is that carbon component of organic compounds that is measurable. It is difficult to measure soil organic matter directly in the lab, hence laboratories measure and report soil organic carbon. In other words, soil organic carbon is the measurable part of SOM.
Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) plays a vital role in
sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and addressing the climate
crisis. Farm management that facilitates building soil organic carbon in
agricultural and pastoral lands over a period helps to significantly reduce
atmospheric carbon dioxide. It's important to know how to measure SOC and estimate SOM, without measurement it would be difficult to identify the gaps for
scientifically improving farm management.
Let me discuss how to measure SOC and estimate SOM in a hectare of farmland.
The first step is to collect the soil samples following the standard procedures using a soil probe or auger and dispatch it to a nearby lab for analysis. From the lab report check on the total organic carbon percentage that will be used for calculating soil organic matter. On an average it has been found that about 58% of the mass of organic matter in soil is carbon. While estimating the percentage of Soil organic matter (SOM) from Soil organic carbon (SOC) a conversion factor 1.72 is used (100/58 =1.72).
Let’s presume SOC is 2.5% of a farm. SOM is calculated as follows;
SOM (%) = SOC (%) x1.72
= 2.5x1.72
= 4.3%
In this example the soil organic matter is 4.3%.
The SOM (%) can be converted into weight for a
given depth and area. It helps to estimate organic matter in tons per hectare
of soil. From the soil analysis data, bulk density and soil organic carbon
values are required for estimation. The calculation is simple.
SOC in tons of carbon per hectare = SOC x bulk
density (tons per cubic meter) x depth (meters)
Let’s consider a hypothetical soil analysis data
comprising SOC (2.5%), bulk density 1.1 grams per cubic centimeter and soil
depth 10 centimeters. It’s important to convert SOC% to decimals(0.025), bulk
density into tons per cubic meter (1.1 tons/cubic meter) and depth in meters
(0.1 meters) per hectare (10,000 square meters)
SOC tons/hectare = (0.025) x (1.1 x 0.1 x 10,000)
= 27.5 tons of carbon/hectare (t C/ha)
Further SOM per hectare can be deduced using the
above conversion factor of 1.72. The amount of Soil organic matter would be
27.5 x 1.72 = 47.3 tons of organic matter per hectare.
Estimating SOM every year or at
least once every 2 years to assess the management practices adopted in the
farm is vital in regenerative agriculture. It helps to course correct some of the practices that are contributing to
the loss of soil organic matter from farms and ranches. Soil organic matter is
the lifeline of the soil, farmers need to take utmost care in preventing its loss. Growing leguminous cover crops, crop rotation,
cultivating perennial forage crops, application of compost, agroforestry and
silvi-pastoral systems, reduced tillage, contour planting and several
regenerative agriculture practices that are appropriate to the region help in
building soil organic matter and sequester carbon.
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