http://orgprints.org/9887/ Assessment of selected soil parameters in a long-term Western Canadian organic field experiment A long-term field study was used to compare soil nitrogen and phosphorous status, and soil aggregate stability in organic and conventional cropping systems. Two rotations were tested: a grain only and a grain-alfalfa hay rotation. The organic systems had a lower nitrate leaching potential than the same rotations under conventional management. After 13 years, one organic system (the grain-alfalfa; no manure return) is suffering serious soil P depletion. However, the grain only and the grain-alfalfa with manure return to land systems had soil P levels similar to the prairie grass control treatment and showed no signs of P deficiency. Despite having lower levels of organic carbon, the organic soils had higher levels of wet aggregate stability than conventionally managed soils. Entz, Martin Welsh, Cathy Tenuta, Mario Chen, Yu Ying Nelson, Alison Froese, Jane 1plantprod int_conf_2007qlif_3_crops Assessment of selected soil parameters in a long-term Western Canadian organic field experiment 2007-03-07 Entz, Martin; Welsh, Cathy; Tenuta, Mario; Chen, Yu Ying; Nelson, Alison and Froese, Jane (2007) Assessment of selected soil parameters in a long-term Western Canadian organic field experiment. 3rd QLIF Congress: Improving Sustainability in Organic and Low Input Food Production Systems, University of Hohenheim, Germany, March 20-23, 2007. application/pdf