Characterisation of soils under long-term crop cultivation without fertilisers: a case study in Japan

Nakatsuka, Hiroko; Tamura, Kenji

doi:10.1186/s40064-016-1917-y

SpringerPlus

Table 7 Micromorphology of the soils thin sections from Eniwa and Narita farms

From: Characterisation of soils under long-term crop cultivation without fertilisers: a case study in Japan

Horizon and depth (cm)	Dominant microstructure^a	Grade of pedality^b	Size of peds (mm)	Voids		Fractal dimension of voids^d	Basic organic components	Pedofeatures
Horizon and depth (cm)	Dominant microstructure^a	Grade of pedality^b	Size of peds (mm)	Types^c	Abundance (%)	Fractal dimension of voids^d	Basic organic components	Pedofeatures
E-UF
Ap (0–5)	Gr and Igm	M–S	0.5–4.0	Cdp	19	1.556*	Large amount of root tissues and fungal hyphae in Ap–A2, and some root tissues and fungal hyphae in 2A3 and 3AB	Large amount of excrements in Ap–A2
A1 (10–15)	Gr	S	0.3–5.0	Cdp	24	1.640
A2 (30–35)	Gr	M–S	0.5–5.0	Cdp	19	1.580**
2A3 (50–55)	Sp	M	0.1–2.5	Chn, Vu	20	1.572*
3AB (70–75)	Sp	M	0.1–2.2	Chn, Vu	27	1.631
E-CF
Ap1 (0–5)	Gr	M–S	0.2–5.0	Cdp	13	1.485*	Some root tissues and fungal hyphae in Ap1–Ap3	Some excrements in Ap1–Ap2
Ap2 (12–17)	Gr	S	0.5–8.0	Cdp	25	1.631
Ap3 (30–35)	Sb	M	1.5–10.0	Cdp, Pn	11	1.446**
3AB (50–55)	Sp	W	0.1–1.3	Vu	14	1.506*
4Bw (70–75)	Sb	W–M	0.3–3.0	Vu, Pn	29	1.654
N-UF
Ap (0–5)	Gr	S	0.3–5.0	Cdp	32	1.685	Some root tissues, carbide and fungal hyphae in Ap–AB	Very few amorphous nodules in Ap–A1
A1 (10–15)	Gr	S	0.3–5.0	Cdp	33	1.692***
A2 (30–35)	Sp	M–S	0.1–3.0	Cdp, Chn	33	1.681***
AB (50–55)	Sp and Sb	M	0.2–2.5	Chn, Vu, Pn	13	1.484*
Bw1 (70–75)	Sp and Sb	M	0.3–4.0	Chn, Vu, Pn	16	1.518
N-CF
Ap (0–5)	Gr	S	0.3–4.0	Cdp	23	1.638	Few tissues, carbide and fungal hyphae in Ap–A2	Very few amorphous nodules in A1
A1 (20–25)	Gr	W	0.3–5.0	Cdp, Pn	7	1.366***
A2 (35–40)	Sb	M–S	0.5–2.5	Cdp, Pn, Chn	22	1.589***
AB (50–55)	Sp and Sb	M	0.2–3.0	Chn, Vu, Pn	17	1.552*
Bw (70–75)	Sp and Sb	M	0.1–3.0	Chn, Vu, Pn	18	1.553

^aMicrostructure (Gr granular structure, Igm intergrain microaggregate structure, Sp spongy structure, Sb subangular blocky structure)
^bGrade of pedality (S strongly developed, M moderately developed, W weakly developed)
^cTypes of voids (Cdp compound packing, Chn channels, Vu vughs, Pn planes)
^dFractal dimension of voids [*, **, ***: significant at the 0.05, 0.01 and 0.001 probability levels among depths between UF and CF at the same location, respectively (ANCOVA)]

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