Soil Biological Properties from UK Winter Wheat Digestate Experiment (2017)

April to August 2017 data from a UK field experiment measures soil nitrogen genes, biodiversity indices, and microbial community composition across three soil depths. The study involved 15 plots per site at North Wyke and Henfaes Farm, with treatments including control, digestate, and acidified digestate. Soil chemical parameters like nitrate, ammonium, pH, and microbial biomass carbon were also recorded.

Use Cases

• Analyze nitrogen gene data and microbial community composition across 0-15, 15-30, and 30-60 cm soil depths to assess digestate treatment impacts.
• Model relationships between soil biological measures like microbial biomass carbon and chemical parameters such as soil nitrate and pH.
• Compare soil biodiversity indices and dissolved organic carbon levels between control plots and those receiving food-based or acidified digestate.
• Investigate correlations between soil organic matter content (loss-on-ignition) and microbial biomass nitrogen within the randomized block design.

Strengths

• Data collected from 15 plots per site across two UK research stations, providing replicated experimental results.
• Includes measurements for three distinct soil depths (0-15, 15-30, 30-60 cm), enabling vertical profile analysis.
• Covers a wide range of soil chemical parameters including nitrate, ammonium, pH, and multiple forms of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus.

Limitations

• Temporal coverage is limited to a single growing season from April to August 2017, preventing long-term trend analysis.
• Sample size is confined to two UK farm sites, which may limit geographical generalizability of findings.
• Related physico-chemical parameters are stored in a separate dataset, requiring a join for complete analysis.

Provenance

Source

Environmental Information Data Centre

Collection Method

Field experiment with a randomized complete block design; soil samples taken by staff from Centre of Ecology & Hydrology and university partners, with lab measurements conducted at Rothamsted Research and CEH.

Time Range

April 2017 to August 2017

Freshness

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Geography

United Kingdom: Rothamsted Research at North Wyke, Devon and Bangor University at Henfaes Research Station, North Wales