Highfield Ley Arable
- Experiment Code: R/RN/1
- Experiment Site: Rothamsted
- Objectives: To study the effects of various three-year leys on the fertility of the soil as measured by a sequence of three arable test crops.
- Description: The site was originally permanent grassland since 1838 (>100 years). Some plots stayed in permanent grass, others went into continuous arable cropping and some alternated between leys and arable. Yields are no longer measured but SOM continues to be measured. Available P and K in soil have been measured periodically. The main comparisons have been of four rotations, each of six years duration. The arable with lay rotation includes a one-year ley cut for hay. The other three have had three-year leys of different species and different management, followed by three arable crops and are referred to as 'test crops'. Highfield Ley Arable runs in contrast to Fosters Ley Arable which has the same soil type but a different cropping history (having been in continuous cropping for several centuries).
- Date Start: 1948
- Date End: Ongoing
Key Contacts
Andy Gregory
- Role: Principal Investigator
- Organisation: Rothamsted Research
- Address: West Common, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, AL5 2JQ, United Kingdom
Margaret Glendining
- Role: Data Manager
- ORCID: 0000-0002-6466-4629
- Organisation: Rothamsted Research
- Address: West Common, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, AL5 2JQ, United Kingdom
Sarah Perryman
- Role: Data Manager
- Organisation: Rothamsted Research
- Address: West Common, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, AL5 2JQ, United Kingdom
Funding
- The e-RA Database, is part of the National Capabilities , which also includes the Long-Term Experiment , the Sample Archive and the Environmental Change Network.
- The Rothamsted Long-term Experiments National Capability is supported by the Lawes Agricultural Trust and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (Grants BBS/E/C/00005189) (2012-2017) and BBS/E/C/000J0300 ) (2017-2022)).
Experimental Design
Description
- Plots of four rotations with reseeded grass and permanent grass were laid down in randomised blocks of five or six plots each. There were 12 blocks, two in each phase of a six-year cycle. The whole experiment was started over three seasons 1949, 1950 and 1951 and blocks due to start in 1952, 1953 and 1954 started three years earlier with 'dummy' test crops. Each plot was 0.088 acre.
Design
- Period: 1949 - 1954
Crops
| Crop | Years Grown |
|---|---|
| Alfalfa | |
| Grass Leys | |
| Wheat | |
| Potatoes | |
| Barley |
Crop Rotations
| Rotation | Crops |
|---|---|
| Lucerne ( - ) | |
| Grazed ley ( - ) | |
| Cut grass ( - ) | |
| Arable with hay ( - ) |
Measurements
| Variable | Unit | Collection Frequency |
Material | Description | Crop |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soil Total Carbon | |||||
| Plant Available Phosphorous | |||||
| Plant Available Potassium | |||||
| Yield Components |
Description
- Various changes were made in this period; Spring oats were introduced instead of barley as the third treatment crop of the 'arable with hay' rotation in order to lessen risk of infection of wheat by take-all or eyespot diseases. Dressings of fertiliser K were applied before the first treatment crops were sown and to the R and G plots. This was because soil and plant analyses had shown plots growing hay, cut grass and lucerne lost more K than grazed plots, which would affect the yield of test crops. Plots were further split to measure potash and phosphate responses in test-crop potatoes that followed different leys. From 1958, the standard applications of P and K were revised and corrective dressing applied.
Design
- Period: 1955 - 1960
Crops
| Crop | Years Grown |
|---|---|
| Alfalfa | |
| Grass Leys | |
| Wheat | |
| Potatoes | |
| Oats |
Measurements
| Variable | Unit | Collection Frequency |
Material | Description | Crop |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soil Total Carbon | |||||
| Plant Available Phosphorous | |||||
| Plant Available Potassium | |||||
| Yield Components |
Description
- Various changes were made during this period; Sugar beet replaced potatoes as the second treatment crop of the 'arable with hay' rotation. The test of FYM to second treatment crop was omitted from 1961 (to minimise soil born pathogens such as cyst-nematodes). All sub-plot tests of manures to treatment crops were discontinued to allow more elaborate tests on the test-crops; wheat and barley received N at four rates. From 1962, no more plots were sown to 'grazed ley' or 'cut grass'. Instead two new three-year rotations were introduced: i. All-grass receiving fertiliser ii. Clover-grass receiving no fertiliser. From 1962 FYM was ploughed in (previously applied in furrows before planting). From 1962 potatoes were planted by machine. From 1963 certain plots of reseeded grass were ploughed up and put into test-crop sequence and then into 'arable with hay' treatment-crops.
Design
- Period: 1961 - 1967
Crops
| Crop | Years Grown |
|---|---|
| Grass Leys | |
| Grass Clover Leys | |
| Wheat | |
| Sugar Beet | |
| Oats |
Measurements
| Variable | Unit | Collection Frequency |
Material | Description | Crop |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soil Total Carbon | |||||
| Plant Available Phosphorous | |||||
| Default Title | plant available potassium | ||||
| Yield Components |
Description
- Two phases were maintained to study the effects of treatments on changes in soil organic matter. In one of these, the reseeded plots ploughed up in 1964 were sown down again in 1973 to restore the original pattern. The other four phases the normal test crop sequence was followed by continuous wheat cropping to study soil-borne diseases.
Design
- Period: 1968 - Now
Crops
| Crop | Years Grown |
|---|---|
| Alfalfa | |
| Grass Leys | |
| Grass Clover Leys | |
| Reseeded Grass | |
| Wheat | |
| Sugar Beet | |
| Oats | |
| Potatoes | |
| Barley | |
| Feed Grasses |
Measurements
| Variable | Unit | Collection Frequency |
Material | Description | Crop |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soil Total Carbon | |||||
| Plant Available Phosphorous | |||||
| Plant Available Potassium | |||||
| Yield Components |
Site: Highfield Ley Arable - Rothamsted
- Experiment Site: Rothamsted
- Description: The site was originally permanent grassland since 1838 (>100 years).
- Management: Ploughing: At the start of the experiment ploughing was shallow, not more than 15cm deep but the depth was gradually increased to 23 cm as more powerful tractors were introduced. Liming: Lime has been applied as required since 1958. Ley management - permanent and re-seeded grass: Two-years sheep grazing followed by one-years hay 1949-57. Since 1958 grazing discontinued, cut repeatedly at early silage stage. Since 1991 grass leys were cut for hay in mid-summer; the hay was baled and removed.
- Visit Permitted?: Yes
- Visiting Arrangments: By arrangement with Dr Andy Gregory, LTE Manager.
- Elevation: 130 Metres
- Geolocation: 51.802777, -0.366025
Soil
- Type: Luvisol
Batcombe series flinty silt or loam over clay-with-flints.
Datasets available
| Title (hover for a longer description) | Year of Publication | Type | Identifier | Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Soil data | ||||
| Rothamsted Ley Arable Soil Organic Carbon 1948-2008: Highfield | 2018 | Summary | 10.23637/KeyRefOARLAsoc |
01 |
| Highfield Ley Arable - Metagenomic Study | 2021 | Summary | PRJEB43407 |
01 |
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Key References
2017
- Jensen, J. L. , Schjonning, P. , Watts, C. W. , Christensen, B. T. and Munkholm, L. J.(2017) "Soil texture analysis revisited: Removal of organic matter matters more than ever", PLOS ONE, 12, e0178039
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0178039
2016
- Gregory, A. S. , Dungait, J. a. J. , Watts, C. W. , Bol, R. , Dixon, E. R. , White, R. P. and Whitmore, A. P.(2016) "Long-term management changes topsoil and subsoil organic carbon and nitrogen dynamics in a temperate agricultural system", European Journal of Soil Science, 67, 421-430
DOI: 10.1111/ejss.12359
2009
- Johnston, A. E. , Poulton, P. R. and Coleman, K.(2009) "Soil organic matter: its importance in sustainable agriculture and carbon dioxide fluxes", Advances in Agronomy, 101, 1-57
DOI: 10.1016/s0065-2113(08)00801-8 - Hirsch, P. R. , Gilliam, L. M. , Sohi, S. P. , Williams, J. K. , Clark, I. M. and Murray, P. J.(2009) "Starving the soil of plant inputs for 50 years reduces abundance but not diversity of soil bacterial communities", Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 41, 2021-2024
DOI: 10.1016/j.soilbio.2009.07.011
1973
- Johnston, A. E.(1973) "The effects of ley and arable cropping systems on the amounts of soil organic matter in the Rothamsted and Woburn ley-arable experiment", Rothamsted Experimental Station, Report for 1972 , Part 2 , 131-159
Get from eRAdoc: ResReport1972p2-131-159
1949
- Anon(1949) "Rothamsted Ley-Arable Experiment, started 1948", Rothamsted Experimental Station Report for 1948 , , 98-99
Get from eRAdoc: ResReport1948-98-99
1885
- Lawes, J. B. and Gilbert, J. H.(1885) "On some points in the composition of soils; with results illustrating the sources of the fertility of Manitoba Prairie soils", Journal of the Chemical Society, 47, 380-422 (Series 1/67)
For further information and assistance, please contact the e-RA curators, Sarah Perryman and Margaret Glendining using the e-RA email address: era@rothamsted.ac.uk