Soil Testing Guidelines Fert Guide CH2

Chapter 2
Soil Sampling
D. W. James and K. F. Topper
Chemical analyses of soil samples are a prime source of information on soil fertility.
When the soil test procedure is well calibrated with crop nutrient requirements, and where soil
samples are properly obtained, the diagnostic soil test result can be a firm foundation on which
to base soil fertility management practices.
Other chapters of the Utah Fertilizer Guide discuss soil test interpretations. This cha-
pter emphasizes the proper soil sampling technique. A nonrepresentative soil sample is essen-
tially useless, and may even be misleading when seeking the most appropriate soil fertility
management for a given soil and crop situation.
Since an appropriate plant sampling technique for tissue analyses depends on crop type,
plant sampling is discussed in the respective chapters of the Utah Fertilizer Guide which deal
with different crops.
The soil sampling techniques described below are based on two contrasting field situa-
tions: Fields that are relatively uniform or homogeneous and fields that are relatively
nonuniform or heterogeneous.
Soil Sampling Equipment

The basic soil sampling tools include the
following:
1. A stainless steel soil sampling tube

which has a knife edge cutting end and is slotted
for easy extraction of the soil core (Fig. 2.1).
This tube is used for sampling the plow layer or
surface 10 to 12 inches of soil.
2. Plastic buckets for collecting soil cores
during the field sampling operation.
3. Soil sample bags or boxes for use in
transporting the soil sample to the diagnostic
laboratory.
4. For depth soil sampling below the 0-12 inch layer (when testing for nitrates for
example), a hydraulic ram mounted on a pickup truck or tractor is very useful for forcing
sampling tubes into the subsoil. If this kind of equipment is not available then a specially built
hand driven soil sampling tube is usually needed.
Soil Sampling Depth

Most fertility elements are immobile in soil. In Utah the principal elements of concern in
this category include phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and zinc (Zn). The appropriate sampling
depth for the immobile elements is the plow layer. Applied fertilizer, whether band or
broadcast-applied, will be mixed into the plow layer during the plowing operation. It is
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recommended therefore, that soil samples be taken uniformly to the 10 to 12 inch depth which
will be adequate for all routine plowing depths.
The principal mobile fertility element in soil is nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N). Diagnostic
tests for this element require that the soil sampling procedure represent most or all of the
effective root zone. For corn and wheat, for example, the soil sample should be taken to at
least 4 feet or to a limiting layer, whichever occurs first. Limiting layers include water table,
caliche or other cemented layers, gravel layers, or bedrock. The depth soil samples should be
segregated into two or more depths, including the surface (0-12") layer, and at least one
sample representing all lower layers. Each foot depth increment below the surface should be
maintained separate. Most of the soil fertility information with respect to nitrogen will come
from the subsurface samples. The surface sample alone has very little utility for prescribing
nitrogen fertilizer needs.
An effective procedure is to run the routine soil test package (i.e. pH, EC, P, K and
NO3-N) on the surface sample. Then for all subsurface samples analyze only for NO3-N.
Special caution is needed with nitrate soil sampling and analysis. Changes may take
place in soil nitrate composition if the sample is stored in a closed (e.g. plastic) bag and held at
room temperature for several days. Soil samples to be tested for nitrate should be air-dried
immediately, or frozen, or taken to the diagnostic laboratory immediately after the field
sampling is complete.
Components of soil salinity and sodicity are also mobile and depth soil sampling is
necessary for these kinds of diagnostic tests as well.
When to Soil Sample

Soil sampling can be done any time. However, there are specific advantages of soil
sampling in the fall and spring. Fall fertilization has the advantage of incorporation of applied
fertilizer with fall plowing. On the other hand, spring soil testing for nitrates will provide a
better evaluation of nitrogen availability for the spring crop establishment period. Residual
nitrogen from the previous season depends on the amount of snow-melt/rainfall that has
occurred between growing seasons.
How Often to Soil Test

Test the soil before crop establishment and subsequently every three years for perennial
crops. For annual crops it would be good practice to sample the soil annually or at least
biennially. Farm managers should keep complete soil test records for all farm fields, together
with fertilizer application records (kinds and amounts) in order to relate changes in soil test
results to cropping and fertilizer practices. This will allow for the development of site specific
information which can improve the efficiency of the overall farm soil fertility management
program.
Sampling Uniform Fields

A uniform field or field portion will have similar characteristics in respect to slope,
aspect, soil depth and texture, cropping history, fertilization history, and uniform irrigation for
irrigated fields. A uniform field will have uniform appearing crops in terms of presence or
absence of deficiency symptoms, and uniform growth and productivity. Thus, for a large field
which includes distinctive differences within its perimeters, there will be as many soil samples
6
as there are distinctively different field portions.
Clearly identify field differences before beginning
soil sample collection in the field.
Soil sampling of uniform fields involves
collection of 20 to 30 soil cores, using the slotted
soil sampling tube shown in Figure 2.1. The
sample is collected by following a zigzag path,
taking care to force the path into corners and
along edges of the field. Figure 2.2 illustrates the
idea. The soil cores are then crushed and
thoroughly mixed before reducing the sample size
to the appropriate amount for transfer to the
laboratory. This is referred to as a composite soil
sample.
Crushing and mixing of the collected soil
cores, together with reduction in sample size, must
be done properly to assure that the final sample
represents the original whole sample.
It is recommended that one composite soil
sample not represent more than 20 to 30 acres
regardless of apparent field uniformity. This is
because non-uniformity is usually difficult to
assess over broad areas of landscape. Thus a 50
acre field will be divided for sampling purposes
into two or three smaller portions.
Sampling Nonuniform Fields

Extreme field heterogeneity can result from subsoil exposure and also from fertilizer
application by any of several injection methods (banded at seeding time, side-dress etc.)
without a subsequent plowing or tillage operation, which would tend to mix the fertilizer in the
plow layer.
Sampling Fields with Exposed Subsoil

Subsoil is typically very low in fertility, especially in regard to phosphorus. Subsoil
exposure results from soil erosion and from land leveling. Eroded fields, hill tops, and side
gullies are susceptible to subsoil exposure. In Utah this is seen frequently on summer-fallow
wheat land. Leveling or smoothing of irrigated lands is a common practice to facilitate uniform
water application by furrow or border methods.
On leveled lands the pattern of subsoil exposure usually depends on the original field
contours. Soil is cut and moved from high areas and deposited in low areas, resulting in
differing degrees of subsoil exposure in the cut areas. An example of field heterogeneity
generated by land leveling is given in Figure 2.3. In this example the average soil test P was
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12.6 which, standing alone, would not indicate
any P fertility deficiency. But, in the actual
case, 13.6% of the field was severely P
deficient and 35.6% of the field was
moderately deficient. This means that 51.8%
of the field would have yielded at less than its
potential if no P fertilizer was applied based on
the average soil test value. On the other hand,
if fertilizer was uniformly applied at any rate,
27.6% of the field would not provide a return
on the fertilizer P investment, assuming two or
three years for amortization.
Sampling of leveled fields is done by
marking the field ends and sides at regular
intervals, for example every 100 or 200 feet.
Five or six soil cores are then collected from a
3-foot diameter circle centered on the inter-
section of the field grid lines. This type of
sample is referred to as a point sample. Point
samples are maintained separately and labeled
with the field grid numbers in order to map the
soil variability and facilitate the application of
the appropriate amounts of fertilizer for each
soil test category.
A 100 foot-square grid system would
result in an average of 4.4 samples per acre
while a 200 foot-square grid would result in an
average of 1.1 samples per acre. On casual
inspection this may seem to be prohibitive.
However, intensive soil sampling may be in-
dispensable in restoring cut lands to their ori-
ginal level of productivity within reasonable
time limits.
It is not necessary to apply all the
standard soil fertility tests on every sample
from an intensively sampled field; usually
phosphorus alone will suffice. Further, when
large numbers of samples to be treated alike
are submitted to the laboratory, lower per
sample analytical costs are encountered. Thus,
the cost of re-establishing uniform crop growth and yield on leveled fields, expressed in terms
of soil analyses, will usually be small compared to the loss of productivity associated with
nonuniform soil fertility. Specific details on intensive soil sampling for specific field situations
may be obtained from the Soil Plant and Water Analysis Laboratory at Utah State University.
Intensive soil sampling of nonuniform fields need not be repeated once the heteroge-
neity has been reduced by judicious application of fertilizer. The routine composite soil sample
should suffice for future soil fertility diagnostics.
8
Soil Sampling No-till and Minimum-till Fields
Ordinarily fertilizer is mixed throughout the plow layer at plow time, whether or not
the fertilizer was originally applied broadcast or injected (shanked) into the soil. Fertilizer
mixing does not occur, however, where no-till or minimum-till is practiced. This is not
important to plant use of fertilizer carried over from the previous season, but it does represent
a special challenge in regard to obtaining representative soil samples which will accurately
assess fertilizer requirements for the current season.
Injection fertilization without subsequent plowing, or other deep tillage operation,
results in high soil variability. Narrow fertilizer-enriched bands alternate with wider strips
(depending on injector spacing) of soil which has the lower, unfertilized, fertility level. The best
soil sampling procedure for these conditions has not been fully developed. It is suggested
however, that no-till and minimum-till fields be sampled in a manner similar to that suggested
for uniform fields (Figure 2.2) except that the number of soil cores collected for the
composite sample be doubled. In other words, for otherwise uniform field areas which have
been injection fertilized without subsequent plowing, collect at random 40 to 60 soil cores for
development of the composite soil sample. It is important that every core be collected at
random so as not to bias the soil sample with too much representation in or out of the
fertilizer enriched soil band. Also soil core crushing and mixing to form the composite soil
sample would obviously be more involved. The suggestions given above for preparing the
composite soil sample collected from plowed fields would need to be followed with extra
caution.
References
Burt, Charles M., Glen E. Stringham, and David W. James. 1976. Increasing yields on recently
graded land through proper phosphate fertilization. Utah Science 37:8-10.
Dow, A. I., and D. W. James. 1972. Intensive soil sampling: Uniformly high soil fertility for
uniformly high crop production. Proc. 23rd. An. Northwest Fert. Conf. Boise, Idaho
July 18-20.
James, D. W., and A. I. Dow. 1972. Source and degree of soil variation in the field: The
problem of sampling for soil tests and estimating soil fertility status. Wash. Ag. Exp.
Sta. Bull. 749.
James, D. W. 1977. Diagnostic soil testing for nitrogen availability: The effects of nitrogen
fertilizer rate, time, method of application and cropping patterns on residual soil nitro-
gen. Utah Ag. Exp. Sta. Bull. 497.
Knighton, R. E., and D. W. James. 1983. Soil test phosphorus as a regionalized variable in
leveled land. J. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. 49:675-679.
James, D. W. 1985. The economics of soil fertility diagnostic testing. Proc. Pacific NW Fert.
Conf. Salt Lake City, Utah. July 16-17.

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Chapter 2

D. W. James and K. F. Topper

Soil Sampling Equipment

1. A stainless steel soil sampling tube

Soil Sampling Depth

When to Soil Sample

How Often to Soil Test

Sampling Uniform Fields

Sampling Nonuniform Fields

Sampling Fields with Exposed Subsoil

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