Management › Fertilization → Properties › Chemistry › Carbon compounds
The studies disagree
38 %
of 132 studies with a clear result report a significant increase
-1 %
typical change (85 studies with numbers)
144
studies · 243 findings
What the studies show
50 of 132 studies report a significant increase (38 %, 95 % confidence interval 30–46 %).
By the direction of each study’s results, significant or not: 58 of 112 studies with a direction point up (52 %, 95 % confidence interval 43–61 %; sign test p = 0.777).
22 findings on relative measures (shares, stratification ratios, values per unit) or on fractions and other compartments are not counted in this answer.
Every study counts once, however many findings it reports: one with 40 sampling dates does not outvote ten others. A study with a significant increase and decrease (say at different depths) counts as "both". A first synthesis for orientation, not a substitute for a systematic review.
Each layer on its own: a study that reports the topsoil and the subsoil counts in both. Choose a layer to see what goes with it.
In the top 10 cm, soil organic carbon goes up in 50 % of the studies under inorganic fertilizer, stays the same in 26 % and goes down in 21 %.
The conditions whose levels differ most clearly, each with the outcome that differs most between its levels of at least 10 study layers. Choose a layer in the profile to see them for that layer alone, or a level here to filter by it.
Testing every condition on every study layer…
Testing every condition on every study layer…
