Modeling Green Manure Additions in Alley-Cropping Systems: Linking Soil Community Dynamics and Nitrogen Mineralization

Author(s):  
Y. Carrillo ◽  
C. Jordan
2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Drew J. Lyon ◽  
Gary W. Hergert

AbstractOrganic farming systems use green and animal manures to supply nitrogen (N) to their fields for crop production. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of green manure and composted cattle manure on the subsequent winter wheat (Triticum aestivumL.) crop in a semiarid environment. Dry pea (Pisum sativumL.) was seeded in early April and terminated at first flower in late June. Composted cattle manure was applied at 0, 11.2 or 22.5 Mg ha−1just prior to pea termination. Winter wheat was planted in mid September following the green manure or tilled summer fallow. No positive wheat response to green manure or composted cattle manure was observed in any of the 3 years of the study. In 2 of the 3 years, wheat yields and grain test weight were reduced following green manure. Green manure reduced grain yields compared with summer fallow by 220 and 1190 kg ha−1in 2009 and 2010, respectively. This may partially be explained by 40 and 47 mm less soil water at wheat planting following peas compared with tilled summer fallow in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Also, in 2008 and 2009, soil nitrate level averaged 45 kg ha−1higher for black fallow compared with green manure fallow when no compost was added. Organic growers in the semiarid Central Great Plains will be challenged to supply N fertility to their winter wheat crop in a rapid and consistent manner as a result of the inherently variable precipitation. Growers may need to allow several years to pass before seeing the benefits of fertility practices in their winter wheat cropping systems.


Author(s):  
Robert P. Larkin

Crop rotations and the inclusion of cover crops and green manures are primary tools in the sustainable management of soil-borne diseases in crop production systems. Crop rotations can reduce soil-borne disease through three general mechanisms: (1) serving as a break in the host-pathogen cycle; (2) by altering the soil physical, chemical, or biological characteristics to stimulate microbial activity and diversity; or (3) directly inhibiting pathogens through the release of suppressive or toxic compounds or the enhancement of specific antagonists. Brassicas, sudangrass, and related plant types are disease-suppressive crops well-known for their biofumigation potential but also have other effects on soil microbiology that are important in disease suppression. The efficacy of rotations for reducing soil-borne diseases is dependent on several factors, including crop type, rotation length, rotation sequence, and use of the crop (as full-season rotation, cover crop, or green manure). Years of field research with Brassica and non-Brassica rotation crops in potato cropping systems in Maine have documented the efficacy of Brassica green manures for the reduction of multiple soil-borne diseases. However, they have also indicated that these crops can provide disease control even when not incorporated as green manures and that other non-biofumigant crops (such as barley, ryegrass, and buckwheat) can also be effective in disease suppression. In general, all crops provided better disease control when used as green manure vs. as a cover crop, but the addition of a cover crop can improve control provided by most rotation crops. In long-term cropping system trials, rotations incorporating multiple soil health management practices, such as longer rotations, disease-suppressive rotation crops, cover crops, and green manures, and/or organic amendments have resulted in greater yield and microbial activity and fewer disease problems than standard rotations. These results indicate that improved cropping systems may enhance productivity, sustainability, and economic viability.


2017 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 44-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugues Clivot ◽  
Bruno Mary ◽  
Matthieu Valé ◽  
Jean-Pierre Cohan ◽  
Luc Champolivier ◽  
...  

Agriculture ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana-Maria Seserman ◽  
Dirk Freese ◽  
Anita Swieter ◽  
Maren Langhof ◽  
Maik Veste

The alley-cropping systems (ACSs), which integrate parallel tree strips at varying distances on an agricultural field can result, complementarity of resource use, in an increased land-use efficiency. Practitioners’ concerns have been directed towards the productivity of such systems given a reduced area covered by agricultural crops. The land equivalent ratio (LER) serves as a valuable productivity indicator of yield performance and land-use efficiency in ACSs, as it compares the yields achieved in monocultures to those from ACSs. Consequently, the objective of this combined experimental and simulation study was to assess the tree- and crop-yields and to derive the LER and gross energy yield for two temperate ACSs in Germany under different design scenarios, i.e., tree arrangements (lee- or wind-ward) and ratios of tree area to crop area. Both LER and gross energy yields resulted in a convex curve where the maximum values were achieved when either the tree or crop component was dominant (>75% of the land area) and minimum when these components shared similar proportions of land area. The implications of several design scenarios have been discussed in order to improve the decision-making, optimization, and adaptation of the design of ACSs with respect to site-specific characteristics.


Agronomy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 780
Author(s):  
Muhammad Qaswar ◽  
Jing Huang ◽  
Waqas Ahmed ◽  
Dongchu Li ◽  
Shujun Liu ◽  
...  

Cultivation of green manure (GM) crops in intensive cropping systems is important for enhancing crop productivity through soil quality improvement. We investigated yield sustainability, nutrient stocks, nutrient balances and enzyme activities affected by different long-term (1982–2016) green manure rotations in acidic paddy soil in a double-rice cropping system. We selected four treatments from a long-term experiment, including (1) rice-rice-winter fallow as a control treatment (R-R-F), (2) rice-rice-milkvetch (R-R-M), (3) rice-rice-rapeseed (R-R-R), and (4) rice-rice-ryegrass (R-R-G). The results showed that different GM rotations increased grain yield and the sustainable yield index compared with those of the R-R-F treatment. Compared with those of R-R-F, the average grain yield of early rice in R-R-M, R-R-R, and R-R-G increased by 45%, 29%, and 27%, respectively and that of late rice increased by 46%, 28%, and 26%, respectively. Over the years, grain yield increased in all treatments except R-R-F. Green manure also improved the soil chemical properties (SOM and total and available N and P), except soil pH, compared to those of the control treatment. During the 1983–1990 cultivation period, the soil pH of the R-R-M treatment was lower than that of the R-R-F treatment. The addition of green manure did not mitigate the soil acidification caused by the use of inorganic fertilizers. The soil organic matter (SOM), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) contents and stocks of C, N and P increased over the years. Furthermore, GM significantly increased phosphatase and urease activities and decreased the apparent N and P balances compared with those in the winter fallow treatment. Variance partitioning analysis revealed that soil properties, cropping systems, and climatic factors significantly influenced annual grain yield. Aggregated boosted tree (ABT) analysis quantified the relative influences of the different soil properties on annual grain yield and showed that the relative influences of TN content, SOM, pH, and TP content on annual crop yield were 27.8%, 25.7%, 22.9%, and 20.7%, respectively. In conclusion, GM rotation is beneficial for sustaining high crop yields by improving soil biochemical properties and reducing N and P balances in acidic soil under double- rice cropping systems.


Weed Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dilshan Benaragama ◽  
Julia L. Leeson ◽  
Steve J. Shirtliffe

AbstractWeeds have acquired evolutionary adaptations to the diverse crop and weed management strategies used in cropping systems. Therefore, changes in crop production practices such as conventional to organic systems, tillage-based to no-till systems, and diversity in crop rotations can result in differences in weed community composition that have management implications. A study was carried out to understand the weed community dynamics in a long-term alternative cropping systems study at Scott, SK, Canada. Long-term (18-yr) weed community composition data in wheat (Triticum aestivumL.) in ORG (organic), RED (reduced-input, no-till), and HIGH (high-input, conventional tillage) systems with three levels of crop rotation diversity, LOW (low diversity), DAG (diversified annual grains), and DAP (diversified annuals and perennials), were used to study the effect of different cropping systems and the effect of environment (random temporal effects) on residual weed community composition using the principal response curve (PRC) technique. The interaction between cropping systems and year-to-year random environmental changes was found to be the predominant factor causing fluctuations in weed community composition. Furthermore, the single most predominant factor influencing the weed composition was year-to-year random changes. Organic systems clearly differed from the two conventional systems in most years and had more diverse weed communities compared with the two conventional systems. The two conventional systems exhibited similar weed composition in most years. In this study, the use of the PRC method allowed capture of the real temporal dynamics reflected in the cropping systems by time interaction. This study further concludes that moving from a tillage-based, high-input conventional system to a no-till, reduced-input system did not cause significant changes in the weed community composition throughout the time period, but diversity in organic systems was high, probably due to increased occurrence of some difficult to control species.


2021 ◽  
Vol 157 ◽  
pp. 103734 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malick Bill ◽  
Lizyben Chidamba ◽  
Jarishma K. Gokul ◽  
Nico Labuschagne ◽  
Lise Korsten

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