Application of composted pig bedding litter on a Vertosol and Sodosol soil. 1. Effect on crop growth and soil water

2007 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 689 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. D. Armstrong ◽  
C. Eagle ◽  
V. Matassa ◽  
S. D. Jarwal

Trials were undertaken at two sites with contrasting soil types in the Wimmera region of Victoria: a well-structured grey cracking clay soil (Vertosol) at Traynors Lagoon and a poorly structured sodic clay soil (Sodosol) at Gre Gre. The effect of a once-off application of three different types of bedding litter (wheat straw and two types of rice hulls) applied at three rates (20, 30 and 40 t/ha) was compared with that of a control (no amelioration), nitrogen fertiliser (46 kg N/ha) applied to each crop, or nitrogen plus a once-off application of gypsum (2.5 t/ha). The growth of three subsequent crops and soil water was examined. Pig bedding litter (rice hulls 1, rice hulls 2 or wheat straw) produced marked improvements in the dry matter production and grain yield of the first crop (wheat) in 1997 and a following canola crop in 1998. In 1999, bedding litter significantly improved the growth of an oats crop at Gre Gre, but had no effect on a crop of field peas at Traynors Lagoon. The beneficial effects of bedding litter on grain yields, however, were matched by small but significant reductions in grain quality resulting from soil water limitations for the yield potential. Although crop growth was improved by the addition of nitrogen fertiliser each year or both nitrogen plus gypsum, the effect was usually small compared with that of adding litter and provided minimal residual value in the following year. There was a general trend for gravimetric soil water to be higher at sowing where bedding litter had been applied, especially at Gre Gre. In contrast, soil water tended to be lower at grain maturity at Traynors Lagoon, where bedding litter or nitrogen fertiliser had been applied, reflecting the enhanced crop growth in these treatments compared with the control. There was no consistent effect of treatments on soil water at maturity in either 1998 or 1999 at Gre Gre.

2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vakhtang Shelia ◽  
Jirka Šimůnek ◽  
Ken Boote ◽  
Gerrit Hoogenbooom

AbstractAccurate estimation of the soil water balance of the soil-plant-atmosphere system is key to determining the availability of water resources and their optimal management. Evapotranspiration and leaching are the main sinks of water from the system affecting soil water status and hence crop yield. The accuracy of soil water content and evapotranspiration simulations affects crop yield simulations as well. DSSAT is a suite of field-scale, process-based crop models to simulate crop growth and development. A “tipping bucket” water balance approach is currently used in DSSAT for soil hydrologic and water redistribution processes. By comparison, HYDRUS-1D is a hydrological model to simulate water flow in soils using numerical solutions of the Richards equation, but its approach to crop-related process modeling is rather limited. Both DSSAT and HYDRUS-1D have been widely used and tested in their separate areas of use. The objectives of our study were: (1) to couple HYDRUS-1D with DSSAT to simulate soil water dynamics, crop growth and yield, (2) to evaluate the coupled model using field experimental datasets distributed with DSSAT for different environments, and (3) to compare HYDRUS-1D simulations with those of the tipping bucket approach using the same datasets. Modularity in the software design of both DSSAT and HYDRUS-1D made it easy to couple the two models. The pairing provided the DSSAT interface an ability to use both the tipping bucket and HYDRUS-1D simulation approaches. The two approaches were evaluated in terms of their ability to estimate the soil water balance, especially soil water contents and evapotranspiration rates. Values of thedindex for volumetric water contents were 0.9 and 0.8 for the original and coupled models, respectively. Comparisons of simulations for the pod mass for four soybean and four peanut treatments showed relatively highdindex values for both models (0.94–0.99).


Weed Science ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 460-464
Author(s):  
Ken M. Nawolsky ◽  
Ian N. Morrison ◽  
George M. Marshall ◽  
Allen E. Smith

The relationships between the actual amount of spring-applied trifluralin detected in soil at seeding, initial injury to flax, and crop growth and yield were investigated in southern Manitoba over three growing seasons. As the amount of trifluralin in the soil increased, flax density and dry matter production decreased, such that at a soil concentration equivalent to 1 kg ai ha−1trifluralin, the two were reduced by 40 and 49%, respectively. Recovery from early-season injury was characterized by enhanced crop growth rates (CGRs) and net assimilation rates (NARs) of surviving plants during the remainder of the growing season. Maximum recovery occurred in plots where trifluralin levels in the soil were between 0.8 and 1 kg ha−1at seeding. During the interval between stem elongation and bud initiation, CGRs and NARs of flax in the trifluralin-treated plots exceeded those of flax in the untreated plots by up to 1.5 and 1.2 times, respectively. Additionally, the number of branches per plant increased linearly as trifluralin amounts in the soil increased. Flax seed yield was decreased by trifluralin as described by the equation: flax seed (% of untreated control) = 104.9 - 13.3[trifluralin detected (kg ha−1) at seeding]. Based on this equation, trifluralin levels in the soil of up to 0.7 kg ai ha−1caused less than a 5% reduction in flax yield under weed-free conditions.


2017 ◽  
Vol 184 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramkumar B. Nair ◽  
Maryam M. Kabir ◽  
Patrik R. Lennartsson ◽  
Mohammad J. Taherzadeh ◽  
Ilona Sárvári Horváth

AbstractIntegration of wheat straw for a biorefinery-based energy generation process by producing ethanol and biogas together with the production of high-protein fungal biomass (suitable for feed application) was the main focus of the present study. An edible ascomycete fungal strain Neurospora intermedia was used for the ethanol fermentation and subsequent biomass production from dilute phosphoric acid (0.7 to 1.2% w/v) pretreated wheat straw. At optimum pretreatment conditions, an ethanol yield of 84 to 90% of the theoretical maximum, based on glucan content of substrate straw, was observed from fungal fermentation post the enzymatic hydrolysis process. The biogas production from the pretreated straw slurry showed an improved methane yield potential up to 162% increase, as compared to that of the untreated straw. Additional biogas production, using the syrup, a waste stream obtained post the ethanol fermentation, resulted in a combined total energy output of 15.8 MJ/kg wheat straw. Moreover, using thin stillage (a waste stream from the first-generation wheat-based ethanol process) as a co-substrate to the biogas process resulted in an additional increase by about 14 to 27% in the total energy output as compared to using only wheat straw-based substrates.


2014 ◽  
Vol 65 (7) ◽  
pp. 602 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. H. Vance ◽  
R. W. Bell ◽  
C. Johansen ◽  
M. E. Haque ◽  
A. M. Musa ◽  
...  

The time of sowing chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in the High Barind Tract of north-west Bangladesh is critical to crop success. To ensure adequate emergence and subsequent crop growth, chickpea relies on residual soil moisture stored in the profile after rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivated in the preceding rainy season. With the development of mechanised, one-pass minimum tillage sowing, the time between rice harvest and chickpea sowing is decreased, and temperature constraints that limit biomass and/or pod formation and filling may be avoided. Minimum tillage may also limit evaporation from the soil surface compared with traditional, full cultivation procedures. The objective of this study was to identify the optimum sowing time to achieve adequate crop establishment and limit exposure of the chickpea crop to terminal drought and heat stress later in the growing season. Over three experimental seasons, chickpea sowing dates were spread from 22 November to 22 December. Soil water content, crop growth and temperature were monitored to determine the optimum sowing time. Over all seasons and sowing dates, the volumetric soil water content in the seedbed under minimum tillage remained within 17–34%, a range non-limiting for chickpea establishment in glasshouse and field experiments. Late planting (after 10 December) exposed seedlings to low temperatures (<15°C), which limited biomass formation and extended the vegetative growth phase into periods with high maximum temperatures (>35°C), resulting in unfilled pods and depressed grain yield. The preferred sowing time was determined to be 30 November to 10 December to reduce the risk of high temperatures and low soil water content during chickpea reproductive growth causing terminal heat and drought stress, respectively. Mechanised sowing in one operation allows farmers to optimise their time of sowing to match seed requirements for soil water at emergence and may assist farmers to avoid temperature stresses (both low and high) that constrain chickpea vegetative and reproductive growth.


1973 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. K. R. Nair ◽  
O. Talibudeen

SummaryProcedures for measuring K+ and NO-3 activities in the root zones of field crops, using specific-ion electrodes, were standardized. For K, a 1·0 M-NaCl salt bridge and KC1 standards in water, for NO3, a saturated KC1 salt bridge and KN03 standards in water, and for both electrodes, a 1:0·5, soil: water ratio, and 30 sec equilibration time were found satisfactory.Recovery of added K in soil pastes by the K electrode and chemical analysis of the soil water extract compared well, but the recovery was about 8% only. The corresponding recovery of added N was about 87 and 95% respectively.Relative changes in the rates and magnitudes of NO3 and K concentrations were measured with these electrodes, laterally and vertically, in the root zone, during active crop growth, from the N2 ½(PKNaMg), N2 PKNaMg, and N4PKNaMg treatments of the Broadbalk Winter Wheat Experiment.In all fertilizer treatments, at all times, the nutrient concentrations were most at 45 cm from the crop (in the uncropped area) and least within the cropped area. The differences between these extremes represent nutrient depletion by the crop, the ‘45 cm’ measurementsindicating changes in uncropped, but fertilized, areas.Soil nitrate depletion by the crop was much more at 12·5 cm and 20 cm depths than at 5 cm. Maximum NO3 depletion was observed during the later stages of crop growth, at ‘pre-panicle emergence’ and at ‘grain filling’. Depletion decreased and the soil NO3 level recovered partially as the crop reached maturity.Periodic changes in the K concentration at each site and the corresponding K depletions were much less. Periods of IC stress on the soil were few and less clearly demarcated. Soil K concentration started to recover at the ‘grain filling’ stage about a month earlier than with NO3.Changes in NO3 and K concentrations seem to relate more to the amounts given of each nutrient, than to the N:K ratio in each fertilizer treatment. However, changes in NO3 and K concentrations, and also NO3 and K depletion, occurred consecutively. This indicates an alternating periodicity in the demands of the crop for NO3 and K respectively throughout growth.


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