Response of sunflowers (Helianthus annuus L.) to varying seeding rates and nitrogen fertilizer rates in a no-till cropping system in Saskatchewan

2018 ◽  
Vol 98 (6) ◽  
pp. 1331-1341 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.E. May ◽  
M.P. Dawson ◽  
C.L. Lyons

In the past, most sunflower research was conducted in tilled cropping systems and was based on wide row configurations established using precision planters. Little agronomic information is available for the no-till systems predominant in Saskatchewan, where crops are typically seeded in narrow rows using an air drill. Two studies were conducted in Saskatchewan to determine the optimum seeding and nitrogen (N) rates for short-season sunflowers in a no-till cropping system. The N rate study used 5 N rates (10, 30, 50, 70, and 90 kg N ha−1) with the hybrid 63A21. The seeding rate study used 7 seeding rates (37 000, 49 000, 61 000, 74 000, 86 000, 98 000, and 111 000 seeds ha−1) with two cultivars, AC Sierra (open pollinated) and 63A21 (hybrid). There was a linear yield increase as the N rate increased from 10 to 90 kg N ha−1. Based on the N rates tested in this study and current N fertilizer costs below $1 kg−1, sunflower yields and gross returns were most favorable at 90 kg N ha−1. Future N response research with a wider range of N rates is warranted to best determine the optimum N rate. The optimum seeding rate was between 98 000 and 111 000 seeds ha−1 for AC Sierra and between 74 000 and 86 000 seeds ha−1 for 63A21. The optimum plant density, approximately 70 000 to 75 000 plants ha−1, was similar for both cultivars. These results are higher than the current recommended seeding rates for wide-row precision planting systems in areas with a longer growing season.

1993 ◽  
Vol 28 (3-5) ◽  
pp. 691-700 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. Craig ◽  
R. R. Weil

In December, 1987, the states in the Chesapeake Bay region, along with the federal government, signed an agreement which called for a 40% reduction in nitrogen and phosphorus loadings to the Bay by the year 2000. To accomplish this goal, major reductions in nutrient loadings associated with agricultural management practices were deemed necessary. The objective of this study was to determine if reducing fertilizer inputs to the NT system would result in a reduction in nitrogen contamination of groundwater. In this study, groundwater, soil, and percolate samples were collected from two cropping systems. The first system was a conventional no-till (NT) grain production system with a two-year rotation of corn/winter wheat/double crop soybean. The second system, denoted low-input sustainable agriculture (LISA), produced the same crops using a winter legume and relay-cropped soybeans into standing wheat to reduce nitrogen and herbicide inputs. Nitrate-nitrogen concentrations in groundwater were significantly lower under the LISA system. Over 80% of the NT groundwater samples had NO3-N concentrations greater than 10 mgl-1, compared to only 4% for the LISA cropping system. Significantly lower soil mineral N to a depth of 180 cm was also observed. The NT soil had nearly twice as much mineral N present in the 90-180 cm portion than the LISA cropping system.


2003 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Álvaro M. R. Almeida ◽  
Lilian Amorim ◽  
Armando Bergamin Filho ◽  
Eleno Torres ◽  
José R. B. Farias ◽  
...  

The increase in incidence of charcoal rot caused by Macrophomina phaseolina on soybeans (Glycine max) was followed four seasons in conventional and no-till cropping systems. In the 1997/98 and 2000/01 seasons, total precipitation between sowing and harvest reached 876.3 and 846.9 mm, respectively. For these seasons, disease incidence did not differ significantly between the no-till and conventional systems. In 1998/99 and 1999/00 precipitation totaled 689.9 and 478.3 mm, respectively. In 1998/99, in the no-till system, the disease incidence was 43.7% and 53.1% in the conventional system. In 1999/00 the final incidence was 68.7% and 81.2% for the no-till and conventional systems, respectively. For these two seasons, precipitation was lower than that required for soybean crops (840 mm), and the averages of disease incidence were significantly higher in the conventional system. The concentration of microsclerotia in soil samples was higher in samples collected in conventional system at 0 - 10 cm depth. However, analysis of microsclerotia in roots showed that in years with adequate rain no difference was detected. In dry years, however, roots from plants developed under the conventional system had significantly more microsclerotia. Because of the wide host range of M. phaseolina and the long survival times of the microsclerotia, crop rotation would probably have little benefit in reducing charcoal rot. Under these study conditions it may be a better alternative to suppress charcoal rot by using the no-till cropping system to conserve soil moisture and reduce disease progress.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cedric Habiyaremye ◽  
Kurtis L. Schroeder ◽  
John P. Reganold ◽  
David White ◽  
Daniel Packer ◽  
...  

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) has a storied history as a food crop, and it has long been a dietary staple of peoples in temperate climates. Contemporary research studies have focused mostly on hulled barley for malt and animal feed. As such, nitrogen (N) and seeding rate agronomic data for naked food barley are lacking. In this study, we evaluated the effects of N on ß-glucan and protein content, and N and seeding rate on phenotypic characteristics of naked food barley, including grain yield, emergence, plant height, days to heading, days to maturity, test weight, percent plump kernels, and percent thin kernels. Experiments were conducted at two no-till farms, located in Almota, WA, and Genesee, ID, in the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest from 2016 to 2018. The experiment comprised two varieties (“Havener” and “Julie”), employed N rates of 0, 62, 95, 129, and 162 kg N ha−1, and seeding rates of 250, 310, and 375 seeds/m−2. Increased N fertilization rate was shown to significantly increase all response variables, except β-glucan content of the variety Julie, days to heading, test weight, and percent plump and thin kernels. Increased N fertilization resulted in higher mean grain yield of Havener and Julie in both Almota and Genesee up to 95 kg N ha−1. Havener had higher yields (3,908 kg N ha−1) than Julie (3,099 kg N ha−1) across locations and years. Julie had higher β-glucan (8.2%) and protein (12.6%) content compared to Havener (β-glucan = 6.6%; protein = 9.1%). Our results indicate that β-glucan content is associated with genotype, environmental, and agronomic factors in dryland cropping systems of the Palouse.


2007 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 583 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick A. Ndakidemi ◽  
Felix D. Dakora

A 2-factorial experiment, involving three levels of phosphorus (0, 40, and 80 kg/ha) and four cropping systems (mono crop, maize–cowpea inter-row, maize–cowpea intra-row, and maize–cowpea intra-hole cropping) was conducted in the field for two consecutive years in 2003 and 2004 at Nietvoorbij (33°54′S, 18°14′E), Stellenbosch, South Africa. Plant density (number of plants per hectare) was 166 666 for sole cowpea, 111 111 for maize–cowpea inter-row, 55 555 for maize–cowpea intra-row and 55 555 for maize–cowpea intra-hole cropping. Applying 40 or 80 kg phosphorus (P)/ha significantly increased cowpea grain yields by 59–65% in 2003 and 44–55% in 2004. With maize, the increases in grain yield were 20–37% in 2003 and 48–55% in 2004 relative to the zero-P control. In both cropping seasons, the number of pod-bearing peduncles per plant, the number of pods per plant, the number of seeds per pod, and grain yield per cowpea plant were significantly increased with the application of exogenous P. In contrast, the number of pod-bearing peduncles per plant, the number of pods per plant, the number of seeds per pod, and the grain yield per plant were all significantly depressed by mixed culture relative to mono crop cowpea. There was also a significant interactive effect of P and cropping system on cowpea, such that, all cowpea yield components were generally lower in intercrop relative to mono crop. In all instances, the yield component of mono crop cowpea and, to some extent, inter-row cowpea, were markedly increased by the provision of 40 or 80 kg P/ha relative to the zero-P control. Intercropping maize with cowpea produced higher total yields per unit land area than the mono crop counterpart.


Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 667
Author(s):  
Francesco Montemurro ◽  
Alessandro Persiani ◽  
Mariangela Diacono

Sustainability of agricultural practices is one of the most important issues in organic agriculture and its assessment is crucial. To this aim, evaluating the balance between the energy inputs and outputs in crop rotations could be a valuable tool. Therefore, we compared different management strategies in a four-year organic cropping system, by estimating the energy balance of crop production. Two different living mulches with no-till (B1) and green manure (B2) were compared with a cropping system without cover crop (B3), performing both energy analysis and energy balance. Energy parameters were also evaluated. The energy input of fertilizers and water was more than 55% of the total energy required by the cropping systems, suggesting that these agronomic practices should be tailored by farmers to decrease total energy inputs. The potential energy output was significantly higher in the B1 than the B2 and B3 cropping systems (20% and 54%, respectively). Results indicated that B1 and B2 could enhance the energy outputs without negatively affecting the energy consumption, since these cropping systems also showed higher energy efficiency. The introduction of the cover crop as living mulch combined with no-till could be a powerful tool to enhance systems sustainability, without compromising the crop yields.


2017 ◽  
Vol 83 (22) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel C. Schlatter ◽  
Chuntao Yin ◽  
Scot Hulbert ◽  
Ian Burke ◽  
Timothy Paulitz

ABSTRACT Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide worldwide and a critical tool for weed control in no-till cropping systems. However, there are concerns about the nontarget impacts of long-term glyphosate use on soil microbial communities. We investigated the impacts of repeated glyphosate treatments on bacterial communities in the soil and rhizosphere of wheat in soils with and without long-term history of glyphosate use. We cycled wheat in the greenhouse using soils from 4 paired fields under no-till (20+-year history of glyphosate) or no history of use. At each cycle, we terminated plants with glyphosate (2× the field rate) or by removing the crowns, and soil and rhizosphere bacterial communities were characterized. Location, cropping history, year, and proximity to the roots had much stronger effects on bacterial communities than did glyphosate, which only explained 2 to 5% of the variation. Less than 1% of all taxa were impacted by glyphosate, more in soils with a long history of use, and more increased than decreased in relative abundance. Glyphosate had minimal impacts on soil and rhizosphere bacteria of wheat, although dying roots after glyphosate application may provide a “greenbridge” favoring some copiotrophic taxa. IMPORTANCE Glyphosate (Roundup) is the most widely used herbicide in the world and the foundation of Roundup Ready soybeans, corn, and the no-till cropping system. However, there have been recent concerns about nontarget impacts of glyphosate on soil microbes. Using next-generation sequencing methods and glyphosate treatments of wheat plants, we described the bacterial communities in the soil and rhizosphere of wheat grown in Pacific Northwest soils across multiple years, different locations, and soils with different histories of glyphosate use. The effects of glyphosate were subtle and much less than those of drivers such as location and cropping systems. Only a small percentage of the bacterial groups were influenced by glyphosate, and most of those were stimulated, probably because of the dying roots. This study provides important information for the future of this important tool for no-till systems and the environmental benefits of reducing soil erosion and fossil fuel inputs.


1993 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 164-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.K. Radke ◽  
E.C. Berry

AbstractSoil physical and biological properties often change when different cropping, tillage, or management systems are imposed. Changes occasionally occur quickly, but usually become evident only after months or years. Infiltration rates are affected by several soil properties and may provide the most sensitive indication of changes in soil properties. To evaluate the use of infiltration measurements for detecting changes in soil properties, we conducted infiltration tests on a cropping systems experiment, a tillage experiment, and two beef cattle grazing experiments. In Pennsylvania, significant changes in infiltration rates did not occur until more than four years after converting from a conventional to a low-input cropping system. Infiltration rates were higher on 14th-year no-till plots compared with moldboard plow and chisel treatments in an Iowa tillage study. Earthworm populations and activity were highest in the no-till treatment. Infiltration rates correlated negatively with increased stocking rates in a long-term beef grazing study in Oklahoma. The number of earthworms did not correlate positively with infiltration in this study, suggesting a complex interaction. A short-term study of overwinter beef corn-stalk grazing in Iowa did not show consistent patterns in infiltration rate or other soil properties with different stocking rates. Infiltration appears to be a good indicator of soil structural changes associated with cropping, tillage, and management systems.


2014 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 516-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
SUSANA CHURKA BLUM ◽  
FERNANDO JOSÉ GARBUIO ◽  
HÉLIO ANTÔNIO WOOD JORIS ◽  
EDUARDO FÁVERO CAIRES

SUMMARYThe complex dynamics of the sulphur (S) cycle has prompted several questions concerning its bioavailability and evaluation by different extraction methods, and few studies under field conditions have been performed to elucidate available S on Brazilian soils under no-till (NT) cropping systems. A field experiment examined the effects of phosphogypsum (PG) applications on nutrient uptake and availability of S to maize and wheat crops under an NT system aiming to establish critic levels of S on an Oxisol (clay, kaolinitic, Rhodic Hapludox) in Parana state, Brazil. PG at the rates of 0, 3, 6 and 9 t ha−1was applied on the surface of the plots in 1998 upon conversion from pasture to an NT cropping system, and in 2004 subplots received either 0 or 6 t ha−1of PG on the surface. Effects of PG applications on nutrient uptake and available soil SO4-S to the maize and wheat crops were evaluated in 2004–2005. Increasing the surface-applied PG rate in 1998 increased Mg uptake by maize, and N, K, Ca and Mg uptake by wheat plants. Reapplication of PG in 2004 increased the uptake of N and P by maize, and the uptake of N, K, Ca and Mg by wheat plants. The PG rates surface-applied in 1998 have resulted in a long-term residual effect on soil by increasing SO4-S in surface and subsoil layers 6.5 and 7.5 years after application, affecting aboveground biomass, S uptake and S content in the leaves of the wheat crop. The reapplication of PG in 2004 increased maize S uptake, S content in leaves and grains and S exported by maize harvest, and increased wheat aboveground biomass, S uptake and S content in leaves. These effects were due to increasing available soil SO4-S from different depths extracted by 0.5 M ammonium acetate (NH4OAc) along with 0.25 M acetic acid (HOAc) and 0.01 M calcium phosphate (Ca(H2PO4)2). Both extractants were very similar in their ability to assess available soil S in these crops, and the 0–0.20-m layer is shown to be adequate for evaluating the concentration of available SO4-S in maize and wheat cultivated under NT.


New Medit ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amar Rouabhi ◽  
Abdelmalek Laouar ◽  
Abdelhamid Mekhlouk ◽  
Boubaker Dhehibi

This paper aimed at the socioeconomic appraisal of two cropping systems namely no-till and tilled wheat in Sétif region (Algeria). The study based on a sample of 28 adherent farms in an international project of Conservation Agriculture adoption for smallholders in North Africa. Economic diagnosis showed that no-till system performed best with a gross margin difference of $ 84/ha in comparison with conventional tilled wheat. Moreover, no-till recorded less work time and fuel consumption, with 241minutes/ha and 42 liters/ha against 624 minutes/ha and 99 liters/ha for conventional tillage. Though, no-till still faced some local social and technical constraints that are relatively easy to overcome. If Algeria put forward its best efforts through increasing no-till in the suitable zones, many objectives could be achieved in the context of preserving natural resources and building up farming sustainability. It could be also a key solution for “Intended Nationally Determined Contribution” (INDCs) schemes to meet Algerian commitments regarding “Paris Agreement” on climate change.


2015 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 553 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Whitbread ◽  
C. W. Davoren ◽  
V. V. S. R. Gupta ◽  
R. Llewellyn ◽  
the late D. Roget

Continuous-cropping systems based on no-till and crop residue retention have been widely adopted across the low-rainfall cereal belt in southern Australia in the last decade to manage climate risk and wind erosion. This paper reports on two long-term field experiments that were established in the late 1990s on texturally different soil types at a time of uncertainty about the profitability of continuous-cropping rotations in low-rainfall environments. Continuous-cereal systems significantly outyielded the traditional pasture–wheat systems in five of the 11 seasons at Waikerie (light-textured soil), resulting in a cumulative gross margin of AU$1600 ha–1 after the initial eight seasons, almost double that of the other treatments. All rotation systems at Kerribee (loam-textured soil) performed poorly, with only the 2003 season producing yields close to 3 t ha–1 and no profit achieved in the years 2004–08. For low-rainfall environments, the success of a higher input cropping system largely depends on the ability to offset the losses in poor seasons by capturing greater benefits from good seasons; therefore, strategies to manage climatic risk are paramount. Fallow efficiency, or the efficiency with which rainfall was stored during the period between crops, averaged 17% at Kerribee and 30% at Waikerie, also indicating that soil texture strongly influences soil evaporation. A ‘responsive’ strategy of continuous cereal with the occasional, high-value ‘break crop’ when seasonal conditions are optimal is considered superior to fixed or pasture–fallow rotations for controlling grass, disease or nutritional issues.


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