scholarly journals Spatial and temporal variability of crop yield and some Rhodic Hapludox properties under no-tillage

2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Osvaldo Guedes Filho ◽  
Sidney Rosa Vieira ◽  
Márcio Koiti Chiba ◽  
César Hideo Nagumo ◽  
Sônia Carmela Falci Dechen

Soil properties are closely related with crop production and spite of the measures implemented, spatial variation has been repeatedly observed and described. Identifying and describing spatial variations of soil properties and their effects on crop yield can be a powerful decision-making tool in specific land management systems. The objective of this research was to characterize the spatial and temporal variations in crop yield and chemical and physical properties of a Rhodic Hapludox soil under no-tillage. The studied area of 3.42 ha had been cultivated since 1985 under no-tillage crop rotation in summer and winter. Yield and soil property were sampled in a regular 10 x 10 m grid, with 302 sample points. Yields of several crops were analyzed (soybean, maize, triticale, hyacinth bean and castor bean) as well as soil chemical (pH, Soil Organic Matter (SOM), P, Ca2+, Mg2+, H + Al, B, Fe, Mn, Zn, CEC, sum of bases (SB), and base saturation (V %)) and soil physical properties (saturated hydraulic conductivity, texture, density, total porosity, and mechanical penetration resistance). Data were analyzed using geostatistical analysis procedures and maps based on interpolation by kriging. Great variation in crop yields was observed in the years evaluated. The yield values in the Northern region of the study area were high in some years. Crop yields and some physical and soil chemical properties were spatially correlated.

Bragantia ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 69 (suppl) ◽  
pp. 9-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Osvaldo Guedes Filho ◽  
Sidney Rosa Vieira ◽  
Marcio Koiti Chiba ◽  
Célia Regina Grego

It is known, for a long time, that crop yields are not uniform at the field. In some places, it is possible to distinguish sites with both low and high yields even within the same area. This work aimed to evaluate the spatial and temporal variability of some crop yields and to identify potential zones for site specific management in an area under no-tillage system for 23 years. Data were analyzed from a 3.42 ha long term experimental area at the Centro Experimental Central of the Instituto Agronômico, located in Campinas, Sao Paulo State, Brazil. The crop yield data evaluated included the following crops: soybean, maize, lablab and triticale, and all of them were cultivated since 1985 and sampled at a regular grid of 302 points. Data were normalized and analyzed using descriptive statistics and geostatistical tools in order to demonstrate and describe the structure of the spatial variability. All crop yields showed high variability. All of them also showed spatial dependence and were fitted to the spherical model, except for the yield of the maize in 1999 productivity which was fitted to the exponential model. The north part of the area presented repeated high values of productivity in some years. There was a positive cross correlation amongst the productivity values, especially for the maize crops.


Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 2002
Author(s):  
Shengbao Wei ◽  
Anchun Peng ◽  
Xiaomin Huang ◽  
Aixing Deng ◽  
Changqing Chen ◽  
...  

Identifying the contributions of climate factors and soil fertility to crop yield is significant for the assessment of climate change impacts on crop production. Three 20-year field experiments were conducted in major Chinese wheat-maize cropping areas. Over the 20-year period, crop yield and soil properties showed significantly dissimilar variation trends under similar climate changes at each experimental site. The correlation between climatic factors and crop yield varied greatly among the fertilization regimes and experimental sites. Across all the fertilization regimes and the experimental sites, the average contribution rates of soil properties to wheat and maize yield were 45.7% and 53.2%, respectively, without considering climate factors, and 40.4% and 36.6%, respectively, when considering climate factors. The contributions of soil properties to wheat and maize yield variation when considering climate factors were significantly lower than those without considering climate factors. Across all experimental sites and all fertilization regimes, the mean contribution rates of climate factors to wheat and maize yield were 29.5% and 33.0%, respectively. The contribution rates of the interaction of climate and soil to wheat and maize yield were 3.7% and −0.9%, respectively. Under balanced fertilization treatments (NPK and NPKM), the change in the contribution rate of soil properties to wheat or maize yield was not obvious, and the average contribution rates of the interaction of climate and soil to wheat and maize yield were positive, at 14.8% and 9.5%, respectively. In contrast, under unbalanced fertilization treatments (CK and N), the contribution rates of soil properties to wheat or maize yield decreased, and the average contribution rates of the interaction of climate and soil were negative, at −7.4% and −11.2%, respectively. The above results indicate that climate and soil synergistically affected crop yields and that, with the optimization of the fertilization regime, positive interactions gradually emerged.


Bragantia ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 69 (suppl) ◽  
pp. 53-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sidney Rosa Vieira ◽  
Sonia Carmela Falci Dechen

Soil properties vary in space due to many causes. For this reason it is wise to know the magnitude and behaviour of the variability for adequate data analysis and decision making. Our work on spatial variability of soil properties in São Paulo, Brazil began in 1982 with a very simple soil sampling in a small field. Much progress has been made since then on sampling designs, field equipment and methods, and mostly on computation equipment and softwares. This paper reports the results corresponding to some aspects of this progress, as far as the field, analysis and computation work are concerned. The objective of this study was to illustrate the use of geostatistics in data analysis for three sampling conditions on long term no-tillage system. The analysis is done on a wide range of field scales, variables, sampling schemes as well as repeating sampling scheme for the same variable in different years. Semivariograms are compared for the same variables in different scales and sampling dates and depths as to provide a guide for sampling spacing and number of samples. Normalized crop yield parameters for many years are used in the discussion of time variability and on the use of yield maps to locate management zones. The time of the year in which measurements of soil physical properties are made affected the results both in terms of descriptive statistical and spatial dependence parameters. Crop yields changed (soybean decrease and maize increase) with time of no-tillage but the real cause was not identified. The length of time with no-tillage affected the range of dependence for the main crops (increased for soybean, maize and oats) and therefore increased the size of the homogeneous management zones. The evolution of the sampling grid from 20 m with 63 sampling points to 10 m with 302 sampling points allowed for a much better knowledge of the spatial variability of crop yields but it had the reverse effect on the spatial variability of soil physical properties.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathalie Colbach ◽  
Sandrine Petit ◽  
Bruno Chauvel ◽  
Violaine Deytieux ◽  
Martin Lechenet ◽  
...  

The growing recognition of the environmental and health issues associated to pesticide use requires to investigate how to manage weeds with less or no herbicides in arable farming while maintaining crop productivity. The questions of weed harmfulness, herbicide efficacy, the effects of herbicide use on crop yields, and the effect of reducing herbicides on crop production have been addressed over the years but results and interpretations often appear contradictory. In this paper, we critically analyze studies that have focused on the herbicide use, weeds and crop yield nexus. We identified many inconsistencies in the published results and demonstrate that these often stem from differences in the methodologies used and in the choice of the conceptual model that links the three items. Our main findings are: (1) although our review confirms that herbicide reduction increases weed infestation if not compensated by other cultural techniques, there are many shortcomings in the different methods used to assess the impact of weeds on crop production; (2) Reducing herbicide use rarely results in increased crop yield loss due to weeds if farmers compensate low herbicide use by other efficient cultural practices; (3) There is a need for comprehensive studies describing the effect of cropping systems on crop production that explicitly include weeds and disentangle the impact of herbicides from the effect of other practices on weeds and on crop production. We propose a framework that presents all the links and feed-backs that must be considered when analyzing the herbicide-weed-crop yield nexus. We then provide a number of methodological recommendations for future studies. We conclude that, since weeds are causing yield loss, reduced herbicide use and maintained crop productivity necessarily requires a redesign of cropping systems. These new systems should include both agronomic and biodiversity-based levers acting in concert to deliver sustainable weed management.


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kabal S. Gill ◽  
Sukhdev S. Malhi ◽  
Newton Z. Lupwayi

<p>Wood ash may be used to mitigate soil acidity and improve crop production. We compared effects of wood ash and recommended fertilizers on soil properties of a Gray Luivsol, crop yields and contribution margins in southeast Peace, Alberta, Canada. The CHK (no fertilizer, inoculation or wood ash), FRT (recommended fertilizers or inoculation), ASH (wood ash rate to supply amounts of phosphorus equivalent to the FRT treatment); and ASH+N (same as ASH + N fertilizer or inoculation) treatments were applied in 2006 and 2007. Their effects were studied from 2006 to 2014. Wood ash had all the essential plant nutrients, except nitrogen. Soil samples collected in 2007, 2008 and 2013 had or tended to have higher pH, P, K, Ca, Ca:Mg ratio, S, Cu, Zn and B levels for the ASH and ASH+N treatments than the CHK and FRT treatments. In the 2006 and 2007, the seed yields were ASH+N &gt; FRT &gt; ASH &gt; CHK. The seed yields in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014 were greater from both the wood ash treatments than other treatments. Extra contribution margin from the ASH+N over the FRT treatment was $751/ha, i.e. $97 Mg<sup>-1</sup> of applied wood ash. Overall, wood ash reduced fertilizer expenditure and improved seed yield, contribution margin and soil properties, with residual effects observed up to seven years and likely for few more years.</p>


1995 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Godbout ◽  
Jean-Louis Brown

A Podzolic soil from an old-growth maple hardwood forest in eastern Canada was systematically sampled from a 16.5-m-long trench in 1975. In 1986, the upper 10 cm of the B horizon was resampled from two sampling lines located on each side and parallel to the 1975 trench, one at a distance of 1 m downhill and the other at a distance of 4 m uphill. Total N, organic C, pH, and exchangeable Ca, Mg and K were measured. The objectives were to evaluate the change in the chemical status of the B horizon from 1975 to 1986 and to characterize the spatial variability of the horizon. No significant change was found in the soil chemical properties tested during this 11-yr period. No significant autocorrelation was observed between soil samples 60 cm apart, except for the downhill sampling line, which was located 1 m from the trench. For most properties, the magnitude of the difference between two soil sampling units was not proportional to the distance separating them over the range of 0.6–4.2 m. Except for pH, a difference in soil properties of more than 30% was observed in 37–56% of sample pairs 60 cm apart. Resampling near (1 m) an old soil pit may not be valid because of possible local modifications of soil properties created by the pit, even when it is filled in. Key words: Podzol, soil variability, acidic deposition, soil changes


Author(s):  
Railton O. dos Santos ◽  
◽  
Laís B. Franco ◽  
Samuel A. Silva ◽  
George A. Sodré ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The knowledge on the spatial variability of soil properties and crops is important for decision-making on agricultural management. The objective of this study was to evaluate the spatial variability of soil fertility and its relation with cocoa yield. The study was conducted over 14 months in an area cultivated with cocoa. A sampling grid was created to study soil chemical properties and cocoa yield (stratified in season, off-season and annual). The data were analyzed using descriptive and exploratory statistics, and geostatistics. The chemical attributes were classified using fuzzy logic to generate a soil fertility map, which was correlated with maps of crop yield. The soil of the area, except for the western region, showed possibilities ranging from medium to high for cocoa cultivation. Soil fertility showed positive spatial correlation with cocoa yield, and its effect was predominant only for the off-season and annual cocoa.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matias Heino ◽  
Joseph H. A. Guillaume ◽  
Christoph Müller ◽  
Toshichika Iizumi ◽  
Matti Kummu

Abstract. Climate oscillations are periodically fluctuating oceanic and atmospheric phenomena, which are related to variations in weather patterns and crop yields worldwide. In terms of crop production, the most widespread impacts have been observed for the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which has been found to impact crop yields in all continents that produce crops, while two other climate oscillations – the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) – have been shown to impact crop production especially in Australia and Europe, respectively. In this study, we analyse the impacts of ENSO, IOD and NAO on the growing conditions of maize, rice, soybean and wheat at the global scale, by utilizing crop yield data from an ensemble of global gridded crop models simulated for a range of crop management scenarios. Our results show that simulated crop yield variability is correlated to climate oscillations to a wide extent (up to almost half of all maize and wheat harvested areas for ENSO) and in several important crop producing areas, e.g. in North America (ENSO, wheat), Australia (IOD &amp; ENSO, wheat) and northern South America (ENSO, soybean). Further, our analyses show that higher sensitivity to these oscillations can be observed for rainfed, and fully fertilized scenarios, while the sensitivity tends to be lower if crops are fully irrigated. Since, the development of ENSO, IOD and NAO can be reliably forecasted in advance, a better understanding about the relationship between crop production and these climate oscillations can improve the resilience of the global food system to climate related shocks.


Soil Research ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xirui Zhang ◽  
Hongwen Li ◽  
Jin He ◽  
Qingjie Wang ◽  
Mohammad H. Golabi

Conservation tillage is becoming increasingly attractive to farmers because it involves lower production costs than does conventional tillage. The long-term effects of sub-soiling tillage (ST), no tillage (NT), and conventional tillage (CT) on soil properties and crop yields were investigated over an 8-year period (2000–07). The study was conducted in a 2-crop-a-year region (Daxing) and a 1-crop-a-year region (Changping) of the Beijing area in China. At 0–0.30 m soil depth, water stability of macro-aggregates (>0.25 mm) was much greater for ST (22.1%) and NT (12.0%) than for CT in Daxing, and the improvements in Changping were 18.9% and 9.5%, respectively. ST and NT significantly (P < 0.05) improved aeration porosity by 14.5% and 10.6%, respectively, at Daxing and by 17.0% and 8.6% at Changping compared with CT treatment. Soil bulk density after 8 years was 0.8–1.5% lower in ST and NT treatments than in CT at both sites. Soil organic matter and available N and P followed the same order ST ≈ NT > CT at both sites. Consequently, crop yields in ST and NT plots were higher than in CT plots due to improved soil physical and chemical properties. Within the conservation tillage treatments, despite similar economic benefit, the effects on crop yields for ST were better than for NT. Mean (2000–07) crop yields for ST were 0.2% and 1.5% higher than for NT at Daxing and Changping, respectively. We therefore conclude that ST is the most suitable conservation tillage practice for annual 2-crop-a-year and 1-crop-a-year regions in the Beijing area.


1990 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. R. CARTER ◽  
R. P. WHITE ◽  
R. G. ANDREW

Minimum tillage for soils that require regular cultivation consists of reducing the degree of secondary tillage and number of passes over the field. This study was conducted to determine whether one-pass mouldboard-ploughed systems were suitable for production of silage corn (Zea mays L.) and spring cereals (Hordeum vulgare L., Triticum aestivum L.) on loam to sandy loam soils (Humo-Ferric Podzol and Gray Luvisol) in the perhumid soil climate of Prince Edward Island. The effects of reduction in secondary tillage were gauged by characterizing crop yield and nutrient content, soil properties and structure, and relative economics. Plant growth, crop yield, and nutrient content were similar in all the mouldboard-ploughed systems. Soil chemical properties were not affected by reduction in secondary tillage, but the one-pass plough system did result in a macro-aggregate distribution with a greater proportion of large soil aggregates (9.5–16 mm) and a slight reduction in soil strength over the 10- to 25-cm soil depth. Macroporosity and soil density in the top 8 cm of soil were similar between tillage systems. Reducing both the degree of secondary tillage and number of tillage operations decreased both estimated cultivation costs and time of tillage per hectare by 26 and 39%, respectively. One-pass mouldboard-ploughed systems appear suitable for annual crop production on medium-textured soils under the soil environment of Prince Edward Island. Key words: One-pass tillage, soil properties, crop growth


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