Investigation of short-term effects of winter cover crops on compaction and total soil carbon in a long-term no-till agricultural system

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.A. Aldridge ◽  
B.H. Baker ◽  
A.R. Omer
HortScience ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 476d-476
Author(s):  
Gary R. Cline ◽  
Anthony F. Silvernail

A split-plot factorial experiment examined effects of tillage and winter cover crops on sweet corn in 1997. Main plots received tillage or no tillage. Cover crops consisted of hairy vetch, winter rye, or a mix, and N treatments consisted of plus or minus N fertilization. Following watermelon not receiving inorganic N, vetch, and mix cover cropsproduced total N yields of ≈90 kg/ha that were more than four times greater than those obtained with rye. However, vetch dry weight yields (2.7 mg/ha) were only about 60% of those obtained in previous years due to winter kill. Following rye winter cover crops, addition of ammonium nitrate to corn greatly increased (P < 0.05) corn yields and foliar N concentrations compared to treatments not receiving N. Following vetch, corn yields obtained in tilled treatments without N fertilization equaled those obtained with N fertilization. However, yields obtained from unfertilized no-till treatments were significantly (P < 0.05) lower than yields of N-fertilized treatments. Available soil N was significantly (P < 0.05) greater following vetch compared to rye after corn planting. No significant effects of tillage on sweet corn plant densities or yields were detected. It was concluded that no-tillage sweet corn was successful, and N fixed by vetch was able to sustain sweet corn production in tilled treatments but not in no-till treatments.In previous years normal, higher-yielding vetch cover crops were able to sustain sweet corn in both tilled and no-till treatments.


Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 840 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Laamrani ◽  
Paul R. Voroney ◽  
Aaron A. Berg ◽  
Adam W. Gillespie ◽  
Michael March ◽  
...  

The impacts of tillage practices and crop rotations are fundamental factors influencing changes in the soil carbon, and thus the sustainability of agricultural systems. The objective of this study was to compare soil carbon status and temporal changes in topsoil from different 4 year rotations and tillage treatments (i.e., no-till and conventional tillage). Rotation systems were primarily corn and soy-based and included cereal and alfalfa phases along with red clover cover crops. In 2018, soil samples were collected from a silty-loam topsoil (0–15 cm) from the 36 year long-term experiment site in southern Ontario, Canada. Total carbon (TC) contents of each sample were determined in the laboratory using combustion methods and comparisons were made between treatments using current and archived samples (i.e., 20 year and 9 year change, respectively) for selected crop rotations. Overall, TC concentrations were significantly higher for no-till compared with conventional tillage practices, regardless of the crop rotations employed. With regard to crop rotation, the highest TC concentrations were recorded in corn–corn–oats–barley (CCOB) rotations with red clover cover crop in both cereal phases. TC contents were, in descending order, found in corn–corn–alfalfa–alfalfa (CCAA), corn–corn–soybean–winter wheat (CCSW) with 1 year of seeded red clover, and corn–corn–corn–corn (CCCC). The lowest TC concentrations were observed in the corn–corn–soybean–soybean (CCSS) and corn–corn–oats–barley (CCOB) rotations without use of cover crops, and corn–corn–soybean–winter wheat (CCSW). We found that (i) crop rotation varieties that include two consecutive years of soybean had consistently lower TC concentrations compared with the remaining rotations; (ii) TC for all the investigated plots (no-till and/or tilled) increased over the 9 year and 20 year period; (iii) the no-tilled CCOB rotation with 2 years of cover crop showed the highest increase of TC content over the 20 year change period time; and (iv) interestingly, the no-till continuous corn (CCCC) rotation had higher TC than the soybean–soybean–corn–corn (SSCC) and corn–corn–soybean–winter wheat (CCSW). We concluded that conservation tillage (i.e., no-till) and incorporation of a cover crop into crop rotations had a positive effect in the accumulation of TC topsoil concentrations and could be suitable management practices to promote soil fertility and sustainability in our agricultural soils.


2014 ◽  
Vol 197 ◽  
pp. 31-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elcio L. Balota ◽  
Ademir Calegari ◽  
Andre S. Nakatani ◽  
Mark S. Coyne

2016 ◽  
Vol 79 ◽  
pp. 14-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.L. Gabriel ◽  
M. Alonso-Ayuso ◽  
I. García-González ◽  
C. Hontoria ◽  
M. Quemada

1989 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 1210-1214 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. Zhu ◽  
C. J. Gantzer ◽  
S. H. Anderson ◽  
E. E. Alberts ◽  
P. R. Beuselinck

2006 ◽  
Vol 70 (6) ◽  
pp. 1936-1944 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. B. Villamil ◽  
G. A. Bollero ◽  
R. G. Darmody ◽  
F. W. Simmons ◽  
D. G. Bullock

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 473-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie P. Lounsbury ◽  
Ray R. Weil

AbstractOrganic no-till (NT) management strategies generally employ high-residue cover crops that act as weed-suppressing mulch. In temperate, humid regions such as the mid-Atlantic USA, high-residue winter cover crops can hinder early spring field work and immobilize nutrients for cash crops. This makes the integration of cover crops into rotations difficult for farmers, who traditionally rely on tillage to prepare seedbeds for early spring vegetables. Our objectives were to address two separate but related goals of reducing tillage and integrating winter cover crops into early spring vegetable rotations by investigating the feasibility of NT seeding spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.), an early spring vegetable, into winterkilled cover crops. We conducted a four site-year field study in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain regions of Maryland, USA, comparing seedbed conditions and spinach performance after forage radish (FR) (Raphanus sativus L.), a low-residue, winterkilled cover crop, spring oat (Avena sativa L.), the traditional winterkilled cover crop in the area, a mixture of radish and oat, and a no cover crop (NC) treatment. NT seeded spinach after FR had higher yields than all other cover crop and tillage treatments in one site year and was equal to the highest yielding treatments in two site years. Yield for NT spinach after FR was as high as 19 Mg ha−1 fresh weight, whereas the highest yield for spinach seeded into a rototilled seedbed after NC was 10 Mg ha−1. NT seeding spring spinach after a winterkilled radish cover crop is feasible and provides an alternative to both high-residue cover crops and spring tillage.


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