Increasing Crop Diversity Mitigates Weather Variations and Improves Yield Stability

PubMed Central

Gaudin, Amélie C. M.; Tolhurst, Tor N.; Ker, Alan P.; Janovicek, Ken; Tortora, Cristina; Martin, Ralph C.; Deen, William

2015-01-01

Cropping sequence diversification provides a systems approach to reduce yield variations and improve resilience to multiple environmental stresses. Yield advantages of more diverse crop rotations and their synergistic effects with reduced tillage are well documented, but few studies have quantified the impact of these management practices on yields and their stability when soil moisture is limiting or in excess. Using yield and weather data obtained from a 31-year long term rotation and tillage trial in Ontario, we tested whether crop rotation diversity is associated with greater yield stability when abnormal weather conditions occur. We used parametric and non-parametric approaches to quantify the impact of rotation diversity (monocrop, 2-crops, 3-crops without or with one or two legume cover crops) and tillage (conventional or reduced tillage) on yield probabilities and the benefits of crop diversity under different soil moisture and temperature scenarios. Although the magnitude of rotation benefits varied with crops, weather patterns and tillage, yield stability significantly increased when corn and soybean were integrated into more diverse rotations. Introducing small grains into short corn-soybean rotation was enough to provide substantial benefits on long-term soybean yields and their stability while the effects on corn were mostly associated with the temporal niche provided by small grains for underseeded red clover or alfalfa. Crop diversification strategies increased the probability of harnessing favorable growing conditions while decreasing the risk of crop failure. In hot and dry years, diversification of corn-soybean rotations and reduced tillage increased yield by 7% and 22% for corn and soybean respectively. Given the additional advantages associated with cropping system diversification, such a strategy provides a more comprehensive approach to lowering yield variability and improving the resilience of cropping systems to multiple environmental stresses. This could help to sustain future yield levels in challenging production environments. PMID:25658914

Soil microbial biomass and function are altered by 12 years of crop rotation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McDaniel, Marshall D.; Grandy, A. Stuart

2016-11-01

Declines in plant diversity will likely reduce soil microbial biomass, alter microbial functions, and threaten the provisioning of soil ecosystem services. We examined whether increasing temporal plant biodiversity in agroecosystems (by rotating crops) can partially reverse these trends and enhance soil microbial biomass and function. We quantified seasonal patterns in soil microbial biomass, respiration rates, extracellular enzyme activity, and catabolic potential three times over one growing season in a 12-year crop rotation study at the W. K. Kellogg Biological Station LTER. Rotation treatments varied from one to five crops in a 3-year rotation cycle, but all soils were sampled under a corn year. We hypothesized that crop diversity would increase microbial biomass, activity, and catabolic evenness (a measure of functional diversity). Inorganic N, the stoichiometry of microbial biomass and dissolved organic C and N varied seasonally, likely reflecting fluctuations in soil resources during the growing season. Soils from biodiverse cropping systems increased microbial biomass C by 28-112 % and N by 18-58 % compared to low-diversity systems. Rotations increased potential C mineralization by as much as 53 %, and potential N mineralization by 72 %, and both were related to substantially higher hydrolase and lower oxidase enzyme activities. The catabolic potential of the soil microbial community showed no, or slightly lower, catabolic evenness in more diverse rotations. However, the catabolic potential indicated that soil microbial communities were functionally distinct, and microbes from monoculture corn preferentially used simple substrates like carboxylic acids, relative to more diverse cropping systems. By isolating plant biodiversity from differences in fertilization and tillage, our study illustrates that crop biodiversity has overarching effects on soil microbial biomass and function that last throughout the growing season. In simplified agricultural systems, relatively small increases in crop diversity can have large impacts on microbial community size and function, with cover crops appearing to facilitate the largest increases.

Crop rotations and poultry litter impact dynamic soil chemical properties and soil biota long-term

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Dynamic soil physiochemical interactions with conservation agricultural practices and soil biota are largely unknown. Therefore, this study aims to quantify long-term (12-yr) impacts of cover crops, poultry litter, crop rotations, and conservation tillage and their interactions on soil physiochemica...

Long-term effects of conservation systems on productivity for the old rotation

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Winter legumes in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) production is not new to the Southeast. In 1896, the Old Rotation experiment at Auburn University was established to study the feasibility of producing cotton in crop rotations with winter legumes managed as a green manure crop. Throughout the experim...

Fates of Setaria faberi and Abutilon theophrasti seeds in three crop rotation systems

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Weed seeds in and on the soil are the primary cause of weed infestations in arable fields. Previous studies have documented reductions in weed seedbanks due to cropping system diversification through extended rotation sequences, but the impacts of different rotation systems on additions to and losse...

Comparing crop rotations between organic and conventional farming.

PubMed

Barbieri, Pietro; Pellerin, Sylvain; Nesme, Thomas

2017-10-23

Cropland use activities are major drivers of global environmental changes and of farming system resilience. Rotating crops is a critical land-use driver, and a farmers' key strategy to control environmental stresses and crop performances. Evidence has accumulated that crop rotations have been dramatically simplified over the last 50 years. In contrast, organic farming stands as an alternative production way that promotes crop diversification. However, our understanding of crop rotations is surprisingly limited. In order to understand if organic farming would result in more diversified and multifunctional landscapes, we provide here a novel, systematic comparison of organic-to-conventional crop rotations at the global scale based on a meta-analysis of the scientific literature, paired with an independent analysis of organic-to-conventional land-use. We show that organic farming leads to differences in land-use compared to conventional: overall, crop rotations are 15% longer and result in higher diversity and evener crop species distribution. These changes are driven by a higher abundance of temporary fodders, catch and cover-crops, mostly to the detriment of cereals. We also highlighted differences in organic rotations between Europe and North-America, two leading regions for organic production. This increased complexity of organic crop rotations is likely to enhance ecosystem service provisioning to agroecosystems.

Evaluation of Different Phenological Information to Map Crop Rotation in Complex Irrigated Indus Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ismaeel, A.; Zhou, Q.

2018-04-01

Accurate information of crop rotation in large basin is essential for policy decisions on land, water and nutrient resources around the world. Crop area estimation using low spatial resolution remote sensing data is challenging in a large heterogeneous basin having more than one cropping seasons. This study aims to evaluate the accuracy of two phenological datasets individually and in combined form to map crop rotations in complex irrigated Indus basin without image segmentation. Phenology information derived from Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Leaf Area Index (LAI) of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor, having 8-day temporal and 1000 m spatial resolution, was used in the analysis. An unsupervised (temporal space clustering) to supervised (area knowledge and phenology behavior) classification approach was adopted to identify 13 crop rotations. Estimated crop area was compared with reported area collected by field census. Results reveal that combined dataset (NDVI*LAI) performs better in mapping wheat-rice, wheat-cotton and wheat-fodder rotation by attaining root mean square error (RMSE) of 34.55, 16.84, 20.58 and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 24.56 %, 36.82 %, 30.21 % for wheat, rice and cotton crop respectively. For sugarcane crop mapping, LAI produce good results by achieving RMSE of 8.60 and MAPE of 34.58 %, as compared to NDVI (10.08, 40.53 %) and NDVI*LAI (10.83, 39.45 %). The availability of major crop rotation statistics provides insight to develop better strategies for land, water and nutrient accounting frameworks to improve agriculture productivity.

Spatial methods for deriving crop rotation history

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Converting multi-year remote sensing classification data into crop rotations is beneficial by defining length of crop rotation cycles and the specific sequences of intervening crops grown between the final year of a grass seed stand and establishment of a new perennial ryegrass seed crop. Markov mod...

[Effects of different multiple cropping systems on paddy field weed community under long term paddy-upland rotation].

PubMed

Yang, Bin-Juan; Huang, Guo-Qin; Xu, Ning; Wang, Shu-Bin

2013-09-01

Based on a long term field experiment, this paper studied the effects of different multiple cropping systems on the weed community composition and species diversity under paddy-upland rotation. The multiple cropping rotation systems could significantly decrease weed density and inhibited weed growth. Among the rotation systems, the milk vetch-early rice-late maize --> milk vetchearly maize intercropped with early soybean-late rice (CCSR) had the lowest weed species dominance, which inhibited the dominant weeds and decreased their damage. Under different multiple cropping systems, the main weed community was all composed of Monochoia vaginalis, Echinochloa crusgalli, and Sagittaria pygmae, and the similarity of weed community was higher, with the highest similarity appeared in milk vetch-early rice-late maize intercropped with late soybean --> milk vetch-early maize-late rice (CSCR) and in CCSR. In sum, the multiple cropping rotations in paddy field could inhibit weeds to a certain extent, but attentions should be paid to the damage of some less important weeds.

Meeting the demand for crop production: the challenge of yield decline in crops grown in short rotations.

PubMed

Bennett, Amanda J; Bending, Gary D; Chandler, David; Hilton, Sally; Mills, Peter

2012-02-01

There is a trend world-wide to grow crops in short rotation or in monoculture, particularly in conventional agriculture. This practice is becoming more prevalent due to a range of factors including economic market trends, technological advances, government incentives, and retailer and consumer demands. Land-use intensity will have to increase further in future in order to meet the demands of growing crops for both bioenergy and food production, and long rotations may not be considered viable or practical. However, evidence indicates that crops grown in short rotations or monoculture often suffer from yield decline compared to those grown in longer rotations or for the first time. Numerous factors have been hypothesised as contributing to yield decline, including biotic factors such as plant pathogens, deleterious rhizosphere microorganisms, mycorrhizas acting as pathogens, and allelopathy or autotoxicity of the crop, as well as abiotic factors such as land management practices and nutrient availability. In many cases, soil microorganisms have been implicated either directly or indirectly in yield decline. Although individual factors may be responsible for yield decline in some cases, it is more likely that combinations of factors interact to cause the problem. However, evidence confirming the precise role of these various factors is often lacking in field studies due to the complex nature of cropping systems and the numerous interactions that take place within them. Despite long-term knowledge of the yield-decline phenomenon, there are few tools to counteract it apart from reverting to longer crop rotations or break crops. Alternative cropping and management practices such as double-cropping or inter-cropping, tillage and organic amendments may prove valuable for combating some of the negative effects seen when crops are grown in short rotation. Plant breeding continues to be important, although this does require a specific breeding target to be identified. This review identifies gaps in our understanding of yield decline, particularly with respect to the complex interactions occurring between the different components of agro-ecosystems, which may well influence food security in the 21(st) Century. © 2011 The Authors. Biological Reviews © 2011 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Effects of Tropical Rotation Crops on Meloidogyne arenaria Population Densities and Vegetable Yields in Microplots.

PubMed

McSorley, R; Dickson, D W; de Brito, J A; Hewlett, T E; Frederick, J J

1994-06-01

The effects of 12 summer crop rotation treatments on population densities of Meloidogyne arenaria race 1 and on yields of subsequent spring vegetable crops were determined in microplots. The crop sequence was: (i) rotation crops during summer 1991 ; (ii) cover crop of rye (Secale cereale) during winter 1991-92; (iii) squash (Cucurbita pepo) during spring 1992; (iv) rotation crops during summer 1992; (v) rye during winter 1992-93; (vi) eggplant (Solanum melongena) during spring 1993. The 12 rotation treatments were castor (Ricinus communis), cotton (Gossypium hirsutum), velvetbean (Mucuna deeringiana), crotalaria (Crotalaria spectabilis), fallow, hairy indigo (Indigofera hirsuta), American jointvetch (Aeschynomene americana), sorghum-sudangrass (Sorghum bicolor x S. sudanense), soybean (Glycine max), horsebean (Canavalia ensiformis), sesame (Sesamum indicum), and peanut (Arachis hypogaea). Compared to peanut, the first eight rotation treatments resulted in lower (P

Effect of preceding crop on Fusarium species and mycotoxin contamination of wheat grains.

PubMed

Qiu, Jianbo; Dong, Fei; Yu, Mingzheng; Xu, Jianhong; Shi, Jianrong

2016-10-01

The Fusarium graminearum species complex infects several cereals and causes the reduction of grain yield and quality. Many factors influence the extent of Fusarium infection and mycotoxin levels. Such factors include crop rotation. In the present study, we explored the effect of rice or maize as former crops on mycotoxin accumulation in wheat grains. More than 97% of samples were contaminated with deoxynivalenol (DON). DON concentrations in wheat grains from rice and maize rotation fields were 884.37 and 235.78 µg kg(-1) . Zearalenone (ZEN) was detected in 45% of samples which were mainly collected from maize-wheat rotation systems. Fusarium strains were isolated and more F. graminearum sensu stricto (s. str.) isolates were cultured from wheat samples obtained from maize rotation fields. DON levels produced by Fusarium isolates from rice rotation fields were higher than those of samples from maize rotation fields. Rice-wheat rotation favours DON accumulation, while more ZEN contamination may occur in maize-wheat rotation models. Appropriate crop rotation may help to reduce toxin levels in wheat grains. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Soil total carbon and crop yield affected by crop rotation and cultural practice

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Stacked crop rotation and improved cultural practice have been used to control pests, but their impact on soil organic C (SOC) and crop yield are lacking. We evaluated the effects of stacked vs. alternate-year rotations and cultural practices on SOC at the 0- to 125-cm depth and annualized crop yiel...

A STELLA model to estimate water and nitrogen dynamics in a short-rotation woody crop plantation

Treesearch

Ying Ouyang; Jiaen Zhang; Theodor D. Leininger; Brent R. Frey

2015-01-01

Although short-rotation woody crop biomass production technology has demonstrated a promising potential to supply feedstocks for bioenergy production, the water and nutrient processes in the woody crop planation ecosystem are poorly understood. In this study, a computer model was developed to estimate the dynamics of water and nitrogen (N) species (e.g., NH4...

How Are Short Rotations Woody Crops Affected By Institutional Factors in the Southern United States?

Treesearch

Donald L. Grebner; Rodney L. Busby

2004-01-01

Short-rotation woody crops (SRWC) produce a variety of forest products useful to consumers such as pulp, energy biomass, and solid wood. The establishment and management of these crops before conversion into manufactured products are affected by several institutional factors. The first objective of this study was to identify and document institutional structures and...

Diverse rotations and poultry litter improves soybean yield

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Continuous cropping systems without rotations or cover crops are perceived as unsustainable for long-term yield and soil health. Continuous systems, defined as continually producing a crop on the same parcel of land for more than three years, is thought to reduce yields. Given that crop rotations a...

Impacts of crop rotations on soil organic carbon sequestration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gobin, Anne; Vos, Johan; Joris, Ingeborg; Van De Vreken, Philippe

2013-04-01

Agricultural land use and crop rotations can greatly affect the amount of carbon sequestered in the soil. We developed a framework for modelling the impacts of crop rotations on soil carbon sequestration at the field scale with test case Flanders. A crop rotation geo-database was constructed covering 10 years of crop rotation in Flanders using the IACS parcel registration (Integrated Administration and Control System) to elicit the most common crop rotation on major soil types in Flanders. In order to simulate the impact of crop cover on carbon sequestration, the Roth-C model was adapted to Flanders' environment and coupled to common crop rotations extracted from the IACS geodatabases and statistical databases on crop yield. Crop allometric models were used to calculate crop residues from common crops in Flanders and subsequently derive stable organic matter fluxes to the soil (REGSOM). The REGSOM model was coupled to Roth-C model was run for 30 years and for all combinations of seven main arable crops, two common catch crops and two common dosages of organic manure. The common crops are winter wheat, winter barley, sugar beet, potato, grain maize, silage maize and winter rapeseed; the catch crops are yellow mustard and Italian ryegrass; the manure dosages are 35 ton/ha cattle slurry and 22 ton/ha pig slurry. Four common soils were simulated: sand, loam, sandy loam and clay. In total more than 2.4 million simulations were made with monthly output of carbon content for 30 years. Results demonstrate that crop cover dynamics influence carbon sequestration for a very large percentage. For the same rotations carbon sequestration is highest on clay soils and lowest on sandy soils. Crop residues of grain maize and winter wheat followed by catch crops contribute largely to the total carbon sequestered. This implies that agricultural policies that impact on agricultural land management influence soil carbon sequestration for a large percentage. The framework is therefore suited for further scenario analysis and impact assessment in order to support agri-environmental policy decisions.

An 11-year history of crop rotation into new perennial ryegrass and tall fescue

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Converting multi-year remote sensing classification data into crop rotations is beneficial by defining the length of crop rotation cycles and the specific sequences of intervening crops grown between the final year of a grass seed stand and establishment of new perennial ryegrass and tall fescue see...

Nitrogen and phosphorus effluent loads from a paddy-field district adopting collective crop rotation.

PubMed

Hama, T; Aoki, T; Osuga, K; Sugiyama, S; Iwasaki, D

2012-01-01

Japanese paddy rice systems commonly adopt the rotation of vegetables, wheat and soybeans with paddy rice. Crop rotation may, however, increase the nutrient load in effluent discharged from the district because more fertilizer is applied to the rotation crops than is applied to paddy crops. We investigated a paddy-field district subject to collective crop rotation and quantified the annual nutrient load of effluent from the district in three consecutive years. The total annual exports of nitrogen and phosphorus over the investigation period ranged from 30.3 to 40.6 kg N ha(-1) and 2.62 to 3.13 kg P ha(-1). The results suggest that rotation cropping increases the effluent nutrient load because applied fertilizer is converted to nitrate, and surface runoff is increased due to the absence of shuttering boards at the field outlets.

A Data-driven Approach to Integrate Crop Rotation Agronomic Practices in a Global Gridded Land-use Forcing Dataset

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sahajpal, R.; Hurtt, G. C.; Chini, L. P.; Frolking, S. E.; Izaurralde, R. C.

2016-12-01

Agro-ecosystems are the dominant land-use type on Earth, covering more than a third of ice-free land surface. Agricultural practices have influenced the Earth's climate system by significantly altering the biogeophysical and biogeochemical properties from hyper-local to global scales. While past work has focused largely on characterizing the effects of net land cover changes, the magnitude and nature of gross transitions and agricultural management practices on climate remains highly uncertain. To address this issue, a new set of global gridded land-use forcing datasets (LUH2) have been developed in a standard format required by climate models for CMIP6. For the first time, this dataset includes information on key agricultural management practices including crop rotations. Crop rotations describe the practice of growing crops on the same land in sequential seasons and are essential to agronomic management as they influence key ecosystem services such as crop yields, water quality, carbon and nutrient cycling, pest and disease control. Here, we present a data-driven approach to infer crop rotations based on crop specific land cover data, derived from moderate resolution satellite imagery and created at an annual time-step for the continental United States. Our approach compresses the more than 100,000 unique crop rotations prevalent in the United States from 2013 - 2015 to about 200 representative crop rotations that account for nearly 80% of the spatio-temporal variability. Further simplification is achieved by mapping individual crops to crop functional types, which identify crops based on their photosynthetic pathways (C3/C4), life strategy (annual/perennial) and whether they are N-fixing or not. The resulting matrix of annual transitions between crop functional types averages 41,000 km2/yr for rotations between C3 and C4 annual crops, and 140,000 km2/yr between C3 N-fixing and C4 annual crops. The crop rotation matrix is combined with information on other land-use states to compute annual changes between these states, thereby producing a detailed land-use transition information that can help close regional and global carbon budgets. We also validate the quality of the crop rotations identified in our product in countries with agronomic practices different from the United States.

14C-labeled organic amendments: Characterization in different particle size fractions and humic acids in a long-term field experiment

PubMed Central

Tatzber, Michael; Stemmer, Michael; Spiegel, Heide; Katzlberger, Christian; Landstetter, Claudia; Haberhauer, Georg; Gerzabek, Martin H.

2012-01-01

Knowledge about the stabilization of organic matter input to soil is essential for understanding the influence of different agricultural practices on turnover characteristics in agricultural soil systems. In this study, soil samples from a long-term field experiment were separated into silt- and clay-sized particles. In 1967, 14C labeled farmyard manure was applied to three different cropping systems: crop rotation, monoculture and permanent bare fallow. Humic acids (HAs) were extracted from silt- and clay-sized fractions and characterized using photometry, mid-infrared and fluorescence spectroscopy. Remaining 14C was determined in size fractions as well as in their extracted HAs. Yields of carbon and remaining 14C in HAs from silt-sized particles and Corg in clay-sized particles decreased significantly in the order: crop rotation > monoculture ≫ bare fallow. Thus, crop rotation not only had the largest overall C-pool in the experiment, but it also best stabilized the added manure. Mid-infrared spectroscopy could distinguish between HAs from different particle size soil fractions. With spectroscopic methods significant differences between the cropping systems were detectable in fewer cases compared to quantitative results of HAs (yields, 14C, Corg and Nt). The trends, however, pointed towards increased humification of HAs from bare fallow systems compared to crop rotation and monoculture as well as of HAs from clay-sized particles compared to silt-sized particles. Our study clearly shows that the largest differences were observed between bare fallow on one hand and monoculture and crop rotation on the other. PMID:23482702

14C-labeled organic amendments: Characterization in different particle size fractions and humic acids in a long-term field experiment.

PubMed

Tatzber, Michael; Stemmer, Michael; Spiegel, Heide; Katzlberger, Christian; Landstetter, Claudia; Haberhauer, Georg; Gerzabek, Martin H

2012-05-01

Knowledge about the stabilization of organic matter input to soil is essential for understanding the influence of different agricultural practices on turnover characteristics in agricultural soil systems. In this study, soil samples from a long-term field experiment were separated into silt- and clay-sized particles. In 1967, 14 C labeled farmyard manure was applied to three different cropping systems: crop rotation, monoculture and permanent bare fallow. Humic acids (HAs) were extracted from silt- and clay-sized fractions and characterized using photometry, mid-infrared and fluorescence spectroscopy. Remaining 14 C was determined in size fractions as well as in their extracted HAs. Yields of carbon and remaining 14 C in HAs from silt-sized particles and C org in clay-sized particles decreased significantly in the order: crop rotation > monoculture ≫ bare fallow. Thus, crop rotation not only had the largest overall C-pool in the experiment, but it also best stabilized the added manure. Mid-infrared spectroscopy could distinguish between HAs from different particle size soil fractions. With spectroscopic methods significant differences between the cropping systems were detectable in fewer cases compared to quantitative results of HAs (yields, 14 C, C org and N t ). The trends, however, pointed towards increased humification of HAs from bare fallow systems compared to crop rotation and monoculture as well as of HAs from clay-sized particles compared to silt-sized particles. Our study clearly shows that the largest differences were observed between bare fallow on one hand and monoculture and crop rotation on the other.

Soil residual nitrogen under various crop rotations and cultural practices

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Crop rotation and cultural practice may influence soil residual N available for environmental loss due to crop N uptake and N immobilization. We evaluated the effects of stacked vs. alternate-year crop rotations and cultural practices on soil residual N (NH4-N and NO3-N contents) at the 0-125 cm dep...

Does nitrogen fertilizer application rate to corn affect nitrous oxide emissions from the rotated soybean crop?

PubMed

Iqbal, Javed; Mitchell, David C; Barker, Daniel W; Miguez, Fernando; Sawyer, John E; Pantoja, Jose; Castellano, Michael J

2015-05-01

Little information exists on the potential for N fertilizer application to corn ( L.) to affect NO emissions during subsequent unfertilized crops in a rotation. To determine if N fertilizer application to corn affects NO emissions during subsequent crops in rotation, we measured NO emissions for 3 yr (2011-2013) in an Iowa, corn-soybean [ (L.) Merr.] rotation with three N fertilizer rates applied to corn (0 kg N ha, the recommended rate of 135 kg N ha, and a high rate of 225 kg N ha); soybean received no N fertilizer. We further investigated the potential for a winter cereal rye ( L.) cover crop to interact with N fertilizer rate to affect NO emissions from both crops. The cover crop did not consistently affect NO emissions. Across all years and irrespective of cover crop, N fertilizer application above the recommended rate resulted in a 16% increase in mean NO flux rate during the corn phase of the rotation. In 2 of the 3 yr, N fertilizer application to corn (0-225 kg N ha) did not affect mean NO flux rates from the subsequent unfertilized soybean crop. However, in 1 yr after a drought, mean NO flux rates from the soybean crops that received 135 and 225 kg N ha N application in the corn year were 35 and 70% higher than those from the soybean crop that received no N application in the corn year. Our results are consistent with previous studies demonstrating that cover crop effects on NO emissions are not easily generalizable. When N fertilizer affects NO emissions during a subsequent unfertilized crop, it will be important to determine if total fertilizer-induced NO emissions are altered or only spread across a greater period of time. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

Soil carbon, after 3 years, under short-rotation woody crops grown under varying nutrient and water availability

Treesearch

Felipe G. Sanchez; Mark Coleman; Charles T. Garten; Robert J. Luxmoore; John A. Stanturf; Carl Trettin; Stan D. Wullschleger

2007-01-01

Soil carbon contents were measured on a short-rotation woody crop study located on the US Department of Energy's Savannah River Site outside Aiken, SC. This study included fertilization and irrigation treatments on five tree genotypes (sweetgum, loblolly pine, sycamore and two eastern cottonwood clones). Prior to study installation, the previous pine stand was...

Evaluation of Cuphea as a rotation crop for control of western corn rootworm (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae).

PubMed

Behle, Robert W; Isbell, Terry A

2005-12-01

The ability to prevent significant root feeding damage to corn, Zea mays L., by the western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte, by crop rotation with soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr., has been lost in portions of the Corn Belt because this pest has adapted to laying eggs in soybean fields. Cuphea spp. has been proposed as a new broadleaf crop that may provide an undesirable habitat for rootworm adults because of its sticky surface and therefore may reduce or prevent oviposition in these fields. A 4-yr study (1 yr to establish seven rotation programs followed by 3 yr of evaluation) was conducted to determine whether crop rotation with Cuphea would provide cultural control of corn rootworm. In support of Cuphea as a rotation crop, fewer beetles were captured by sticky traps in plots of Cuphea over the 4 yr of this study compared with traps in corn and soybean, suggesting that fewer eggs may be laid in plots planted to Cuphea. Also, corn grown after Cuphea was significantly taller during vegetative growth, had significantly lower root damage ratings for 2 of 3 yr, and had significantly higher yields for 2 of 3 yr compared with continuous corn plots. In contrast to these benefits, growing Cuphea did not prevent economic damage to subsequent corn crops as indicated by root damage ratings > 3.0 recorded for corn plants in plots rotated from Cuphea, and sticky trap catches that exceeded the threshold of five beetles trap(-1) day(-1). Beetle emergence from corn plots rotated from Cuphea was significantly lower, not different and significantly higher compared with beetle emergence from continuous corn plots for 2002, 2003 and 2004 growing seasons, respectively. A high number of beetles were captured by emergence cages in plots planted to Cuphea, indicating that rootworm larvae may be capable of completing larval development by feeding on roots of Cuphea, although peak emergence lagged approximately 4 wk behind peak emergence from corn. Based on these data, it is unlikely that crop rotation with Cuphea will provide consistent, economical, cultural control of corn rootworm.

Yield and Economic Responses of Peanut to Crop Rotation Sequence

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

National Peanut Research Laboratory, Dawson, GA 39842. Proper crop rotation is essential to maintaining high peanut yield and quality. However, the economic considerations of maintaining or altering crop rotation sequences must incorporate the commodity prices, production costs, and yield responses...

Soil carbon fractions in response to long-term crop rotations in the Loess Plateau of China

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Diversified crop rotations may enhance C fractions and soil quality by affecting the quality and quantity of crop residue returned to the soil compared with monocropping and fallow. We evaluated the effect of 30-yr-old diversified crop rotations on soil C fractions at 0- to 15- and 15- to 30-cm dept...

Population dynamics of plant nematodes in cultivated soil: length of rotation in newly cleared and old agricultural land.

PubMed

Good, J M; Murphy, W S; Brodie, B B

1973-04-01

During a 6-year study of 1-, 2-, and 3-year crop rotations, population densities of Pratylenchus brachyurus, Trichodorus christiei, and Meloidogyne incognita were significantly affected by the choice of crops but not by length of crop rotation. The density of P. brachyurus and T. christiei increased rapidly on milo (Sorghum vulgate). In addition, populations of P. brachyurus increased significantly in cropping systems that involved crotalaria (C. rnucronata), millet (Setaria italica), and sudangrass (Sorghum sudanense). Lowest numbers of P. brachyurus occurred where okra (Hibiscus esculentus) was grown or where land was fallow. The largest increase in populations of T. christiei occurred in cropping systems that involved millet, sudangrass, and okra whereas the smallest increase occurred in cropping systems that involved crotalaria or fallow. A winter cover of rye (Secale cereale) had no distinguishable effect on population densities of P. brachyurus or T. christiei. Meloidogyne incognita was detected during the fourth year in both newly cleared and old agricultural land when okra was included in the cropping system. Detectable populations of M. incognita did not develop in any of the other cropping systems. Yields of tomato transplants were higher on the newly cleared land than on the old land. Highest yields were obtained when crotalaria was included in the cropping system. Lowest yields were obtained when milo, or fallow were included in the cropping system. Length of rotation had no distinguishable effect on yields of tomato transplants.

Eleven years of crop diversification alters decomposition dynamics of litter mixtures incubated with soil

DOE PAGES

McDaniel, M. D.; Grandy, A. S.; Tiemann, L. K.; ...

2016-08-11

Agricultural crop rotations have been shown to increase soil carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and microbial biomass. The mechanisms behind these increases remain unclear, but may be linked to the diversity of crop residue inputs to soil organic matter (SOM). Here, we used a residue mixture incubation to examine how variation in long-term diversity of plant communities in agroecosystems influences decomposition of residue mixtures, thus providing a comparison of the effects of plant diversification on decomposition in the long term (via crop rotation) and short term (via residue mixtures). Three crop residue mixtures, ranging in diversity from two to four species,more » were incubated for 360 d with soils from five crop rotations, ranging from monoculture corn (mC) to a complex five-crop rotation. In response, we measured fundamental soil pools and processes underlying C and N cycling. These included soil respiration, inorganic N, microbial biomass, and extracellular enzymes. We hypothesized that soils with more diverse cropping histories would show greater synergistic mixture effects than mC. For most variables (except extracellular enzymes), crop rotation history, or the long-term history of plant diversity in the field, had a stronger effect on soil processes than mixture composition. In contrast to our hypothesis, the mC soil had nearly three and seven times greater synergistic mixture effects for respiration and microbial biomass N, respectively, compared with soils from crop rotations. This was due to the low response of the mC soils to poor quality residues (corn and wheat), likely resulting from a lack of available C and nutrients to cometabolize these residues. These results indicate that diversifying crop rotations in agricultural systems alter the decomposition dynamics of new residue inputs, which may be linked to the benefits of increasing crop rotation diversity on soil nutrient cycling, SOM dynamics, and yields.« less

Management of Lesion Nematodes and Potato Early Dying with Rotation Crops

PubMed Central

LaMondia, J.A.

2006-01-01

Soil-incorporated rotation/green manure crops were evaluated for management of potato early dying caused by Verticillium dahliae and Pratylenchus penetrans. After two years of rotation/green manure and a subsequent potato crop, P. penetrans numbers were less after ‘Saia’ oat/‘Polynema’ marigold, ‘Triple S’ sorghum-sudangrass, or ‘Garry’ oat than ‘Superior’ potato or ‘Humus’ rapeseed. The area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) for early dying was lowest after Saia oat/marigold, and tuber yields were greater than continuous potato after all crops except sorghum-sudangrass. Saia oat/marigold crops resulted in the greatest tuber yields. After one year of rotation/green manure, a marigold crop increased tuber yields and reduced AUDPC and P. penetrans. In the second potato crop after a single year of rotation, plots previously planted to marigolds had reduced P. penetrans densities and AUDPC and increased tuber yield. Rapeseed supported more P. penetrans than potato, but had greater yields. After two years of rotation/green manure crops and a subsequent potato crop, continuous potato had the highest AUDPC and lowest tuber weight. Rotation with Saia oats (2 yr) and Rudbeckia hirta (1 yr) reduced P. penetrans and increased tuber yields. AUDPC was lowest after R. hirta. Two years of sorghum-sudangrass did not affect P. penetrans, tuber yield or AUDPC. These results demonstrate that P. penetrans may be reduced by one or two years of rotation to non-host or antagonistic plants such as Saia oat, Polynema marigold, or R. hirta and that nematode control may reduce the severity of potato early dying. PMID:19259461

Reconciling pesticide reduction with economic and environmental sustainability in arable farming.

PubMed

Lechenet, Martin; Bretagnolle, Vincent; Bockstaller, Christian; Boissinot, François; Petit, Marie-Sophie; Petit, Sandrine; Munier-Jolain, Nicolas M

2014-01-01

Reducing pesticide use is one of the high-priority targets in the quest for a sustainable agriculture. Until now, most studies dealing with pesticide use reduction have compared a limited number of experimental prototypes. Here we assessed the sustainability of 48 arable cropping systems from two major agricultural regions of France, including conventional, integrated and organic systems, with a wide range of pesticide use intensities and management (crop rotation, soil tillage, cultivars, fertilization, etc.). We assessed cropping system sustainability using a set of economic, environmental and social indicators. We failed to detect any positive correlation between pesticide use intensity and both productivity (when organic farms were excluded) and profitability. In addition, there was no relationship between pesticide use and workload. We found that crop rotation diversity was higher in cropping systems with low pesticide use, which would support the important role of crop rotation diversity in integrated and organic strategies. In comparison to conventional systems, integrated strategies showed a decrease in the use of both pesticides and nitrogen fertilizers, they consumed less energy and were frequently more energy efficient. Integrated systems therefore appeared as the best compromise in sustainability trade-offs. Our results could be used to re-design current cropping systems, by promoting diversified crop rotations and the combination of a wide range of available techniques contributing to pest management.

Reconciling Pesticide Reduction with Economic and Environmental Sustainability in Arable Farming

PubMed Central

Lechenet, Martin; Bretagnolle, Vincent; Bockstaller, Christian; Boissinot, François; Petit, Marie-Sophie; Petit, Sandrine; Munier-Jolain, Nicolas M.

2014-01-01

Reducing pesticide use is one of the high-priority targets in the quest for a sustainable agriculture. Until now, most studies dealing with pesticide use reduction have compared a limited number of experimental prototypes. Here we assessed the sustainability of 48 arable cropping systems from two major agricultural regions of France, including conventional, integrated and organic systems, with a wide range of pesticide use intensities and management (crop rotation, soil tillage, cultivars, fertilization, etc.). We assessed cropping system sustainability using a set of economic, environmental and social indicators. We failed to detect any positive correlation between pesticide use intensity and both productivity (when organic farms were excluded) and profitability. In addition, there was no relationship between pesticide use and workload. We found that crop rotation diversity was higher in cropping systems with low pesticide use, which would support the important role of crop rotation diversity in integrated and organic strategies. In comparison to conventional systems, integrated strategies showed a decrease in the use of both pesticides and nitrogen fertilizers, they consumed less energy and were frequently more energy efficient. Integrated systems therefore appeared as the best compromise in sustainability trade-offs. Our results could be used to re-design current cropping systems, by promoting diversified crop rotations and the combination of a wide range of available techniques contributing to pest management. PMID:24887494

Row and forage crop rotation effects on maize mineral nutrition and yield

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Extended crop rotations provide many attributes in support of sustainable agriculture. Objectives were to investigate rotations that included row crops and forages in terms of their effects on soil characteristics as well as on maize (Zea mays L.) stover biomass, grain yield, and mineral components...

One plant, two plants, three plants, four: does soil carbon respond to diversifying by one plant more? (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grandy, S.

2013-12-01

Plant diversity is known to strongly influence aboveground ecosystem functions, but our understanding of its effects on belowground carbon (C) cycling has not kept pace. We know in broad terms that the belowground implications of reducing plant diversity include changes in soil nutrient cycling and biological communities, but remain uncertain about the specific links between plant diversity, soil microbial communities, and soil C cycling. Our knowledge gap is especially wide in agricultural systems, which comprise ~50% of the contiguous U.S. and differ from non-managed systems because diversity: (1) occurs primarily over time (i.e. crop rotations) rather than in space (i.e. inter-cropping); (2) exists as one of multiple management factors that potentially regulates soil C dynamics; and (3) is almost always low, with the addition or subtraction of a single plant species often representing a substantial change in diversity. I have been addressing the uncertain relationships between agricultural plant diversity and soil C cycling with a multi-tiered approach that includes a global meta-analysis, site-specific field manipulations, and intensive laboratory analyses. The meta-analysis using 122 studies shows that compared to single-crop monocultures, rotations increased soil microbial biomass C by 20.7% and microbial biomass N by 26.1% as well as total soil C and N. In a complimentary field study at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station LTER Cropping Biodiversity Gradient Experiment we examined microbial communities, C cycling processes, and trace gas emissions in five rotation sequences varying in complexity from continuous corn monoculture to a five crop three-year rotation. Finding striking differences between monocultures and systems with more complex plant communities, these results confirm our meta-analysis, and highlight the strong effects of diversifying plant communities in agricultural systems. A complimentary lab study examining decomposition processes in monocultures and more diverse rotations shows that rotation soils process chemically complex C more rapidly. My studies point to complex relationships between the chemistry of substrate inputs and their fate in soils, while also emphasizing an important management consideration: maintaining soil biological functions and ecosystem services in managed agricultural systems requires the rotation of different crops, rather than the production of single crop monocultures.

Implications of observed and simulated soil carbon sequestration for management options in corn-based rotations

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Managing cropping systems to sequester soil organic carbon (SOC) improves soil health and a system’s resiliency to impacts of changing climate. Our objectives were to 1) monitor SOC from a bio-energy cropping study in central Pennsylvania that included a corn-soybean-alfalfa rotation, switchgrass, a...

Implications of observed and simulated soil carbon sequestration for management options in corn-based rotations

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Managing cropping systems to sequester soil organic carbon (SOC) improves soil health and a system’s resiliency to impacts of changing climate. Our objectives were to 1) monitor SOC from a bio-energy cropping study in central Pennsylvania that included a corn-soybean-alfalfa rotation, switchgrass, ...

[Effect of conservation tillage on weeds in a rotation system on the Loess Plateau of eastern Gansu, Northwest China].

PubMed

Zhao, Yu-xin; Lu, Jiao-yun; Yang, Hui-min

2015-04-01

A field study was conducted to investigate the influences of no-tillage, stubble retention and crop type on weed density, species composition and community feature in a rotation system (winter wheat-common vetch-maize) established 12 years ago on the Loess Plateau of eastern Gansu. This study showed that the weed species composition, density and community feature varied with the change of crop phases. No-tillage practice increased the weed density at maize phase, while rotation with common vetch decreased the density in the no-tillage field. Stubble retention reduced the weed density under maize phase and the lowest density was observed in the no-tillage plus stubble retention field. No-tillage practice significantly increased the weed species diversity under winter wheat phase and decreased the diversity under common vetch phase. At maize phase, a greater species diversity index was observed in the no-tillage field. These results suggested that no-tillage practice and stubble retention possibly suppress specific weeds with the presence of some crops and crop rotation is a vital way to controlling weeds in a farming system.

Improvement of red pepper yield and soil environment by summer catch aquatic crops in greenhouses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Du, X. F.; Wang, L. Z.; Peng, J.; Wang, G. L.; Guo, X. S.; Wen, T. G.; Gu, D. L.; Wang, W. Z.; Wu, C. W.

2016-08-01

To investigate effects of the rotation of summer catch crops on remediation retrogressed soils in continuous cropping, a field experiment was conducted. Rice, water spinach, or cress were selected as summer catch crops; bare fallow during summer fallow was used as the control group. Results showed that aquatic crops grown in summer fallow period could effectively reduce soil bulk density and pH, facilitate soil nutrient release, and improve soil physical and chemical properties compared with those grown in fallow period. Paddy-upland rotation could improve soil microbial members and increase bacterial and actinomycete populations; by contrast, paddy-upland rotation could reduce fungal populations and enhance bacterium-to-fungus ratio. Paddy-upland rotation could also actively promote activities of soil enzymes, such as urease, phosphatase, invertase, and catalase. The proposed paddy-upland rotation significantly affected the growth of red pepper; the yield and quality of the grown red pepper were enhanced. Summer catch crops, such as rice, water spinach, and cress significantly increased pepper yield in the following growing season by 15.4%, 10.2% and 14.0%, respectively, compared with those grown in fallow treatment. Therefore, the proposed paddy-upland crop rotation could be a useful method to alleviate continuous cropping problems involved in cultivating red pepper in greenhouses.

Effects of crop rotation and management system on water-extractable organic matter concentration, structure, and bioavailability in a chernozemic agricultural soil.

PubMed

Xu, Na; Wilson, Henry F; Saiers, James E; Entz, Martin

2013-01-01

Water-extractable organic matter (WEOM) in soil affects contaminant mobility and toxicity, heterotrophic production, and nutrient cycling in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. This study focuses on the influences of land use history and agricultural management practices on the water extractability of organic matter and nutrients from soils. Water-extractable organic matter was extracted from soils under different crop rotations (an annual rotation of wheat-pea/bean-wheat-flax or a perennial-based rotation of wheat-alfalfa-alfalfa-flax) and management systems (organic or conventional) and examined for its concentration, composition, and biodegradability. The results show that crop rotations including perennial legumes increased the concentration of water-extractable organic carbon (WEOC) and water-extractable organic nitrogen (WEON) and the biodegradability of WEOC in soil but depleted the quantity of water-extractable organic phosphorus (WEOP) and water-extractable reactive phosphorus. The 30-d incubation experiments showed that bioavailable WEOC varied from 12.5% in annual systems to 22% for perennial systems. The value of bioavailable WEOC was found to positively correlate with WEON concentrations and to negatively correlate with C:N ratio and the specific ultraviolet absorbance of WEOM. No significant treatment effect was present with the conventional and organic management practices, which suggested that WEOM, as the relatively labile pool in soil organic matter, is more responsive to the change in crop rotation than to mineral fertilizer application. Our results indicated that agricultural landscapes with contrasting crop rotations are likely to differentially affect rates of microbial cycling of organic matter leached to soil waters. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

Mitigating Groundwater Depletion in North China Plain with Cropping System that Alternate Deep and Shallow Rooted Crops

PubMed Central

Yang, Xiao-Lin; Chen, Yuan-Quan; Steenhuis, Tammo S.; Pacenka, Steven; Gao, Wang-Sheng; Ma, Li; Zhang, Min; Sui, Peng

2017-01-01

In the North China Plain, groundwater tables have been dropping at unsustainable rates of 1 m per year due to irrigation of a double cropping system of winter wheat and summer maize. To reverse the trend, we examined whether alternative crop rotations could save water. Moisture contents were measured weekly at 20 cm intervals in the top 180 cm of soil as part of a 12-year field experiment with four crop rotations: sweet potato→ cotton→ sweet potato→ winter wheat-summer maize (SpCSpWS, 4-year cycle); peanuts → winter wheat-summer maize (PWS, 2-year cycle); ryegrass–cotton→ peanuts→ winter wheat-summer maize (RCPWS, 3-year cycle); and winter wheat-summer maize (WS, each year). We found that, compared to WS, the SpCSpWS annual evapotranspiration was 28% lower, PWS was 19% lower and RCPWS was 14% lower. The yield per unit of water evaporated improved for wheat within any alternative rotation compared to WS, increasing up to 19%. Average soil moisture contents at the sowing date of wheat in the SpCSpWS, PWS, and RCPWS rotations were 7, 4, and 10% higher than WS, respectively. The advantage of alternative rotations was that a deep rooted crop of winter wheat reaching down to 180 cm followed shallow rooted crops (sweet potato and peanut drawing soil moisture from 0 to 120 cm). They benefited from the sequencing and vertical complementarity of soil moisture extraction. Thus, replacing the traditional crop rotation with cropping system that involves rotating with annual shallow rooted crops is promising for reducing groundwater depletion in the North China Plain. PMID:28642779

Influence of crop rotation and tillage intensity on soil physical properties and functions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krümmelbein, Julia

2013-04-01

Soil tillage intensity can vary concerning tillage depth, frequency, power input into the soil and degree of soil turn-over. Conventional tillage systems where a plough is regularly used to turn over the soil can be differentiated from reduced tillage systems without ploughing but with loosening the upper soil and no tillage systems. Between conventional tillage and no tillage is a wide range of more or less reduced tillage systems. In our case the different tillage intensities are not induced by different agricultural machinery or techniques, but result from varying crop rotations with more or less perennial crops and therefore lower or higher tillage frequency. Our experimental area constitutes of quite unstructured substrates, partly heavily compacted. The development of a functioning soil structure and accumulation of nutrients and organic matter are of high importance. Three different crop rotations induce varying tillage intensities and frequencies. The first crop rotation (Alfalfa monoculture) has only experienced seed bed preparation once and subsequently is wheeled once a year to cut and chaff the biomass. The second crop rotation contains perennial and annual crops and has therefore been tilled more often, while the third crop rotation consists only of annual crops with annual seedbed preparation. Our results show that reduced tillage intensity/frequency combined with the intense root growth of Alfalfa creates the most favourable soil physical state of the substrate compared to increased tillage and lower root growth intensity of the other crop rotations. Soil tillage disturbs soil structure development, especially when the substrate is mechanically unstable as in our case. For such problematic locations it is recommendable to reduce tillage intensity and/or frequency to allow the development of soil structure enhanced by root growth and thereby the accumulation of organic matter and nutrients within the rooting zone.

Wing shape and size of the western corn rootworm (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) is related to sex and resistance to soybean-maize crop rotation.

PubMed

Mikac, K M; Douglas, J; Spencer, J L

2013-08-01

The western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte, is a major pest of maize in the United States and more recently, Europe. Understanding the dispersal dynamics of this species will provide crucial information for its management. This study used geometric morphometric analysis of hind wing venation based on 13 landmarks in 223 specimens from nine locations in Illinois, Nebraska, Iowa, and Missouri, to assess whether wing shape and size differed between rotated and continuously grown maize where crop rotation-resistant and susceptible individuals are found, respectively. Before assessing differences between rotation-resistant and susceptible individuals, sexual dimorphism was investigated. No significant difference in wing (centroid) size was found between males and females; however, females had significantly different shaped (more elongated) wings compared with males. Wing shape and (centroid) size were significantly larger among individuals from rotated maize where crop-rotation resistance was reported; however, cross-validation of these results revealed that collection site resistance status was an only better than average predictor of shape in males and females. This study provides preliminary evidence of wing shape and size differences in D. v. virgifera from rotated versus continuous maize. Further study is needed to confirm whether wing shape and size can be used to track the movement of rotation-resistant individuals and populations as a means to better inform management strategies.

Economic potential of short-rotation woody crops on agricultural land for pulp fiber production in the United States.

Treesearch

Ralph J. Alig; Darius M. Adams; Bruce A. McCarl; Peter J. Ince

2000-01-01

A model of the U.S. forestry and agricultural sectors is used to simulate the consequences of growing short-rotation woody crops on agricultural lands as a fiber source for pulp and paper production. Hybrid poplar, a short-rotation woody crop, annually produces 4 to 7 dry tons per acre of hardwood pulpwood over a 6- to 10-year rotation. When harvested, the material...

Trace elements bioavailability to winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grown subsequent to high biomass plants in a greenhouse study.

PubMed

Neu, Silke; Müller, Ingo; Herzig, Rolf; Dudel, E Gert

2018-05-12

Multielement-contaminated agricultural land requires the adaptation of agronomic practices to meet legal requirements for safe biomass production. The incorporation of bioenergy plants with, at least, moderate phytoextraction capacity into crop rotations with cereals can affect trace elements (TE) phytoavailability and, simultaneously, constitute economic revenues for farmers outside the food or forage sector. Hence, in a crop rotation pot study sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.), modified for high biomass and TE accumulation by chemical mutagenesis, was compared to winter oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) as pre-crop. On two agricultural soils with different TE loads, the crops´ potential for phytoextraction and for impacts on TE uptake by subsequent winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) was studied. The results showed that rape tolerated high-level mixed contamination with metals (Cd, Pb and Zn) and As more than sunflower. In both soils, labile metals concentration increased and soil acidity remained high following sunflower. Furthermore, enhanced grain As accumulation in subsequent wheat was observed. By contrast, soil acidity and Cd or Zn accumulation of subsequent wheat decreased following rape. In the short term, moderate phytoextraction was superimposed by nutrient use or rhizosphere effects of pre-crops, which should be carefully monitored when designing crop rotations for contaminated land.

Evaluation of soil quality indicators in paddy soils under different crop rotation systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nadimi-Goki, Mandana; Bini, Claudio; Haefele, Stephan; Abooei, Monireh

2013-04-01

Evaluation of soil quality indicators in paddy soils under different crop rotation systems Soil quality, by definition, reflects the capacity to sustain plant and animal productivity, maintain or enhance water and air quality, and promote plant and animal health. Soil quality assessment is an essential issue in soil management for agriculture and natural resource protection. This study was conducted to detect the effects of four crop rotation systems (rice-rice-rice, soya-rice-rice, fallow-rice and pea-soya-rice) on soil quality indicators (soil moisture, porosity, bulk density, water-filled pore space, pH, extractable P, CEC, OC, OM, microbial respiration, active carbon) in paddy soils of Verona area, Northern Italy. Four adjacent plots which managed almost similarly, over five years were selected. Surface soil samples were collected from each four rotation systems in four times, during growing season. Each soil sample was a composite of sub-samples taken from 3 points within 350 m2 of agricultural land. A total of 48 samples were air-dried and passed through 2mm sieve, for some chemical, biological, and physical measurements. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS. Statistical results revealed that frequency distribution of most data was normal. The lowest CV% was related to pH. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and comparison test showed that there are significant differences in soil quality indicators among crop rotation systems and sampling times. Results of multivariable regression analysis revealed that soil respiration had positively correlation coefficient with soil organic matter, soil moisture and cation exchange capacity. Overall results indicated that the rice rotation with legumes such as bean and soybean improved soil quality over a long time in comparison to rice-fallow rotation, and this is reflected in rice yield. Keywords: Soil quality, Crop Rotation System, Paddy Soils, Italy

[Effects of tobacco garlic crop rotation and intercropping on tobacco yield and rhizosphere soil phosphorus fractions].

PubMed

Tang, Biao; Zhang, Xi-zhou; Yang, Xian-bin

2015-07-01

A field plot experiment was conducted to investigate the tobacco yield and different forms of soil phosphorus under tobacco garlic crop rotation and intercropping patterns. The results showed that compared with tobacco monoculture, the tobacco yield and proportion of middle/high class of tobacco leaves to total leaves were significantly increased in tobacco garlic crop rotation and intercropping, and the rhizosphere soil available phosphorus contents were 1.3 and 1.7 times as high as that of tobacco monoculture at mature stage of lower leaf. For the inorganic phosphorus in rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soil in different treatments, the contents of O-P and Fe-P were the highest, followed by Ca2-P and Al-P, and Ca8-P and Ca10-P were the lowest. Compared with tobacco monoculture and tobacco garlic crop intercropping, the Ca2-P concentration in rhizosphere soil under tobacco garlic crop rotation at mature stage of upper leaf, the Ca8-P concentration at mature stage of lower leaf, and the Ca10-P concentration at mature stage of middle leaf were lowest. The Al-P concentrations under tobacco garlic crop rotation and intercropping were 1.6 and 1.9 times, and 1.2 and 1.9 times as much as that under tobacco monoculture in rhizosphere soil at mature stages of lower leaf and middle leaf, respectively. The O-P concentrations in rhizosphere soil under tobacco garlic crop rotation and intercropping were significantly lower than that under tobacco monoculture. Compared with tobacco garlic crop intercropping, the tobacco garlic crop rotation could better improve tobacco yield and the proportion of high and middle class leaf by activating O-P, Ca10-P and resistant organic phosphorus in soil.

Soil wet aggregate stability in dryland Pacific Northwest intensified crop rotations

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Improving soil aggregation in the semiarid inland Pacific Northwest cropping region can reduce the erodibility and improve water infiltration in the silt loam soils. We compared the individual crop phases of six different crop rotations in plots located in 300 mm mean annual precipitation area of t...

Decoupling the deep: crop rotations, fertilization and soil physico-chemical properties down the profile

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hobley, Eleanor; Honermeier, Bernd; Don, Axel; Amelung, Wulf; Kögel-Knabner, Ingrid

2017-04-01

Crop fertilization provides vital plant nutrients (e.g. NPK) to ensure yield security but is also associated with negative environmental impacts. In particular, inorganic, mineral nitrogen (Nmin) fertilization leads to emissions during its energy intensive production as well as Nmin leaching to receiving waters. Incorporating legumes into crop rotations can provide organic N to the soil and subsequent crops, reducing the need for mineral N fertilizer and its negative environmental impacts. An added bonus is the potential to enhance soil organic carbon stocks, thereby reducing atmospheric CO2 concentrations. In this study we assessed the effects of legumes in rotation and fertilization regimes on the depth distribution - down to 1 m - of total soil nitrogen (Ntot), soil organic carbon (SOC) as well as isotopic composition (δ13C, δ15N), electrical conductivity and bulk density as well as agricultural yields at a long-term field experiment in Gießen, Germany. Fertilization had significant but small impacts on the soil chemical environment, most particularly the salt content of the soil, with PK fertilization increasing electrical conductivity throughout the soil profile. Similarly, fertilization resulted in a small reduction of soil pH throughout the soil profile. N fertilization, in particular, significantly increased yields, whereas PK fertilizer had only marginal yield effects, indicating that these systems are N limited. This N limitation was confirmed by significant yield benefits with leguminous crops in rotation, even in combination with mineral N fertilizer. The soil was physically and chemically influenced by the choice of crop rotation. Adding clover as a green mulch crop once every 4 years resulted in an enrichment of total N and SOC at the surface compared with fava beans and maize, but only in combination with PK fertilization. In contrast, fava beans and to a lesser extent maize in rotation lowered bulk densities in the subsoil compared with clover. This resulted in a reduction of N density at depth, which was not mirrored in C densities, indicating that fava beans decouple C and N cycles in the deep soil profile. We then tested whether these effects are a result of plant (i.e. enhanced rooting depth associated with lowered subsoil bulk density) or microbial (i.e. N-cycling and denitrification processes) activities, by investigating the isotopic signatures of C and N down the profile. Our results indicate that the selection of crop rotation influences soil C and N cycling and depth distribution. Although mineral N fertilizer has significant benefits for yield, the choice of crop rotation has a greater influence on soil C and N cycling and specifically the addition of leguminous plants into rotation can provide additional yield benefits and stability. Incorporating legumes into crop rotations affects soil physical and chemical properties and decouples C and N cycles in the deep soil profile, indicating different nutrient and water cycling processes in the deep soil profile.

A diversified no-till crop rotation reduces nitrous oxide emissions, increases soybean yields, and promotes soil C accrual

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

We evaluated the impact of crop rotational diversity on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, global warming potential (GWP), and crop yields. Under no-till, rain-fed conditions, a two-yr (corn (Zea mays L.)-soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.)) rotation and a four-yr (corn-field peas (Pisum sativum L.)-winte...

Effect of Crop Rotation on Meloidogyne spp. and Pratylenchus spp. Populations in Strawberry Fields in Taiwan

PubMed Central

Chen, P.; Tsay, T.T.

2006-01-01

Changes in population levels of Meloidogyne hapla, M. incognita, Pratylenchus coffeae, and P. penetrans were studied in 12 strawberry fields in the Dahu region of Taiwan. Ten potential rotation crops and two cultural practices were evaluated for their effect on nematode populations and influence on strawberry yield. Rotation with rice or taro and the cultural practice of flooding and bare fallowing for four months were found to reduce nematode soil populations to two or fewer nematodes per 100 ml soil. Average strawberry yields increased between 2.4% to 6.3% following taro compared to the bare fallow treatment. Corn suppressed M. incognita and M. hapla populations and resulted in an increased in strawberry yield compared to bare fallow. Other phytopathogens also present in these fields limited taro as the rotation choice for nematode management. Results of this research and economic analysis of the input requirements for various rotation crops, corn and bare fallow were recommended as the most appropriate rotation strategies for nematode management in strawberry in this region. PMID:19259538

Pigeon Pea and Cowpea-Based Cropping Systems Improve Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Colonisation of Subsequent Maize on the Alfisols in Central Malawi

PubMed Central

Semu, Ernest; Mrema, Jerome P.; Nalivata, Patson C.

2017-01-01

Mycorrhizal associations contribute to the sustainability of crop production systems through their roles in nutrient cycling and other benefits in the soil-plant ecosystems. A two-year study was conducted on the Alfisols of Lilongwe and Dowa districts, Central Malawi, to assess the vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) fungal colonisation levels in pigeon pea, cowpea, and maize grown in sole cropping, legume-cereal, and legume-legume intercropping systems and in the maize grown in short rotation (year 2) as influenced by the previous cropping systems and N fertilizer application. The gridline intersect method was used to assess the VAM fungal colonisation levels. Results showed that all treatments that included legumes whether grown as sole crop, in legume-cereal or in legume-legume cropping systems in the previous year, had significantly higher (P < 0.05) VAM fungal colonisation of the rotational maize crop roots by a range 39% to 50% and 19% to 47% than those in maize supplied and not supplied with N fertilizer, respectively, in a maize-maize short rotation, at the Lilongwe site. A similar trend was reported for the Dowa site. Furthermore, there were positive correlations between VAM fungal colonisation and the plant P content, dry matter yield, and nodule numbers. Further studies may help to assess the diversity of VAM fungal species in Malawi soils and identify more adaptive ones for inoculation studies. PMID:28584528

Pigeon Pea and Cowpea-Based Cropping Systems Improve Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Colonisation of Subsequent Maize on the Alfisols in Central Malawi.

PubMed

Njira, Keston O W; Semu, Ernest; Mrema, Jerome P; Nalivata, Patson C

2017-01-01

Mycorrhizal associations contribute to the sustainability of crop production systems through their roles in nutrient cycling and other benefits in the soil-plant ecosystems. A two-year study was conducted on the Alfisols of Lilongwe and Dowa districts, Central Malawi, to assess the vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) fungal colonisation levels in pigeon pea, cowpea, and maize grown in sole cropping, legume-cereal, and legume-legume intercropping systems and in the maize grown in short rotation (year 2) as influenced by the previous cropping systems and N fertilizer application. The gridline intersect method was used to assess the VAM fungal colonisation levels. Results showed that all treatments that included legumes whether grown as sole crop, in legume-cereal or in legume-legume cropping systems in the previous year, had significantly higher ( P < 0.05) VAM fungal colonisation of the rotational maize crop roots by a range 39% to 50% and 19% to 47% than those in maize supplied and not supplied with N fertilizer, respectively, in a maize-maize short rotation, at the Lilongwe site. A similar trend was reported for the Dowa site. Furthermore, there were positive correlations between VAM fungal colonisation and the plant P content, dry matter yield, and nodule numbers. Further studies may help to assess the diversity of VAM fungal species in Malawi soils and identify more adaptive ones for inoculation studies.

Greenhouse gas emissions from traditional and biofuels cropping systems

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Cropping systems can have a tremendous effect on the greenhouse gas emissions from soils. The objectives of this study were to compare greenhouse gas emissions from traditional (continuous corn or corn/soybean rotation) and biomass (miscanthus, sorghum, switchgrass) cropping systems. Biomass croppin...

Changes in the biological activity of chestnut soils upon the long-term application of fertilizers in a rotation with oil-bearing crops

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eleshev, R. E.; Bakenova, Z. B.

2012-11-01

Experimental studies showed that irrigated chestnut soils on the piedmont of the Zailiiskiy Alatau Range are characterized by the moderate activity of the hydrolytic and redox enzymes. The use of these soils in the crop rotation system increases the hydrolytic activity of the enzymes (invertase, urease, and ATP synthase) by 30% in comparison with the monoculture; at the same time, it does not have a significant impact on the changes in the biological activity of the redox enzymes (catalase and dehydrogenase). The hydrolytic activity of the soils is activated to a greater extent in the crop rotation and in the monoculture against the background application of organic fertilizers. In this case, the recommended rates of mineral fertilizers do not inhibit the activity of the hydrolytic and redox enzymes. An increase in the hydrolytic activity of the enzymes directly affects the yield of oilseed flax. Therefore, indices of the hydrolytic activity of soils can be used as a test for the diagnostics of the efficiency of fertilizers both in crop rotation and monoculture systems.

A methodological approach for deriving regional crop rotations as basis for the assessment of the impact of agricultural strategies using soil erosion as example.

PubMed

Lorenz, Marco; Fürst, Christine; Thiel, Enrico

2013-09-01

Regarding increasing pressures by global societal and climate change, the assessment of the impact of land use and land management practices on land degradation and the related decrease in sustainable provision of ecosystem services gains increasing interest. Existing approaches to assess agricultural practices focus on the assessment of single crops or statistical data because spatially explicit information on practically applied crop rotations is mostly not available. This provokes considerable uncertainties in crop production models as regional specifics have to be neglected or cannot be considered in an appropriate way. In a case study in Saxony, we developed an approach to (i) derive representative regional crop rotations by combining different data sources and expert knowledge. This includes the integration of innovative crop sequences related to bio-energy production or organic farming and different soil tillage, soil management and soil protection techniques. Furthermore, (ii) we developed a regionalization approach for transferring crop rotations and related soil management strategies on the basis of statistical data and spatially explicit data taken from so called field blocks. These field blocks are the smallest spatial entity for which agricultural practices must be reported to apply for agricultural funding within the frame of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) program. The information was finally integrated into the spatial decision support tool GISCAME to assess and visualize in spatially explicit manner the impact of alternative agricultural land use strategies on soil erosion risk and ecosystem services provision. Objective of this paper is to present the approach how to create spatially explicit information on agricultural management practices for a study area around Dresden, the capital of the German Federal State Saxony. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Economic impacts of short-rotation woody crops for energy or oriented strand board: a Minnesota case study

Treesearch

William F. Lazarus; Douglas G. Tiffany; Ronald S. Zalesny Jr.; Don E. Riemenschneider

2011-01-01

Short-rotation woody crops (SRWC) such as hybrid poplars are becoming increasingly competitive with agriculture on marginal land. The trees can be grown for energy and for traditional uses such as oriented strandboard. Using IMPLAN (Impact Analysis for Planning) software, we modeled the impacts of shifting land use from hay and pasture for cow-calf beef operations to...

[Effects of different crop rotations on growth of continuous cropping sorghum and its rhizosphere soil micro-environment.

PubMed

Wang, Jin Song; Fan, Fang Fang; Guo, Jun; Wu, Ai Lian; Dong, Er Wei; Bai, Wen Bin; Jiao, Xiao Yan

2016-07-01

The effects of crop rotation on sorghum [Sorghum biocolor (L) Moench] growth, rhizosphere microbial community and the activity of soil enzymes for successive crops of sorghum were evaluated. Five years of continuous monoculture sorghum as the control (CK) was compared to alfalfa and scallion planted in the fourth year. The results showed that incorporation of alfalfa and scallion into the rotation significantly improved sorghum shoot growth. Specifically, sorghum grain yield increased by 16.5% in the alfalfa rotation plots compared to the CK. The rotations also increased sorghum root system growth, with alfalfa or scallion rotation increasing sorghum total root length by 0.3 and 0.4 times, total root surface area by 0.6 and 0.5 times, root volume by 1.2 and 0.6 times, and root biomass by 1.0 and 0.3 times, respectively. Alfalfa rotation also expanded sorghum root distribution below the 10 cm soil depth. A Biolog analysis on biome functions in the sorghum flowering period indicated significantly higher microbial activity in the rotation plots. The alfalfa and scallion rotation increased the Shannon index by 0.2 and 0.1 times compared to the CK, and improved the sucrose activity in the rhizosphere soil. It was concluded that including alfalfa in rotation with sorghum improved sorghum rhizosphere soil environment, enhanced soil microbial enzyme activity, alleviated the obstacle of continuous cropping and thus increased the sorghum yield.

[Soil quality assessment under different cropping system and straw management in farmland of arid oasis region].

PubMed

Zhang, Peng Peng; Pu, Xiao Zhen; Zhang, Wang Feng

2018-03-01

To reveal the regulatory mechanism of agricultural management practices on soil quality, an experiment was carried out to study the different cropping system and straw management on soil organic carbon and fractions and soil enzyme activity in farmland of arid oasis region, which would provide a scientific basic for enhancing agricultural resources utilization and sustainable development. In crop planting planning area, we took the mainly crop (cotton, wheat, maize) as research objects and designed long-term continues cropping and crop rotation experiments. The results showed that the soil organic carbon (SOC), soil microbial biomass C, labile C, water-soluble organic C, and hot-water-soluble organic C content were increased by 3.6%-9.9%, 41.8%-98.9%, 3.3%-17.0%, 11.1%-32.4%, 4.6%-27.5% by crop rotation compared to continues cropping, and 12%-35.9%, 22.4%-49.7%, 30.7%-51.0%, 10.6%-31.9%, 41.0%-96.4% by straw incorporated compared to straw removed, respectively. The soil catalase, dehydrogenase, β-glucosidase, invertase glucose, cellulase glucose activity were increased by 6.4%-10.9%, 6.6%-18.8%, 5.9%-15.3%, 10.0%-27.4%, 28.1%-37.5% by crop rotation compared to continues cropping, and 31.4%-47.5%, 19.9%-46.6%, 13.8%-20.7%, 19.8%-55.6%, 54.1%-70.9% by straw incorporated compared to straw removed, respectively. There were significant positive linear correlations among SOC, labile SOC fractions and soil enzyme. Therefore, we concluded that labile SOC fractions and soil enzyme were effective index for evaluating the change of SOC and soil quality. Based on factor analysis, in arid region, developing agricultural production using cropland management measures, such as straw-incorporated and combined short-term continues cotton and crop rotation, could enhance SOC and labile SOC fractions contents and soil enzyme activity, which could improve soil quality and be conducive to agricultural sustainable development.

Generation of multi annual land use and crop rotation data for regional agro-ecosystem modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Waldhoff, G.; Lussem, U.; Sulis, M.; Bareth, G.

2017-12-01

For agro-ecosystem modeling on a regional scale with systems like the Community Land Model (CLM), detailed crop type and crop rotation information on the parcel-level is of key importance. Only with this, accurate assessments of the fluxes associated with the succession of crops and their management are possible. However, sophisticated agro-ecosystem modeling for large regions is only feasible at grid resolutions, which are much coarser than the spatial resolution of modern land use maps (usually ca. 30 m). As a result, much of the original information content of the maps has to be dismissed during resampling. Here we present our mapping approach for the Rur catchment (located in the west of Germany), which was developed to address these demands and issues. We integrated remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) methods to classify multi temporal images of (e.g.) Landsat, RapidEye and Sentinel-2 to generate annual crop maps for the years 2008-2017 at 15 m spatial resolution (accuracy always ca. 90 %). A key aspect of our method is the consideration of crop phenology for the data selection and the analysis. In a GIS, the annul crop maps were integrated to a crop sequence dataset from which the major crop rotations were derived (based on the 10-years). To retain the multi annual crop succession and crop area information at coarser grid resolutions, cell-based land use fractions, including other land use classes were calculated for each year and for various target cell sizes (1-32 arc seconds). The resulting datasets contain the contribution (in percent) of every land use class to each cell. Our results show that parcels with the major crop types can be differentiated with a high accuracy and on an annual basis. The analysis of the crop sequence data revealed a very large number of different crop rotations, but only relatively few crop rotations cover larger areas. This strong diversity emphasizes the importance of information on crop rotations to reduce uncertainties in agro-ecosystem modeling. Through the combination of the multi annual land use fractions, the resulting datasets additionally inform about land use changes and trends within the coarser grid cells. We see this as a major advantage, because we are able to maintain much more precise land use information when a coarser cell size is used.

Effects of crop rotation on properties of a Vietnam clay soil under rice-based cropping systems in small-scale farmers' fields

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

In tropical deltas, intensive monocultures with three rice crops per year have been the standard for decades. In recent years, though, rice-based rotations with one or more upland crops per year are being adopted by several farmers. Their trends of increasing grain yields raise the question whether ...

Soil total carbon and nitrogen and crop yields after eight years of tillage, crop rotation, and cultural practice

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Information on the long-term effect of management practices on soil C and N stocks is lacking. An experiment was conducted from 2004 to 2011 in the northern Great Plains, USA to examine the effects of tillage, crop rotation, and cultural practice on annualized crop biomass (stems + leaves) residue r...

Comparing Soil Carbon of Short Rotation Poplar Plantations with Agricultural Crops and Woodlots in North Central United States

Treesearch

Mark D. Coleman; J.G. Isebrands; David N. Tolsted; Virginia R. Tolbert

2004-01-01

We collected soil samples from 27 study sites across North Central United States to compare the soil carbon of short rotation poplar plantations to adjacent agricultural crops and woodlots. Soil organic carbon (SOC) ranged from 20 to more than 160 Mg/ha across the sampled sites. Lowest SOC levels were found in uplands and highest levels in riparian soils. We attributed...

Concepts in crop rotations

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Crop rotations have been a part of civilization since the Middle Ages. With colonization of what would become the United States came new crops of tobacco, cotton, and corn, the first two of which would play significant roles in both the economic beginnings and social fabric of the new country, how ...

A spatial ecology study on the effects of field conditions and crop rotation on the incidence of Plectris aliena (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) grub damage to sweetpotato roots.

PubMed

Brill, Nancy L; Osborne, Jason; Abney, Mark R

2013-10-01

A farmscape study was conducted in commercial sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam) fields in Columbus County, NC, in 2010 and 2011 to investigate the effects of the following field conditions: soil drainage class, soil texture, field size, border habitat, land elevation, and the previous year's crop rotation on the incidence of damage caused by Plectris aliena Chapman (Coleoptera:Scarabaeidae) larval feeding. Soil drainage and crop rotation significantly affected the incidence of damage to roots, with well drained soils having a low estimated incidence of damaged roots (0.004) compared with all other drainage classes (0.009-0.011 incidence of damaged roots). Fields with soybeans [Glycine max (L.) Merr] planted the preceding year had the highest incidence of root damage (0.15) compared with all other crops. The effects of border habitats, which were adjacent to grower fields where roots were sampled, showed that as the location of the roots was closer to borders of soybean (planted the year before) or grass fields, the chance of damage to roots decreased. Results indicate that growers can use crop rotation as a management technique and avoid planting sweetpotatoes the year after soybeans to reduce the incidence of P. aliena larval feeding on sweetpotato roots. Environmental conditions such as fields with poor drainage and certain border habitats may be avoided, or selected, by growers to reduce risk of damage to roots by P. aliena.

The Effects of Cattle Manure and Garlic Rotation on Soil under Continuous Cropping of Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus L.).

PubMed

Yang, Ruiping; Mo, Yanling; Liu, Changming; Wang, Yongqi; Ma, Jianxiang; Zhang, Yong; Li, Hao; Zhang, Xian

2016-01-01

Continuous cropping of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus L.) can lead to reduced yield and quality. We aimed to determine the effects of cattle manure addition and rotation with green garlic to improve yield and reduce disease incidence in watermelon and to examine the effects on the biological and chemical characteristics of the soil. Field experiments were performed during 2012-2014 on land previously under two years of continuous watermelon cropping in northwest China. We examined three treatment combinations: watermelon and garlic rotation, cattle manure application before watermelon planting, and combined cattle manure addition and crop rotation. Watermelon monoculture was retained as a control. Watermelon yield was significantly higher and disease incidence was lower in the treatments than the control. The populations of soil bacteria and actinomycetes and the bacteria/fungi ratio increased significantly and soil enzyme activities were generally enhanced under treatments. Available nutrients and soil organic matter contents were much higher under experimental treatments than the control. Results suggest both cattle manure application and garlic rotation can ameliorate the negative effects of continuous cropping. The combined treatment of cattle manure addition and green garlic rotation was optimal to increase yield, reduce disease incidence and enhance soil quality.

Integrating sheep grazing into cereal-based crop rotations: spring wheat yields and weed communities

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Crop diversification and integration of livestock into cropping systems may improve the economic and environmental sustainability of agricultural systems. However, few studies have examined the integration of these practices in the semiarid areas of the Northern Great Plains (NGP). A 3-yr experiment...

Biofuels, bioenergy, and bioproducts from sustainable agricultural and forest crops: proceedings of the short rotation crops international conference

Treesearch

Ronald S., Jr. Zalesny; Rob Mitchell; Jim, eds. Richardson

2008-01-01

The goal of this conference was to initiate and provide opportunities for an international forum on the science and application of producing both agricultural and forest crops for biofuels, bioenergy, and bioproducts. There is a substantial global need for development of such systems and technologies that can economically and sustainably produce short rotation crops...

Effect of pyrasulfotole carryover to peanut and tobacco

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

In the southeastern United States, growers often double-crop soft red winter wheat with peanut. In some areas, tobacco is also grown as a rotational crop. Pyrasulfotole is a residual post-emergence applied herbicide used in winter wheat, but information about its effects on rotational crops is limi...

Meteorological and management factors influencing weed abundance during 18 years of organic crop rotations

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Organic crop production is often limited by the inability to control weeds. An 18-year dataset of weed cover in organic crop rotations at the long-term Farming Systems Project at Beltsville, Maryland, provided the opportunity to identify meteorological and management factors influencing weed abundan...

Detecting and correcting logically inconsistent crop rotations and other land-use sequences

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Multi-year landuse data of adequate duration and quality has the potential to identify crop rotation history on individual fields. In the diverse landscape of western Oregon where many crops are established perennials whose stands can remain in production for multiple years, our interests included m...

Influence of Rotation Crops on the Strawberry Pathogens Pratylenchus penetrans, Meloidogyne hapla, and Rhizoctonia fragariae

PubMed Central

LaMondia, J. A.

1999-01-01

Field microplot, small plot, and greenhouse experiments were conducted to determine the effects of rotation crops on Pratylenchus penetrans, Meloidogyne hapla, and Rhizoctonia fragariae populations. Extraction of P. penetrans from roots and soil in microplots and field plots planted to rotation crops was highest for Garry oat, lowest for Triple S sorgho-sudangrass and Saia oat, and intermediate for strawberry, buckwheat, and canola. Isolation of R. fragariae from bait roots was highest for strawberry and canola after 2 years of rotation and lowest for Saia oat. Nematode extraction from roots of rotation crops in field soils was generally higher than from roots in microplots. Grasses were nonhosts of M. hapla. Strawberry, canola, and buckwheat supported root-knot populations over time, but there were no differences in nematode numbers regardless of crop after one season of strawberry growth. Garry oat, canola, and, to a lesser extent, buckwheat supported large populations of P. penetrans without visible root symptoms. Strawberry plants supported fewer nematodes due to root damage. Nematode numbers from soil were less than from roots for all crops. While there were similar trends for pathogen recovery after more than 1 year of strawberry growth following rotation, differences in pathogen density and fruit yield were not significant. In the greenhouse, P. penetrans populations in roots and soil in pots were much higher for Garry oat than for Saia oat. Total P. penetrans adult and juvenile numbers per pot ranged from 40 to 880 (mean = 365.6) for Garry oat and 0 to 40 (mean = 8.7) for Saia oat. Production of Saia oat as a rotation crop may be a means of managing strawberry nematodes and black root rot in Connecticut. PMID:19270931

[Influence of paddy rice-upland crop rotation of cold-waterlogged paddy field on crops produc- tion and soil characteristics].

PubMed

Wang, Fei; Li, Qing-hua; Lin, Cheng; He, Chun-mei; Zhong, Shao-jie; Li, Yu; Lin, Xin-jian; Huang, Jian-cheng

2015-05-01

Two consecutive years (4-crop) experiments were conducted to study the influence of different paddy rice-upland crop rotation in cold-waterlogged paddy field on the growth of crops and soil characteristics. The result showed that compared with the rice-winter fallow (CK) pattern, the two-year average yield of paddy rice under four rotation modes, including rape-rice (R-R), spring corn-rice (C-R), Chinese milk vetch-rice (M-R) and bean-rice (B-R), were increased by 5.3%-26.7%, with significant difference observed in C-R and R-R patterns. Except for M-R pattern, the annual average total economic benefits were improved by 79.0%-392.4% in all rotation pattern compared with the CK, and the ration of output/input was enhanced by 0.06-0.72 unit, with the most significant effect found in the C-R pattern. Likewise, compared with the CK, the contents of chlorophyll and carotenoid, and net photosynthetic rate (Pn) of rice plant were all increased during the full-tillering stage of rice in all rotation patterns. The rusty lines and rusty spots of soils were more obvious compared with the CK during the rice harvest, particularly in R-R, C-R and B-R patterns. The ratio of water-stable soil macro aggregates of plough layer of soil (> 2 mm) decreased at different levels in all rotation patterns while the ratios of middle aggregate (0.25-2 mm, expect for M-R) and micro aggregate of soil (< 0.25 mm) were opposite. There was a decreasing trend for soil active reducing agents in all rotation patterns, whereas the available nutrient increased. The amounts of soil bacteria in C-R and B-R patterns, fungi in B-R rotation pattern, cellulose bacteria in R-R, C-R and B-R patterns and N-fixing bacteria in B-R pattern were improved by 285.7%-403.0%, 221.7%, 64.6-92.2% and 162.2%, respectively. Moreover, the differences in all microorganisms were significant. Thus, based on the experimental results of cold-waterlogged paddy field, it was concluded that changing from single cropping rice system to C-R, R-R and B-R rotation patterns had good effect in terms of improving total yield and economic benefits, and soil physical and chemical properties were improved.

Land Use, Yield and Quality Changes of Minor Field Crops: Is There Superseded Potential to Be Reinvented in Northern Europe?

PubMed

Peltonen-Sainio, Pirjo; Jauhiainen, Lauri; Lehtonen, Heikki

2016-01-01

Diversification of agriculture was one of the strengthened aims of the greening payment of European Agricultural Policy (CAP) as diversification provides numerous ecosystems services compared to cereal-intensive crop rotations. This study focuses on current minor crops in Finland that have potential for expanded production and considers changes in their cropping areas, yield trends, breeding gains, roles in crop rotations and potential for improving resilience. Long-term datasets of Natural Resources Institute Finland and farmers' land use data from the Agency of Rural Affairs were used to analyze the above-mentioned trends and changes. The role of minor crops in rotations declined when early and late CAP periods were compared and that of cereal monocultures strengthened. Genetic yield potentials of minor crops have increased as also genetic improvements in quality traits, although some typical trade-offs with improved yields have also appeared. However, the gap between potential and attained yields has expanded, depending on the minor crop, as national yield trends have either stagnated or declined. When comparing genetic improvements of minor crops to those of the emerging major crop, spring wheat, breeding achievements in minor crops were lower. It was evident that the current agricultural policies in the prevailing market and the price environment have not encouraged cultivation of minor crops but further strengthened the role of cereal monocultures. We suggest optimization of agricultural land use, which is a core element of sustainable intensification, as a future means to couple long-term environmental sustainability with better success in economic profitability and social acceptability. This calls for development of effective policy instruments to support farmer's diversification actions.

Land Use, Yield and Quality Changes of Minor Field Crops: Is There Superseded Potential to Be Reinvented in Northern Europe?

PubMed Central

Peltonen-Sainio, Pirjo; Jauhiainen, Lauri; Lehtonen, Heikki

2016-01-01

Diversification of agriculture was one of the strengthened aims of the greening payment of European Agricultural Policy (CAP) as diversification provides numerous ecosystems services compared to cereal-intensive crop rotations. This study focuses on current minor crops in Finland that have potential for expanded production and considers changes in their cropping areas, yield trends, breeding gains, roles in crop rotations and potential for improving resilience. Long-term datasets of Natural Resources Institute Finland and farmers’ land use data from the Agency of Rural Affairs were used to analyze the above-mentioned trends and changes. The role of minor crops in rotations declined when early and late CAP periods were compared and that of cereal monocultures strengthened. Genetic yield potentials of minor crops have increased as also genetic improvements in quality traits, although some typical trade-offs with improved yields have also appeared. However, the gap between potential and attained yields has expanded, depending on the minor crop, as national yield trends have either stagnated or declined. When comparing genetic improvements of minor crops to those of the emerging major crop, spring wheat, breeding achievements in minor crops were lower. It was evident that the current agricultural policies in the prevailing market and the price environment have not encouraged cultivation of minor crops but further strengthened the role of cereal monocultures. We suggest optimization of agricultural land use, which is a core element of sustainable intensification, as a future means to couple long-term environmental sustainability with better success in economic profitability and social acceptability. This calls for development of effective policy instruments to support farmer’s diversification actions. PMID:27870865

Effect of Tropical Rotation Crops on Meloidogyne incognita and Other Plant-Parasitic Nematodes.

PubMed

McSorley, R; Dickson, D W

1995-12-01

In a field experiment conducted on sandy soil in Florida during the 1993 season, rotation crops of castor (Ricinus communis), velvetbean (Mucuna deeringina), 'Mississippi Silver' cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), American jointvetch (Aeschynomene americana), 'Dehapine 51' cotton (Gossypium hirsutum), and 'SX-17' sorghum-sudangrass (Sorghum bicolor x S. sudanense) were effective in maintaining low population densities (<12/100 cm(3) soil) of Meloidogyne incognita race 1, whereas high population densities (>450/100 cm(3) soil) resulted after 'Clemson Spineless' okra (Hibiscus esculentus) and 'Kirby' soybean (Glycine max). Following a winter cover crop of rye (Secale cereale), densities of M. incognita following the six most effective rotation crops (1993 season) remained relatively low (

Tillage and crop rotation effects on soil quality in two Iowa fields

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Soil quality is affected by inherent (parent material, climate, and topography) and anthropogenic (tillage and crop rotation) factors. We evaluated effects of five tillage treatments on 23 potential soil quality indicators after 31 years in a corn (Zea mays L.)/soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] rotat...

Thlaspi arvense (Pennycress): An off-season energy crop within the corn-soybean rotation

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Pennycress is being developed as an off-season rotation crop between annual corn and soybean production. This rotation scheme may offer distinct advantages to farmers by providing additional farm income from an otherwise fallow season with little impact on the subsequent soybean production. The seed...

Conservation Agriculture Improves Soil Quality, Crop Yield, and Incomes of Smallholder Farmers in North Western Ghana

PubMed Central

Naab, Jesse B.; Mahama, George Y.; Yahaya, Iddrisu; Prasad, P. V. V.

2017-01-01

Conservation agriculture (CA) practices are being widely promoted in many areas in sub-Saharan Africa to recuperate degraded soils and improve ecosystem services. This study examined the effects of three tillage practices [conventional moldboard plowing (CT), hand hoeing (MT) and no-tillage (NT)], and three cropping systems (continuous maize, soybean–maize annual rotation, and soybean/maize intercropping) on soil quality, crop productivity, and profitability in researcher and farmer managed on-farm trials from 2010 to 2013 in northwestern Ghana. In the researcher managed mother trial, the CA practices of NT, residue retention and crop rotation/intercropping maintained higher soil organic carbon, and total soil N compared to conventional tillage practices after 4 years. Soil bulk density was higher under NT than under CT soils in the researcher managed mother trails or farmers managed baby trials after 4 years. In the researcher managed mother trial, there was no significant difference between tillage systems or cropping systems in maize or soybean yields in the first three seasons. In the fourth season, crop rotation had the greatest impact on maize yields with CT maize following soybean increasing yields by 41 and 49% compared to MT and NT maize, respectively. In the farmers’ managed trials, maize yield ranged from 520 to 2700 kg ha-1 and 300 to 2000 kg ha-1 for CT and NT, respectively, reflecting differences in experience of farmers with NT. Averaged across farmers, CT cropping systems increased maize and soybean yield ranging from 23 to 39% compared with NT cropping systems. Partial budget analysis showed that the cost of producing maize or soybean is 20–29% cheaper with NT systems and gives higher returns to labor compared to CT practice. Benefit-to-cost ratios also show that NT cropping systems are more profitable than CT systems. We conclude that with time, implementation of CA practices involving NT, crop rotation, intercropping of maize and soybean along with crop residue retention presents a win–win scenario due to improved crop yield, increased economic return, and trends of increasing soil fertility. The biggest challenge, however, remains with producing enough biomass and retaining same on the field. PMID:28680427

Nitrous oxide emissions from crop rotations including wheat, oilseed rape and dry peas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jeuffroy, M. H.; Baranger, E.; Carrouée, B.; de Chezelles, E.; Gosme, M.; Hénault, C.; Schneider, A.; Cellier, P.

2013-03-01

Approximately 65% of anthropogenic emissions of N2O, a potent greenhouse gas (GHG), originate from soils at a global scale, and particularly after N fertilisation of the main crops in Europe. Thanks to their capacity to fix atmospheric N2 through biological fixation, legumes can reduce N fertilizer use, and possibly N2O emissions. Nevertheless, the decomposition of crop organic matter during the crop cycle and residue decomposition, and possibly the N fixation process itself, could lead to N2O emissions. The objective of this study was to quantify N2O emissions from a dry pea crop (Pisum sativum, harvested at maturity) and from the subsequent crops in comparison with N2O emissions from wheat and oilseed rape crops, fertilized or not, in various rotations. A field experiment was conducted over 4 consecutive years to compare the emissions during the pea crop, in comparison with those during the wheat (fertilized or not) or oilseed rape crops, and after the pea crop, in comparison with other preceding crops. N2O fluxes were measured using static chambers. In spite of low N2O fluxes, mainly due to the site's soil characteristics, fluxes during the crop were significantly lower for pea and unfertilized wheat than for fertilized wheat and oilseed rape. The effect of the preceding crop was not significant, while soil mineral N at harvest was higher after the pea crop. These results should be confirmed over a wider range of soil types. Nevertheless, they demonstrate the absence of N2O emissions linked to the symbiotic N fixation process, and allow us to estimate the decrease in N2O emissions by 20-25% through including one pea crop in a three-year rotation. On a larger scale, this reduction of GHG emissions at field level has to be added to the decrease due to the reduced production and transport of the N fertilizer not applied to the pea crop.

Enhanced yields and soil quality in a wheat-maize rotation using buried straw mulch.

PubMed

Guo, Zhibin; Liu, Hui; Wan, Shuixia; Hua, Keke; Jiang, Chaoqiang; Wang, Daozhong; He, Chuanlong; Guo, Xisheng

2017-08-01

Straw return may improve soil quality and crop yields. In a 2-year field study, a straw return method (ditch-buried straw return, DB-SR) was used to investigate the soil quality and crop productivity effects on a wheat-corn rotation system. This study consisted of three treatments, each with three replicates: (1) mineral fertilisation alone (CK0); (2) mineral fertilisation + 7500 kg ha -1 wheat straw incorporated at depth of 0-15 cm (NPKWS); and (3) mineral fertilisation + 7500 kg ha -1 wheat straw ditch buried at 15-30 cm (NPKDW). NPKWS and NPKDW enhanced crop yield and improved soil biotical properties compared to mineral fertilisation alone. NPKDW contributed to greater crop yields and soil nutrient availability at 15-30 cm depths, compared to NPKWS treatment. NPKDW enhanced soil microbial activity and bacteria species richness and diversity in the 0-15 cm layer. NPKWS increased soil microbial biomass, bacteria species richness and diversity at 15-30 cm. The comparison of the CK0 and NPKWS treatments indicates that a straw ditch buried by digging to the depth of 15-30 cm can improve crop yields and soil quality in a wheat-maize rotation system. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

New insights into phosphorus management in agriculture--A crop rotation approach.

PubMed

Łukowiak, Remigiusz; Grzebisz, Witold; Sassenrath, Gretchen F

2016-01-15

This manuscript presents research results examining phosphorus (P) management in a soil–plant system for three variables: i) internal resources of soil available phosphorus, ii) cropping sequence, and iii) external input of phosphorus (manure, fertilizers). The research was conducted in long-term cropping sequences with oilseed rape (10 rotations) and maize (six rotations) over three consecutive growing seasons (2004/2005, 2005/2006, and 2006/2007) in a production farm on soils originated from Albic Luvisols in Poland. The soil available phosphorus pool, measured as calcium chloride extractable P (CCE-P), constituted 28% to 67% of the total phosphorus input (PTI) to the soil–plant system in the spring. Oilseed rape and maize dominant cropping sequences showed a significant potential to utilize the CCE-P pool within the soil profile. Cropping sequences containing oilseed rape significantly affected the CCE-P pool, and in turn contributed to the P(TI). The P(TI) uptake use efficiency was 50% on average. Therefore, the CCE-P pool should be taken into account as an important component of a sound and reliable phosphorus balance. The instability of the yield prediction, based on the P(TI), was mainly due to an imbalanced management of both farmyard manure and phosphorus fertilizer. Oilseed rape plants provide a significant positive impact on the CCE-P pool after harvest, improving the productive stability of the entire cropping sequence. This phenomenon was documented by the P(TI) increase during wheat cultivation following oilseed rape. The Unit Phosphorus Uptake index also showed a higher stability in oilseed rape cropping systems compared to rotations based on maize. Cropping sequences are a primary factor impacting phosphorus management. Judicious implementation of crop rotations can improve soil P resources, efficiency of crop P use, and crop yield and yield stability. Use of cropping sequences can reduce the need for external P sources such as farmyard manure and chemical fertilizers.

Effect of a 5-Year Multi-Crop Rotation on Mineral N and Hard Red Spring Wheat Yield, Protein, Test Weight and Economics in Western North Dakota, USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Landblom, Douglas; Senturklu, Songul; Cihacek, Larry; Brevik, Eric

2016-04-01

The objectives of this non-irrigated cropping study was to employ the principles of soil health and determine the effect of rotation on seasonal mineral N, HRSW production, protein, test weight, and economics. Prior to the initiation of this research, the cropping study area had been previously seeded to hard red spring wheat (HRSW). The cropping systems consisted of a continuous HRSW control (C) compared to HRSW grown in a multi-crop 5-year rotation (R). The 5-yr rotation consisted of HRSW, cover crop (dual crop winter triticale-hairy vetch harvested for hay in June and immediately reseeded to a 7-species cover crop mix grazed by cows after weaning from mid-November to mid-December), forage corn, field pea-forage barley, and sunflower. The cereal grains, cover crops, and pea-barley intercrop were seeded using a JD 1590 no-till drill, 19 cm row spacing, and seed depth of 2.54 cm Cereal grain plant population was 3,088,750 plants/ha. The row crops were planted using a JD 7000 no-till planter, 76.2 cm row spacing, and seed depth of 5.08 cm. Plant population for the row crops was 46,947 plants/ha. Weeds were controlled using a pre-plant burn down and post-emergence control except for cover crops and pea-barley where a pre-plant burn down was the only chemical applied. Fertilizer application was based on soil test results and recommendations from the North Dakota State University Soil Testing Laboratory. During the 1st three years of the study 31.8 kg of N was applied to the C HRSW and then none the last two years of the 5-year period. The R HRSW was fertilized with 13.6 kg of N the 1st two years of the study and none the remaining three years of the 5-year period. However, chloride was low; therefore, 40.7-56.1 kg/ha were applied each year to both the C and R treatments. Based on 2014 and 2015 seasonal mineral N values, the data suggests that N levels were adequate to meet the 2690 kg/ha yield goal. In 2015, however, the R yield goal was exceeded by 673 kg/ha whereas the C yield goal of 2690 kg/ha was not achieved indicating that the multi-crop rotation enhanced soil quality and increased N cycling within the rotation management system. The 5-year average HRSW yield (C: 2690 vs. R: 2757 kg/ha; P=0.76), protein (C: 13.9 vs. R: 13.3%; P=0.06), and test weight (C: 28.1 vs. R: 28.0 kg/bu; P=0.81) did not differ between management treatments. Improved production is the result of enhanced nutrient cycling of available nutrients. Yields for crop years 1-5 were the same year 1, but in year 2, C wheat yield was 24.4% higher than R wheat (3,766 vs. 3,026 kg/ha). Change that started when the rotation was initiated became more evident in year three, when the yield margin between the two management practices began to narrow, but remained 20.5% higher for the C (3,161 vs. 2,623 kg/ha). Yield reversal became fully realized by year 4, when the R wheat yield was 9.1% higher (2,959 vs. 3,228 kg/ha), and by the 5th crop year R wheat yield was 38.9% higher than the C wheat yield (2,421 vs. 3,363 kg/ha). The 5-yr average input cost (C: 477 vs. R: 440/ha) and gross return (C: 650 vs. R: 638/ha) resulted in a net return that was 25 higher for R HRSW compared to the C HRSW (CTRL 173 vs. ROT 198/ha). The 5-yr net return from the C, R, and combination of all of the R crops was 173, 198, and 213/ha suggesting that growing continuous HRSW is less intensive, but also 14.5% less profitable.

How are arbuscular mycorrhizal associations related to maize growth performance during short-term cover crop rotation?

PubMed

Higo, Masao; Takahashi, Yuichi; Gunji, Kento; Isobe, Katsunori

2018-03-01

Better cover crop management options aiming to maximize the benefits of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) to subsequent crops are largely unknown. We investigated the impact of cover crop management methods on maize growth performance and assemblages of AMF colonizing maize roots in a field trial. The cover crop treatments comprised Italian ryegrass, wheat, brown mustard and fallow in rotation with maize. The diversity of AMF communities among cover crops used for maize management was significantly influenced by the cover crop and time course. Cover crops did not affect grain yield and aboveground biomass of subsequent maize but affected early growth. A structural equation model indicated that the root colonization, AMF diversity and maize phosphorus uptake had direct strong positive effects on yield performance. AMF variables and maize performance were related directly or indirectly to maize grain yield, whereas root colonization had a positive effect on maize performance. AMF may be an essential factor that determines the success of cover crop rotational systems. Encouraging AMF associations can potentially benefit cover cropping systems. Therefore, it is imperative to consider AMF associations and crop phenology when making management decisions. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Changes of crop rotation in Iowa determined from the USDA-NASS cropland data layer product

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Crop rotation is one of the important decisions made independently by numerous farm managers, and is a critical variable in models of crop growth and soil carbon. By combining multiple years (2001-2009) of the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) cropland data layer (CDL), it is pos...

Mycobiome of Cysts of the Soybean Cyst Nematode Under Long Term Crop Rotation.

PubMed

Hu, Weiming; Strom, Noah; Haarith, Deepak; Chen, Senyu; Bushley, Kathryn E

2018-01-01

The soybean cyst nematode (SCN), Heterodera glycines Ichinohe (Phylum Nematoda), is a major pathogen of soybean. It causes substantial yield losses worldwide and is difficult to control because the cyst protects the eggs which can remain viable for nearly a decade. Crop rotation with non-host crops and use of biocontrol organisms such as fungi and bacteria offer promising approaches, but remain hampered by lack of knowledge of the biology of nematode parasitic organisms. We used a high-throughput metabarcoding approach to characterize fungal communities associated with the SCN cyst, a microenvironment in soil that may harbor both nematode parasites and plant pathogens. SCN cysts were collected from a long-term crop rotation experiment in Southeastern Minnesota at three time points over two growing seasons to characterize diversity of fungi inhabiting cysts and to examine how crop rotation and seasonal variation affects fungal communities. A majority of fungi in cysts belonged to Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, but the presence of several early diverging fungal subphyla thought to be primarily plant and litter associated, including Mortierellomycotina and Glomeromycotina (e.g., arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi), suggests a possible role as nematode egg parasites. Species richness varied by both crop rotation and season and was higher in early years of crop rotation and in fall at the end of the growing season. Crop rotation and season also impacted fungal community composition and identified several classes of fungi, including Eurotiomycetes, Sordariomycetes, and Orbiliomycetes (e.g., nematode trapping fungi), with higher relative abundance in early soybean rotations. The relative abundance of several genera was correlated with increasing years of soybean. Fungal communities also varied by season and were most divergent at midseason. The percentage of OTUs assigned to Mortierellomycotina_cls_Incertae_sedis and Sordariomycetes increased at midseason, while Orbiliomycetes decreased at midseason, and Glomeromycetes increased in fall. Ecological guilds of fungi containing an animal-pathogen lifestyle, as well as potential egg-parasitic taxa previously isolated from parasitized SCN eggs, increased at midseason. The animal pathogen guilds included known (e.g., Pochonia chlamydosporia ) and new candidate biocontrol organisms. This research advances knowledge of the ecology of nematophagous fungi in agroecosystems and their use as biocontrol agents of the SCN.

Carbon balance of the typical grain crop rotation in Moscow region assessed by eddy covariance method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meshalkina, Joulia; Yaroslavtsev, Alexis; Vassenev, Ivan

2017-04-01

Croplands could have equal or even greater net ecosystem production than several natural ecosystems (Hollinger et al., 2004), so agriculture plays a substantial role in mitigation strategies for the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. In Central Russia, where agricultural soils carbon loses are 9 time higher than natural (forest's) soils ones (Stolbovoi, 2002), the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in agroecosystems must be the central focus of the scientific efforts. Although the balance of the CO2 mostly attributed to management practices, limited information exists regarding the crop rotation overall as potential of C sequestration. In this study, we present data on carbon balance of the typical grain crop rotation in Moscow region followed for 4 years by measuring CO2 fluxes by paired eddy covariance stations (EC). The study was conducted at the Precision Farming Experimental Fields of the Russian Timiryazev State Agricultural University, Moscow, Russia. The experimental site has a temperate and continental climate and situated in south taiga zone with Arable Sod-Podzoluvisols (Albeluvisols Umbric). Two fields of the four-course rotation were studied in 2013-2016. Crop rotation included winter wheat (Triticum sativum L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), potato crop (Solanum tuberosum L.) and cereal-legume mixture (Vicia sativa L. and Avena sativa L.). Crops sowing occurred during the period from mid-April to mid-May depending on weather conditions. Winter wheat was sown in the very beginning of September and the next year it occurred from under the snow in the phase of tillering. White mustard (Sinapis alba) was sown for green manure after harvesting winter wheat in mid of July. Barley was harvested in mid of August, potato crop was harvested in September. Cereal-legume mixture on herbage was collected depending on the weather from early July to mid-August. Carbon uptake (NEE negative values) was registered only for the fields with winter wheat and white mustard; perhaps because the two crops were cultivated on the same field within one growing season. Other cases showed CO2 emission. NEE for barley field was equal to zero or even positive during the whole year; considering only the growing season, NEE for barley was about 100 g C m-2 lower and usually was negative. Carbon uptake for cereals was strongly related with weather conditions: in favorable years it was higher. Potato crop and cereal-legume mixture showed difference in 50-100 g C m-2 per year in NEE in different years related to difference in yields. The total agroecosystems respiration ranged from 400 to 550 g C m-2 per year and was closely linked to weather conditions. Closed balance for whole years showed that carbon losses were observed for all studied agroecosystems. It was minimal for fields with winter wheat, with mustard, used as green manure, and it was maximal for fields with cereal-legume mixture. Values about 200-250 g C m-2 per year may be considered as estimated values for the total carbon loss for the typical grain crop rotation in Moscow region. The use of mustard as a green manure reduced this value by three-quarters.

Climate change impacts on dryland cropping systems in the central Great Plains, USA

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Agricultural systems models are essential tools to assess potential climate change (CC) impacts on crop production and help guide policy decisions. In this study, impacts of GCM projected CC on dryland crop rotations of wheat-fallow (WF), wheat-corn-fallow (WCF), and wheat-corn-millet (WCM) at Akro...

RZWQM2 Simulations of Alternative Cropping Systems With and Without Summer Crops in the Central Great Plains

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Integration and synthesis of data accruing from complex alternative crop rotation experiments across locations and climates is a challenge to agriculturists. System simulation models are potential tools to address this challenge. In this study, we simulated three long-term (1991 to 2008) dryland c...

The Effects of Cattle Manure and Garlic Rotation on Soil under Continuous Cropping of Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus L.)

PubMed Central

Liu, Changming; Wang, Yongqi; Ma, Jianxiang; Zhang, Yong; Li, Hao; Zhang, Xian

2016-01-01

Continuous cropping of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus L.) can lead to reduced yield and quality. We aimed to determine the effects of cattle manure addition and rotation with green garlic to improve yield and reduce disease incidence in watermelon and to examine the effects on the biological and chemical characteristics of the soil. Field experiments were performed during 2012–2014 on land previously under two years of continuous watermelon cropping in northwest China. We examined three treatment combinations: watermelon and garlic rotation, cattle manure application before watermelon planting, and combined cattle manure addition and crop rotation. Watermelon monoculture was retained as a control. Watermelon yield was significantly higher and disease incidence was lower in the treatments than the control. The populations of soil bacteria and actinomycetes and the bacteria/fungi ratio increased significantly and soil enzyme activities were generally enhanced under treatments. Available nutrients and soil organic matter contents were much higher under experimental treatments than the control. Results suggest both cattle manure application and garlic rotation can ameliorate the negative effects of continuous cropping. The combined treatment of cattle manure addition and green garlic rotation was optimal to increase yield, reduce disease incidence and enhance soil quality. PMID:27258145

Impact of production practices on physicochemical properties of rice grain quality.

PubMed

Bryant, Rolfe J; Anders, Merle; McClung, Anna

2012-02-01

Rice growers are interested in new technologies that can reduce input costs while maintaining high field yields and grain quality. The bed-and-furrow (BF) water management system benefits farmers through decreased water usage, labor, and fuel as compared to standard flood management. Fertilizer inputs can be reduced by producing rice in rotation with soybeans, a nitrogen-fixing crop, and with the use of slow-release fertilizers that reduce nitrogen volatilization and run-off. However, the influence of these cultural management practices on rice physicochemical properties is unknown. Our objective was to evaluate the influence of nitrogen fertilizer source, water management system, and crop rotation on rice grain quality. Grain protein concentration was lower in a continuous rice production system than in a rice-soybean rotation. Neither amylose content nor gelatinization temperature was altered by fertilizer source, crop rotation, or water management. BF water management decreased peak and breakdown viscosities relative to a flooded system. Peak and final paste viscosities were decreased by all fertilizer sources, whereas, crop rotation had no influence on the Rapid Visco Analyser profile. Sustainable production systems that decrease water use and utilize crop rotations and slow-release fertilizers have no major impact on rice physicochemical properties. Published 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Bacterial community variations in an alfalfa-rice rotation system revealed by 16S rRNA gene 454-pyrosequencing.

PubMed

Lopes, Ana R; Manaia, Célia M; Nunes, Olga C

2014-03-01

Crop rotation is a practice harmonized with the sustainable rice production. Nevertheless, the implications of this empirical practice are not well characterized, mainly in relation to the bacterial community composition and structure. In this study, the bacterial communities of two adjacent paddy fields in the 3rd and 4th year of the crop rotation cycle and of a nonseeded subplot were characterized before rice seeding and after harvesting, using 454-pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Although the phyla Acidobacteria, Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes predominated in all the samples, there were variations in relative abundance of these groups. Samples from the 3rd and 4th years of the crop rotation differed on the higher abundance of groups of presumable aerobic bacteria and of presumable anaerobic and acidobacterial groups, respectively. Members of the phylum Nitrospira were more abundant after rice harvest than in the previously sampled period. Rice cropping was positively correlated with the abundance of members of the orders Acidobacteriales and 'Solibacterales' and negatively with lineages such as Chloroflexi 'Ellin6529'. Studies like this contribute to understand variations occurring in the microbial communities in soils under sustainable rice production, based on real-world data. © 2013 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. All rights reserved.

Long-Term Effect of Crop Rotation and Fertilisation on Bioavailability and Fractionation of Copper in Soil on the Loess Plateau in Northwest China

PubMed Central

Zang, Yifei; Wei, Xiaorong; Hao, Mingde

2015-01-01

The bioavailability and fractionation of Cu reflect its deliverability in soil. Little research has investigated Cu supply to crops in soil under long-term rotation and fertilisation on the Loess Plateau. A field experiment was conducted in randomized complete block design to determine the bioavailability and distribution of Cu fractions in a Heilu soil (Calcaric Regosol) after 18 years of rotation and fertilisation. The experiment started in 1984, including five cropping systems (fallow control, alfalfa cropping, maize cropping, winter wheat cropping, and grain-legume rotation of pea/winter wheat/winter wheat + millet) and five fertiliser treatments (unfertilised control, N, P, N + P, and N + P + manure). Soil samples were collected in 2002 for chemical analysis. Available Cu was assessed by diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) extraction, and Cu was fractionated by sequential extraction. Results showed that DTPA-Cu was lower in cropping systems compared with fallow control. Application of fertilisers resulted in no remarkable changes in DTPA-Cu compared with unfertilised control. Correlation and path analyses revealed that soil pH and CaCO3 directly affected Cu bioavailability, whereas available P indirectly affected Cu bioavailability. The concentrations of Cu fractions (carbonate and Fe/Al oxides) in the plough layer were lower in cropping systems, while the values in the plough sole were higher under grain-legume rotation relative to fallow control. Manure with NP fertiliser increased Cu fractions bound to organic matter and minerals in the plough layer, and its effects in the plough sole varied with cropping systems. The direct sources (organic-matter-bound fraction and carbonate-bound fraction) of available Cu contributed much to Cu bioavailability. The mineral-bound fraction of Cu acted as an indicator of Cu supply potential in the soil. PMID:26694965

Long-Term Effect of Crop Rotation and Fertilisation on Bioavailability and Fractionation of Copper in Soil on the Loess Plateau in Northwest China.

PubMed

Zang, Yifei; Wei, Xiaorong; Hao, Mingde

2015-01-01

The bioavailability and fractionation of Cu reflect its deliverability in soil. Little research has investigated Cu supply to crops in soil under long-term rotation and fertilisation on the Loess Plateau. A field experiment was conducted in randomized complete block design to determine the bioavailability and distribution of Cu fractions in a Heilu soil (Calcaric Regosol) after 18 years of rotation and fertilisation. The experiment started in 1984, including five cropping systems (fallow control, alfalfa cropping, maize cropping, winter wheat cropping, and grain-legume rotation of pea/winter wheat/winter wheat + millet) and five fertiliser treatments (unfertilised control, N, P, N + P, and N + P + manure). Soil samples were collected in 2002 for chemical analysis. Available Cu was assessed by diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) extraction, and Cu was fractionated by sequential extraction. Results showed that DTPA-Cu was lower in cropping systems compared with fallow control. Application of fertilisers resulted in no remarkable changes in DTPA-Cu compared with unfertilised control. Correlation and path analyses revealed that soil pH and CaCO3 directly affected Cu bioavailability, whereas available P indirectly affected Cu bioavailability. The concentrations of Cu fractions (carbonate and Fe/Al oxides) in the plough layer were lower in cropping systems, while the values in the plough sole were higher under grain-legume rotation relative to fallow control. Manure with NP fertiliser increased Cu fractions bound to organic matter and minerals in the plough layer, and its effects in the plough sole varied with cropping systems. The direct sources (organic-matter-bound fraction and carbonate-bound fraction) of available Cu contributed much to Cu bioavailability. The mineral-bound fraction of Cu acted as an indicator of Cu supply potential in the soil.

Increasing Cropping System Diversity Balances Productivity, Profitability and Environmental Health

PubMed Central

Davis, Adam S.; Hill, Jason D.; Chase, Craig A.; Johanns, Ann M.; Liebman, Matt

2012-01-01

Balancing productivity, profitability, and environmental health is a key challenge for agricultural sustainability. Most crop production systems in the United States are characterized by low species and management diversity, high use of fossil energy and agrichemicals, and large negative impacts on the environment. We hypothesized that cropping system diversification would promote ecosystem services that would supplement, and eventually displace, synthetic external inputs used to maintain crop productivity. To test this, we conducted a field study from 2003–2011 in Iowa that included three contrasting systems varying in length of crop sequence and inputs. We compared a conventionally managed 2-yr rotation (maize-soybean) that received fertilizers and herbicides at rates comparable to those used on nearby farms with two more diverse cropping systems: a 3-yr rotation (maize-soybean-small grain + red clover) and a 4-yr rotation (maize-soybean-small grain + alfalfa-alfalfa) managed with lower synthetic N fertilizer and herbicide inputs and periodic applications of cattle manure. Grain yields, mass of harvested products, and profit in the more diverse systems were similar to, or greater than, those in the conventional system, despite reductions of agrichemical inputs. Weeds were suppressed effectively in all systems, but freshwater toxicity of the more diverse systems was two orders of magnitude lower than in the conventional system. Results of our study indicate that more diverse cropping systems can use small amounts of synthetic agrichemical inputs as powerful tools with which to tune, rather than drive, agroecosystem performance, while meeting or exceeding the performance of less diverse systems. PMID:23071739

Increasing cropping system diversity balances productivity, profitability and environmental health.

PubMed

Davis, Adam S; Hill, Jason D; Chase, Craig A; Johanns, Ann M; Liebman, Matt

2012-01-01

Balancing productivity, profitability, and environmental health is a key challenge for agricultural sustainability. Most crop production systems in the United States are characterized by low species and management diversity, high use of fossil energy and agrichemicals, and large negative impacts on the environment. We hypothesized that cropping system diversification would promote ecosystem services that would supplement, and eventually displace, synthetic external inputs used to maintain crop productivity. To test this, we conducted a field study from 2003-2011 in Iowa that included three contrasting systems varying in length of crop sequence and inputs. We compared a conventionally managed 2-yr rotation (maize-soybean) that received fertilizers and herbicides at rates comparable to those used on nearby farms with two more diverse cropping systems: a 3-yr rotation (maize-soybean-small grain + red clover) and a 4-yr rotation (maize-soybean-small grain + alfalfa-alfalfa) managed with lower synthetic N fertilizer and herbicide inputs and periodic applications of cattle manure. Grain yields, mass of harvested products, and profit in the more diverse systems were similar to, or greater than, those in the conventional system, despite reductions of agrichemical inputs. Weeds were suppressed effectively in all systems, but freshwater toxicity of the more diverse systems was two orders of magnitude lower than in the conventional system. Results of our study indicate that more diverse cropping systems can use small amounts of synthetic agrichemical inputs as powerful tools with which to tune, rather than drive, agroecosystem performance, while meeting or exceeding the performance of less diverse systems.

Dryland pea production and water use in responses to tillage, crop rotation, and weed management practice

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Pea has been used to replace fallow and sustain dryland crop yields in arid and semiarid regions, but information to optimize its management is required. We evaluated pea growth, yield, and water use in response to tillage, crop rotation, and weed management practice from 2005 to 2010 in the norther...

Conservation tillage issues: cover crop-based organic rotational no-till grain production in the mid-atlantic region

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Organic producers in the mid-Atlantic region are interested in reducing tillage, labor, and time requirements for grain production. Cover crop-based organic rotational no-till grain production is one approach to accomplishing these goals. Advancements in a system for planting crops into a mat of cov...

Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration by Tillage and Crop Rotation: A Global Data Analysis

DOE Data Explorer

West, Tristram O. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Post, Wilfred M. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

2002-01-01

Changes in agricultural management can potentially increase the accumulation rate of soil organic carbon (SOC), thereby sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere. This study was conducted to quantify potential soil carbon (C) sequestration rates for different crops in response to decreasing tillage intensity or enhancing rotation complexity, and to estimate the duration of time over which sequestration may occur. Analyses of C sequestration rates were completed using a global database of 67 long-term agricultural experiments, consisting of 276 paired treatments. Results indicate, on average, that a change from conventional tillage (CT) to no-till (NT) can sequester 57 ± 14 g C m^–2 yr^–1, excluding wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)-fallow systems which may not result in SOC accumulation with a change from CT to NT. Enhancing rotation complexity can sequester an average 14 ± 11 g C m^–2 yr^–1, excluding a change from continuous corn (Zea mays L.) to corn-soybean (Glycine max L.) which may not result in a significant accumulation of SOC. Carbon sequestration rates, with a change from CT to NT, can be expected to peak in 5-10 yr with SOC reaching a new equilibrium in 15-20 yr. Following initiation of an enhancement in rotation complexity, SOC may reach a new equilibrium in approximately 40-60 yr. Carbon sequestration rates, estimated for a number of individual crops and crop rotations in this study, can be used in spatial modeling analyses to more accurately predict regional, national, and global C sequestration potentials.

Reducing Freshwater Toxicity while Maintaining Weed Control, Profits, And Productivity: Effects of Increased Crop Rotation Diversity and Reduced Herbicide Usage.

PubMed

Hunt, Natalie D; Hill, Jason D; Liebman, Matt

2017-02-07

Increasing crop rotation diversity while reducing herbicide applications may maintain effective weed control while reducing freshwater toxicity. To test this hypothesis, we applied the model USEtox 2.0 to data from a long-term Iowa field experiment that included three crop rotation systems: a 2-year corn-soybean sequence, a 3-year corn-soybean-oat/red clover sequence, and 4-year corn-soybean-oat/alfalfa-alfalfa sequence. Corn and soybean in each rotation were managed with conventional or low-herbicide regimes. Oat, red clover, and alfalfa were not treated with herbicides. Data from 2008-2015 showed that use of the low-herbicide regime reduced freshwater toxicity loads by 81-96%, and that use of the more diverse rotations reduced toxicity and system dependence on herbicides by 25-51%. Mean weed biomass in corn and soybean was <25 kg ha -1 in all rotation × herbicide combinations except the low-herbicide 3-year rotation, which contained ∼110 kg ha -1 of weed biomass. Corn and soybean yields and net returns were as high or higher for the 3- and 4-year rotations managed with the low-herbicide regime as for the conventional-herbicide 2-year rotation. These results indicate that certain forms of cropping system diversification and alternative weed management strategies can maintain yield, profit, and weed suppression while delivering enhanced environmental performance.

Organic vs. organic - soil arthropods as bioindicators of ecological sustainability in greenhouse system experiment under Mediterranean conditions.

PubMed

Madzaric, Suzana; Ceglie, F G; Depalo, L; Al Bitar, L; Mimiola, G; Tittarelli, F; Burgio, G

2017-11-23

Organic greenhouse (OGH) production is characterized by different systems and agricultural practices with diverse environmental impact. Soil arthropods are widely used as bioindicators of ecological sustainability in open field studies, while there is a lack of research on organic production for protected systems. This study assessed the soil arthropod abundance and diversity over a 2-year crop rotation in three systems of OGH production in the Mediterranean. The systems under assessment differed in soil fertility management: SUBST - a simplified system of organic production, based on an input substitution approach (use of guano and organic liquid fertilizers), AGROCOM - soil fertility mainly based on compost application and agroecological services crops (ASC) cultivation (tailored use of cover crops) as part of crop rotation, and AGROMAN - animal manure and ASC cultivation as part of crop rotation. Monitoring of soil fauna was performed by using pitfall traps and seven taxa were considered: Carabidae, Staphylinidae, Araneae, Opiliones, Isopoda, Myriapoda, and Collembola. Results demonstrated high potential of ASC cultivation as a technique for beneficial soil arthropod conservation in OGH conditions. SUBST system was dominated by Collembola in all crops, while AGROMAN and AGROCOM had more balanced relative abundance of Isopoda, Staphylinidae, and Aranea. Opiliones and Myriapoda were more affected by season, while Carabidae were poorly represented in the whole monitoring period. Despite the fact that all three production systems are in accordance with the European Union regulation on organic farming, findings of this study displayed significant differences among them and confirmed the suitability of soil arthropods as bioindicators in protected systems of organic farming.

Development of rotation sample designs for the estimation of crop acreages

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lycthuan-Lee, T. G. (Principal Investigator)

1981-01-01

The idea behind the use of rotation sample designs is that the variation of the crop acreage of a particular sample unit from year to year is usually less than the variation of crop acreage between units within a particular year. The estimation theory is based on an additive mixed analysis of variance model with years as fixed effects, (a sub t), and sample units as a variable factor. The rotation patterns are decided upon according to: (1) the number of sample units in the design each year; (2) the number of units retained in the following years; and (3) the number of years to complete the rotation pattern. Different analytic formulae for the variance of (a sub t) and the variance comparisons in using a complete survey of the rotation patterns.

Energy product options for Eucalyptus species grown as short rotation woody crops

Treesearch

Donald Rockwood; Alan W. Rudie; Sally A. Ralph; J.Y. Zhu; Jerrold E. Winandy

2008-01-01

Eucalyptus species are native to Australia but grown extensively worldwide as short rotation hardwoods for a variety of products and as ornamentals. We describe their general importance with specific emphasis on existing and emerging markets as energy products and the potential to maximize their productivity as short rotation woody crops. Using experience in Florida...

Integrated weed management strategies in cover crop-based, organic rotational no-till corn and soybean in the mid-Atlantic region

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Cover crop-based, organic rotational no-till (CCORNT) corn and soybean systems have been developed in the mid-Atlantic region to build soil health, increase management flexibility, and reduce labor. In this system, a roll-crimped cover crop mulch provides within-season weed suppression in no-till co...

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gelfand, Ilya; Shcherbak, Iurii; Millar, Neville

Differences in soil nitrous oxide (N 2O) fluxes among ecosystems are often difficult to evaluate and predict due to high spatial and temporal variabilities and few direct experimental comparisons. For 20 years, we measured N 2O fluxes in 11 ecosystems in southwest Michigan USA: four annual grain crops (corn–soybean–wheat rotations) managed with conventional, no-till, reduced input, or biologically based/organic inputs; three perennial crops (alfalfa, poplar, and conifers); and four unmanaged ecosystems of different successional age including mature forest. Average N 2O emissions were higher from annual grain and N-fixing cropping systems than from nonleguminous perennial cropping systems and were low across unmanaged ecosystems. Among annual cropping systems full-rotation fluxes were indistinguishable from one another but rotation phase mattered. For example, those systems with cover crops and reduced fertilizer N emitted more N 2O during the corn and soybean phases, but during the wheat phase fluxes were ~40% lower. Likewise, no-till did not differ from conventional tillage over the entire rotation but reduced emissions ~20% in the wheat phase and increased emissions 30–80% in the corn and soybean phases. Greenhouse gas intensity for the annual crops (flux per unit yield) was lowest for soybeans produced under conventional management, while for the 11 other crop 9 management combinations intensities were similar to one another. Among the fertilized systems, emissions ranged from 0.30 to 1.33 kg N 2O-N ha -1 yr -1 and were best predicted by IPCC Tier 1 and DEF emission factor approaches. Annual cumulative fluxes from perennial systems were best explained by soil NOmore » $$-\\atop{3}$$ pools (r 2 = 0.72) but not so for annual crops, where management differences overrode simple correlations. Daily soil N 2O emissions were poorly predicted by any measured variables. Overall, long-term measurements reveal lower fluxes in nonlegume perennial vegetation and, for conservatively fertilized annual crops, the overriding influence of rotation phase on annual fluxes.« less

Senior Research Connects Students with a Living Laboratory As Part of an Integrated Crop and Livestock System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Senturklu, Songul; Landblom, Douglas; Brevik, Eric C.

2015-04-01

Soil, water, soil microbes, and solar energy are the main sources that sustain life on this planet. Without them working in concert, neither plants nor animals would survive. Considering the efficiency of animal production targets, soil must be protected and improved. Therefore, through our sustainable integrated crop and livestock research, we are studying animal and soil interactions from the soil to the plate. Integrating beef cattle systems into a diverse cropping system is providing a living laboratory for education beyond the traditional classroom setting. To establish the living learning laboratory at the Dickinson Research Extension Center, a five-crop rotation was established that included adapted cool and warm season grasses and broadleaf crops. The crop rotation is: sunflower > hard red spring wheat > fall seeded winter triticale-hairy vetch (hay)/spring seeded 7-species cover crop > Corn (85-95 day varieties) > field pea-barley intercrop. Sunflower and spring wheat are harvested for cash crop income in the rotation. Livestock integration occurs when yearling steers that had previously grazed perennial pastures until mid-August graze field pea-barley and subsequently unharvested corn. Average grazing days for field pea-barley and unharvested corn is 30 and 70 days, respectively. At the end of the grazing period, the yearling steers average 499-544 kg and are moved to a feedlot and fed an additional 75 days until slaughter. Maximizing grazing days and extending the grazing season through integration with the cropping system reduces custom feeding costs and enhances animal profit. Beef cows do not require high quality feed after their calves have been weaned. Therefore, gestating beef cows are an ideal animal to graze cover crops and crop aftermath (residue) after yearling steer grazing and farming operations have been completed. Extending the grazing season for beef cows by grazing cover crops and residues reduces winter feed cost, which is one of the highest expenses in beef cattle production. Senior research investigating the impact of livestock integration and multi-species cover crop grown within the crop rotation is studying changes in soil attributes resulting from the crop-animal integration by measuring bulk density and in-season soil fertility in the crop rotation. These responses are further contrasted with results from within the crop rotation and responses from perennial native range. Students that become engaged in the research represent a broad cross section of the consuming public and include high school junior and senior students, college undergraduate students that conduct research projects, postdoctoral research scientists engaged in senior level research, agricultural extension educators, and finally, farmer and rancher businessmen. The integrated nature of the research provides a wealth of learning opportunities for these various groups. For the high school students, visits to the living laboratory increase awareness and introduces students to a potential career path in agriculture, natural resource fields, and the many allied vocational fields that support agriculture. When college undergraduate students visit the living laboratory, they seek to address a researchable question or a problem in agriculture, while fulfilling requirements for graduation by conducting a research project. Because postdoctoral students want to be actively engaged in research and advanced learning, they are interested in conducting research in the living laboratory that can be published in peer reviewed journals. Agricultural extension educators, who advise farmers and ranchers, are looking for research results from the living laboratory that can be convey to their constituents. Farmers and ranchers participate in workshop events that give them face-to-face learning opportunities that they can use to effect change in their farm and ranch businesses. Each of these demographic groups are unique in their interest in the interaction between agricultural production and soil science. The authors will describe and discuss how each of these very different research consumers have been assisted during their experience and involvement in the living laboratory.

Assessment of the biological activity of soils in the subtropical zone of Azerbaijan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Babaev, M. P.; Orujova, N. I.

2009-10-01

The enzymatic activity; the microbial population; and the intensities of the nitrification, ammonification, CO2emission, and cellulose decomposition were studied in gray-brown, meadow-sierozemic, meadow-forest alluvial, and yellow (zheltozem) gley soils in the subtropical zone of Azerbaijan under natural vegetation, crop rotation systems with vegetables, and permanent vegetable crops. On this basis, the biological diagnostics of these soils were suggested and the soil ecological health was evaluated. It was shown that properly chosen crop rotation systems on irrigated lands make it possible to preserve the fertility of the meadow-forest alluvial and zheltozem-gley soils and to improve the fertility of the gray-brown and meadow-sierozemic soils.

Transgenes sustain epigeal insect biodiversity in diversified vegetable farm systems.

PubMed

Leslie, T W; Hoheisel, G A; Biddinger, D J; Rohr, J R; Fleischer, S J

2007-02-01

Many ecological studies have focused on the effects of transgenes in field crops, but few have considered multiple transgenes in diversified vegetable systems. We compared the epigeal, or soil surface-dwelling, communities of Coleoptera and Formicidae between transgenic and isoline vegetable systems consisting of sweet corn, potato, and acorn squash, with transgenic cultivars expressing Cry1(A)b, Cry3, or viral coat proteins. Vegetables were grown in replicated split plots over 2 yr with integrated pest management (IPM) standards defining insecticide use patterns. More than 77.6% of 11,925 insects from 1,512 pitfall traps were identified to species, and activity density was used to compare dominance distribution, species richness, and community composition. Measures of epigeal biodiversity were always equal in transgenic vegetables, which required fewer insecticide applications than their near isolines. There were no differences in species richness between transgenic and isoline treatments at the farm system and individual crop level. Dominance distributions were also similar between transgenic and isoline farming systems. Crop type, and not genotype, had a significant influence on Carabidae and Staphylinidae community composition in the first year, but there were no treatment effects in the second year, possibly because of homogenizing effects of crop rotations. Communities were more influenced by crop type, and possibly crop rotation, than by genotype. The heterogeneity of crops and rotations in diversified vegetable farms seems to aid in preserving epigeal biodiversity, which may be supplemented by reductions in insecticide use associated with transgenic cultivars.

Can phosphorus application and cover cropping alter arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities and soybean performance after a five-year phosphorus-unfertilized crop rotational system?

PubMed

Higo, Masao; Sato, Ryohei; Serizawa, Ayu; Takahashi, Yuichi; Gunji, Kento; Tatewaki, Yuya; Isobe, Katsunori

2018-01-01

Understanding diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) is important for optimizing their role for phosphorus (P) nutrition of soybeans ( Glycine max (L.) Merr.) in P-limited soils. However, it is not clear how soybean growth and P nutrition is related to AMF colonization and diversity of AMF communities in a continuous P-unfertilized cover cropping system. Thus, we investigated the impact of P-application and cover cropping on the interaction among AMF colonization, AMF diversity in soybean roots, soybean growth and P nutrition under a five-year P-unfertilized crop rotation. In this study, we established three cover crop systems (wheat, red clover and oilseed rape) or bare fallow in rotation with soybean. The P-application rates before the seeding of soybeans were 52.5 and 157.5 kg ha -1 in 2014 and 2015, respectively. We measured AMF colonization in soybean roots, soybean growth parameters such as aboveground plant biomass, P uptake at the flowering stage and grain yields at the maturity stage in both years. AMF community structure in soybean roots was characterized by specific amplification of small subunit rDNA. The increase in the root colonization at the flowering stage was small as a result of P-application. Cover cropping did not affect the aboveground biomass and P uptake of soybean in both years, but the P-application had positive effects on the soybean performance such as plant P uptake, biomass and grain yield in 2015. AMF communities colonizing soybean roots were also significantly influenced by P-application throughout the two years. Moreover, the diversity of AMF communities in roots was significantly influenced by P-application and cover cropping in both years, and was positively correlated with the soybean biomass, P uptake and grain yield throughout the two years. Our results indicated that P-application rather than cover cropping may be a key factor for improving soybean growth performance with respect to AMF diversity in P-limited cover cropping systems. Additionally, AMF diversity in roots can potentially contribute to soybean P nutrition even in the P-fertilized cover crop rotational system. Therefore, further investigation into the interaction of AMF diversity, P-application and cover cropping is required for the development of more effective P management practices on soybean growth performance.

Can phosphorus application and cover cropping alter arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities and soybean performance after a five-year phosphorus-unfertilized crop rotational system?

PubMed Central

Sato, Ryohei; Serizawa, Ayu; Takahashi, Yuichi; Gunji, Kento; Tatewaki, Yuya; Isobe, Katsunori

2018-01-01

Background Understanding diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) is important for optimizing their role for phosphorus (P) nutrition of soybeans (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) in P-limited soils. However, it is not clear how soybean growth and P nutrition is related to AMF colonization and diversity of AMF communities in a continuous P-unfertilized cover cropping system. Thus, we investigated the impact of P-application and cover cropping on the interaction among AMF colonization, AMF diversity in soybean roots, soybean growth and P nutrition under a five-year P-unfertilized crop rotation. Methods In this study, we established three cover crop systems (wheat, red clover and oilseed rape) or bare fallow in rotation with soybean. The P-application rates before the seeding of soybeans were 52.5 and 157.5 kg ha−1 in 2014 and 2015, respectively. We measured AMF colonization in soybean roots, soybean growth parameters such as aboveground plant biomass, P uptake at the flowering stage and grain yields at the maturity stage in both years. AMF community structure in soybean roots was characterized by specific amplification of small subunit rDNA. Results The increase in the root colonization at the flowering stage was small as a result of P-application. Cover cropping did not affect the aboveground biomass and P uptake of soybean in both years, but the P-application had positive effects on the soybean performance such as plant P uptake, biomass and grain yield in 2015. AMF communities colonizing soybean roots were also significantly influenced by P-application throughout the two years. Moreover, the diversity of AMF communities in roots was significantly influenced by P-application and cover cropping in both years, and was positively correlated with the soybean biomass, P uptake and grain yield throughout the two years. Discussion Our results indicated that P-application rather than cover cropping may be a key factor for improving soybean growth performance with respect to AMF diversity in P-limited cover cropping systems. Additionally, AMF diversity in roots can potentially contribute to soybean P nutrition even in the P-fertilized cover crop rotational system. Therefore, further investigation into the interaction of AMF diversity, P-application and cover cropping is required for the development of more effective P management practices on soybean growth performance. PMID:29682413

Mycobiome of Cysts of the Soybean Cyst Nematode Under Long Term Crop Rotation

PubMed Central

Hu, Weiming; Strom, Noah; Haarith, Deepak; Chen, Senyu; Bushley, Kathryn E.

2018-01-01

The soybean cyst nematode (SCN), Heterodera glycines Ichinohe (Phylum Nematoda), is a major pathogen of soybean. It causes substantial yield losses worldwide and is difficult to control because the cyst protects the eggs which can remain viable for nearly a decade. Crop rotation with non-host crops and use of biocontrol organisms such as fungi and bacteria offer promising approaches, but remain hampered by lack of knowledge of the biology of nematode parasitic organisms. We used a high-throughput metabarcoding approach to characterize fungal communities associated with the SCN cyst, a microenvironment in soil that may harbor both nematode parasites and plant pathogens. SCN cysts were collected from a long-term crop rotation experiment in Southeastern Minnesota at three time points over two growing seasons to characterize diversity of fungi inhabiting cysts and to examine how crop rotation and seasonal variation affects fungal communities. A majority of fungi in cysts belonged to Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, but the presence of several early diverging fungal subphyla thought to be primarily plant and litter associated, including Mortierellomycotina and Glomeromycotina (e.g., arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi), suggests a possible role as nematode egg parasites. Species richness varied by both crop rotation and season and was higher in early years of crop rotation and in fall at the end of the growing season. Crop rotation and season also impacted fungal community composition and identified several classes of fungi, including Eurotiomycetes, Sordariomycetes, and Orbiliomycetes (e.g., nematode trapping fungi), with higher relative abundance in early soybean rotations. The relative abundance of several genera was correlated with increasing years of soybean. Fungal communities also varied by season and were most divergent at midseason. The percentage of OTUs assigned to Mortierellomycotina_cls_Incertae_sedis and Sordariomycetes increased at midseason, while Orbiliomycetes decreased at midseason, and Glomeromycetes increased in fall. Ecological guilds of fungi containing an animal-pathogen lifestyle, as well as potential egg-parasitic taxa previously isolated from parasitized SCN eggs, increased at midseason. The animal pathogen guilds included known (e.g., Pochonia chlamydosporia) and new candidate biocontrol organisms. This research advances knowledge of the ecology of nematophagous fungi in agroecosystems and their use as biocontrol agents of the SCN. PMID:29615984

Spider fauna of semiarid eastern Colorado agroecosystems: diversity, abundance, and effects of crop intensification.

PubMed

Kerzicnik, Lauren M; Peairs, Frank B; Cushing, Paula E; Draney, Michael L; Merrill, Scott C

2013-02-01

Spiders are critical predators in agroecosystems. Crop management practices can influence predator density and diversity, which, in turn, can influence pest management strategies. Crop intensification is a sustainable agricultural technique that can enhance crop production although optimizing soil moisture. To date, there is no information on how crop intensification affects natural enemy populations, particularly spiders. This study had two objectives: to characterize the abundance and diversity of spiders in eastern Colorado agroecosystems, and to test the hypothesis that spider diversity and density would be higher in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in crop-intensified rotations compared with wheat in conventional rotations. We collected spiders through pitfall, vacuum, and lookdown sampling from 2002 to 2007 to test these objectives. Over 11,000 spiders in 19 families from 119 species were captured from all sampling techniques. Interestingly, the hunting spider guild represented 89% of the spider fauna captured from all sites with the families Gnaphosidae and Lycosidae representing 75% of these spiders. Compared with European agroecosystems, these agroecosystems had greater diversity, which can be beneficial for the biological control of pests. Overall, spider densities were low in these semiarid cropping systems, and crop intensification effects on spider densities were not evident at this scale.

Nitrous oxide emissions from crop rotations including wheat, rapeseed and dry pea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jeuffroy, M. H.; Baranger, E.; Carrouée, B.; de Chezelles, E.; Gosme, M.; Hénault, C.; Schneider, A.; Cellier, P.

2012-07-01

Approximately 65% of anthropogenic emissions of N2O, a potent greenhouse gas, originate from soils at global scale, and particularly after N fertilisation of the main crops in Europe. Thanks to their capacity to fix atmospheric N2 through biological fixation, legumes allow to reduce N fertilizer use, and possibly N2O emission. Nevertheless, the decomposition of crop organic matter during the crop cycle and during the residue decomposition, and possibly the N fixation process itself, could lead to N2O emissions. The objective of this study was to quantify N2O emissions from a dry pea crop (Pisum sativum, harvested at maturity) and from the subsequent crops in comparison with N2O emissions from wheat and oilseed-rape crops, fertilized or not, in various rotations. A field experiment was conducted during 4 consecutive years, aiming at comparing the emissions during the pea crop, in comparison with those during the wheat (fertilized or not) or oilseed rape crops, and after the pea crop, in comparison with other preceding crops. N2O fluxes were measured using static chambers. In spite of low N2O fluxes, mainly linked with the site soil characteristics, fluxes during the crop were significantly lower for pea and unfertilized wheat than for fertilized wheat and oilseed rape. The effect of the preceding crop was not significant, while soil mineral N at harvest was higher after pea. These results, combined with the emission reduction allowed by the production and transport of the N fertiliser not applied on the pea crop, should be confirmed in a larger range of soil types. Nevertheless, they demonstrate the absence of N2O emission linked to the symbiotic N fixation process, and allow us to estimate the decrease of N2O emissions to 20-25% by including one pea crop in a three-year rotation. At a larger scale, this reduction of GHG emissions at field level has to be cumulated with the reduction of GHG emissions linked with the lower level of production and transport of the N fertiliser not applied on the pea crop.

Effects of fertilization on crop production and nutrient-supplying capacity under rice-oilseed rape rotation system.

PubMed

Yousaf, Muhammad; Li, Jifu; Lu, Jianwei; Ren, Tao; Cong, Rihuan; Fahad, Shah; Li, Xiaokun

2017-04-28

Incredible accomplishments have been achieved in agricultural production in China, but many demanding challenges for ensuring food security and environmental sustainability remain. Field experiments were conducted from 2011-2013 at three different sites, including Honghu, Shayang, and Jingzhou in China, to determine the effects of fertilization on enhancing crop productivity and indigenous nutrient-supplying capacity (INuS) in a rice (Oryza sativa L.)-rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) rotation. Four mineral fertilizer treatments (NPK, NP, NK and PK) were applied in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. Crop yields were increased by 19-41% (rice) and 61-76% (rapeseed) during the two years of rice-rapeseed rotation under NPK fertilization compared to PK fertilization across the study sites. Yield responses to fertilization were ranked NPK > NP > NK > PK, illustrating that N deficiency was the most limiting condition in a rice-rapeseed rotation, followed by P and K deficiencies. The highest and lowest N, P and K accumulations were observed under NPK and PK fertilization, respectively. The INuS of the soil decreased to a significant extent and affected rice-rapeseed rotation productivity at each site under NP, NK, and PK fertilization when compared to NPK. Based on the study results, a balanced nutrient application using NPK fertilization is a key management strategy for enhancing rice-rapeseed productivity and environmental safety.

No tillage combined with crop rotation improves soil microbial community composition and metabolic activity.

PubMed

Sun, Bingjie; Jia, Shuxia; Zhang, Shixiu; McLaughlin, Neil B; Liang, Aizhen; Chen, Xuewen; Liu, Siyi; Zhang, Xiaoping

2016-04-01

Soil microbial community can vary with different agricultural managements, which in turn can affect soil quality. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of long-term tillage practice (no tillage (NT) and conventional tillage (CT)) and crop rotation (maize-soybean (MS) rotation and monoculture maize (MM)) on soil microbial community composition and metabolic capacity in different soil layers. Long-term NT increased the soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) mainly at the 0-5 cm depth which was accompanied with a greater microbial abundance. The greater fungi-to-bacteria (F/B) ratio was found in NTMS at the 0-5 cm depth. Both tillage and crop rotation had a significant effect on the metabolic activity, with the greatest average well color development (AWCD) value in NTMS soil at all three soil depths. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that the shift in microbial community composition was accompanied with the changes in capacity of utilizing different carbon substrates. Therefore, no tillage combined with crop rotation could improve soil biological quality and make agricultural systems more sustainable.

Spatial methods for deriving crop rotation history

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mueller-Warrant, George W.; Trippe, Kristin M.; Whittaker, Gerald W.; Anderson, Nicole P.; Sullivan, Clare S.

2017-08-01

Benefits of converting 11 years of remote sensing classification data into cropping history of agricultural fields included measuring lengths of rotation cycles and identifying specific sequences of intervening crops grown between final years of old grass seed stands and establishment of new ones. Spatial and non-spatial methods were complementary. Individual-year classification errors were often correctable in spreadsheet-based non-spatial analysis, whereas their presence in spatial data generally led to exclusion of fields from further analysis. Markov-model testing of non-spatial data revealed that year-to-year cropping sequences did not match average frequencies for transitions among crops grown in western Oregon, implying that rotations into new grass seed stands were influenced by growers' desires to achieve specific objectives. Moran's I spatial analysis of length of time between consecutive grass seed stands revealed that clustering of fields was relatively uncommon, with high and low value clusters only accounting for 7.1 and 6.2% of fields.

Effects on aquatic and human health due to large scale bioenergy crop expansion.

PubMed

Love, Bradley J; Einheuser, Matthew D; Nejadhashemi, A Pouyan

2011-08-01

In this study, the environmental impacts of large scale bioenergy crops were evaluated using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Daily pesticide concentration data for a study area consisting of four large watersheds located in Michigan (totaling 53,358 km²) was estimated over a six year period (2000-2005). Model outputs for atrazine, bromoxynil, glyphosate, metolachlor, pendimethalin, sethoxydim, triflualin, and 2,4-D model output were used to predict the possible long-term implications that large-scale bioenergy crop expansion may have on the bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) and humans. Threshold toxicity levels were obtained for the bluegill and for human consumption for all pesticides being evaluated through an extensive literature review. Model output was compared to each toxicity level for the suggested exposure time (96-hour for bluegill and 24-hour for humans). The results suggest that traditional intensive row crops such as canola, corn and sorghum may negatively impact aquatic life, and in most cases affect the safe drinking water availability. The continuous corn rotation, the most representative rotation for current agricultural practices for a starch-based ethanol economy, delivers the highest concentrations of glyphosate to the stream. In addition, continuous canola contributed to a concentration of 1.11 ppm of trifluralin, a highly toxic herbicide, which is 8.7 times the 96-hour ecotoxicity of bluegills and 21 times the safe drinking water level. Also during the period of study, continuous corn resulted in the impairment of 541,152 km of stream. However, there is promise with second-generation lignocellulosic bioenergy crops such as switchgrass, which resulted in a 171,667 km reduction in total stream length that exceeds the human threshold criteria, as compared to the base scenario. Results of this study may be useful in determining the suitability of bioenergy crop rotations and aid in decision making regarding the adaptation of large-scale bioenergy cropping systems. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Economics of plant production on marginal sites in the state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ziesemer, Andrea; Andreas, Gurgel; Ines, Bull

2017-04-01

Marginal sites are defined by economics. It is not possible to produce any profit there under given conditions of markets and policy even when management is optimized. In the state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a portion of nearly 20 % of arable land is characterized by such conditions. There are often to find sandy sites below 28 soil points with low storage capacity and irregular water supply. Animal husbandry as a type of agricultural upgrading has a more important role in the south and southwest of the state than in the regions with better soil quality. The percentage of Maize was already in 2003 twice as high in the regions with more marginal sites. After implementation of the Renewable Energy Act many enterprises started built biogas plants. In 2010, the portion of maize was raised to 20 %. The increase of Maize was combined with a reduction of growing other fodder crops, rye and also by reducing set-aside areas. The scale of the cash crops Rape (16%), Wheat (15 %) and barley (9 %) stayed the same. The yields and production processes of several selected farms in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were analyzed for the years 2011 to 2016. The farms reached 6.6 tons per hectare of wheat and 6.1 tons per hectare of barley on soils below 28 soil points. Hybrid rye achieved 5.4 tons per hectare and rape 3.0. Maize was especially dependent on water supply and made between 30 and 35 tons per hectare. The big problem in these regions is caused by high production costs in cropping. More than a half of the costs is required for seeds, fertilization and crop protection. However, the remaining revenues are not adequate for paying work and fix costs as an evaluation of farms in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern shows. It is not a valid option to set more land that is arable aside in regions with much marginal sites because cropping is a strategic investment there. Therefore, it is important to make effort on crop rotations and optimization of production intensities to decrease costs per unit and to save a certain level of yields. A calculation of crop rotations shows that the contribution margin of three-year crop rotations and four-year rotations containing maize is lower by 20 to 25 percent compared with crop rotations on sites with better soil quality. Besides the four-year rotations demonstrate that maize is able to increase the profit for farms. These rotations with maize obtain better contribution margins than cash crop rotations on the margin sites. Furthermore, maize will be a good instrument to come up to requirements on nitrogen balances in future.

Environmental impacts of different crop rotations in terms of soil compaction.

PubMed

Götze, Philipp; Rücknagel, Jan; Jacobs, Anna; Märländer, Bernward; Koch, Heinz-Josef; Christen, Olaf

2016-10-01

Avoiding soil compaction caused by agricultural management is a key aim of sustainable land management, and the soil compaction risk should be considered when assessing the environmental impacts of land use systems. Therefore this project compares different crop rotations in terms of soil structure and the soil compaction risk. It is based on a field trial in Germany, in which the crop rotations (i) silage maize (SM) monoculture, (ii) catch crop mustard (Mu)_sugar beet (SB)-winter wheat (WW)-WW, (iii) Mu_SM-WW-WW and (iv) SB-WW-Mu_SM are established since 2010. Based on the cultivation dates, the operation specific soil compaction risks and the soil compaction risk of the entire crop rotations are modelled at two soil depths (20 and 35 cm). To this end, based on assumptions of the equipment currently used in practice by a model farm, two scenarios are modelled (100 and 50% hopper load for SB and WW harvest). In addition, after one complete rotation, in 2013 and in 2014, the physical soil parameters saturated hydraulic conductivity (kS) and air capacity (AC) were determined at soil depths 2-8, 12-18, 22-28 and 32-38 cm in order to quantify the soil structure. At both soil depths, the modelled soil compaction risks for the crop rotations including SB (Mu_SB-WW-WW, SB-WW-Mu_SM) are higher (20 cm: medium to very high risks; 35 cm: no to medium risks) than for those without SB (SM monoculture, Mu_SM-WW-WW; 20 cm: medium risks; 35 cm: no to low risks). This increased soil compaction risk is largely influenced by the SB harvest in years where soil water content is high. Halving the hopper load and adjusting the tyre inflation pressure reduces the soil compaction risk for the crop rotation as a whole. Under these conditions, there are no to low soil compaction risks for all variants in the subsoil (soil depth 35 cm). Soil structure is mainly influenced in the topsoil (2-8 cm) related to the cultivation of Mu as a catch crop and WW as a preceding crop. Concerning kS, Mu_SB-WW-WW (240 cm d(-1)) and Mu_SM-WW-WW (196 cm d(-1)) displayed significantly higher values than the SM monoculture (67 cm d(-1)), indicating better structural stability and infiltration capacity. At other soil depths, and for the parameter AC, there are no systematic differences in soil structure between the variants. Under the circumstances described, all crop rotations investigated are not associated with environmental impacts caused by soil compaction. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessment of soil attributes and crop productivity after diversification of the ubiquitous corn-soybean rotation in the northwestern U.S. Corn Belt

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Highly specialized cash-grain production systems based upon corn-soybean rotations under tilled soil management are common in the northwestern U.S. Corn Belt. This study, initiated in 1997, was conducted to determine if diversification of this ubiquitous corn-soybean rotation would affect soil char...

Rice production in relation to soil quality under different rice-based cropping systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tran Ba, Linh; Sleutel, Steven; Nguyen Van, Qui; Thi, Guong Vo; Le Van, Khoa; Cornelis, Wim

2016-04-01

Soil quality of shallow paddy soils may be improved by introducing upland crops and thus a more diverse crop cultivation pattern. Yet, the causal relationship between crop performance and enhanced soil traits in rice-upland crop rotations remains elusive. The objectives of this study were to (i) find correlations among soil properties under different rice-upland crop systems and link selected soil properties to rice growth and yield, (ii) present appropriate values of soil parameters for sustainable rice productivity in heavy clay soil, (iii) evaluate the effect of rotating rice with upland crops on rice yield and economic benefit in a long-term experiment. A rice-upland crop rotational field experiment in the Vietnamese Mekong delta was conducted for 10 years using a randomized complete block design with four treatments and four replications. Treatments were: (i) rice-rice-rice (control - conventional system as farmers' practice), (ii) rice-maize-rice, (iii) rice-mung bean-rice, and (iv) rice-mung bean-maize. Soil and plant sampling were performed after harvest of the rice crop at the end of the final winter-spring cropping season (i.e. year 10). Results show differences in rice growth and yield, and economic benefit as an effect of the crop rotation system. These differences were linked with changes in bulk density, soil porosity, soil aggregate stability index, soil penetration resistance, soil macro-porosity, soil organic carbon, acid hydrolysable soil C and soil nutrient elements, especially at soil depth of 20-30 cm. This is evidenced by the strong correlation (P < 0.01) between rice plant parameters, rice yield and soil properties such as bulk density, porosity, penetration resistance, soil organic carbon and Chydrolysable. It turned out that good rice root growth and rice yield corresponded to bulk density values lower than 1.3 Mg m-3, soil porosity higher than 50%, penetration resistance below 1.0 MPa, and soil organic carbon above 25 g kg-1. The optimal soil depth without restriction for rice root elongation was at least 25 cm from the soil surface. We suggest these values as indicative for optimal physical soil quality when growing rice in fine-textured alluvial soils and their definition as a first step towards presenting real threshold values.

Rotation history effects on soybean plants and rhizosphere microbiome

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Benefits of diversified cropping systems stem from the interactions between soil characteristics, crop growth patterns and physiology, and other organisms. In order to assist in the understanding and implementation of diversified rotation sequences, a long-term experiment was established to evaluate...

Soil organic carbon and land use in Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia (Northern Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Francaviglia, Rosa; Renzi, Gianluca; Benedetti, Anna

2014-05-01

The Italian Ministry of Agricultural Food and Forestry Policies (MiPAAF) has set up a statistical survey aimed to provide the national forecast of yields and areas related to the main Italian agricultural crops (AGRIT). The methodology is based on field surveys and remote-sensed data, covers yearly the whole national territory, and is based on 100,000 observations which are statistically selected from a predefined grid made up of about 1,200,000 georeferenced points. In 2011-2012 we determined the soil organic carbon content (SOC) of 1,160 sampling points situated in Northern Italy in the plains and hills of Veneto (VEN) and Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG), for which the land use in the period 2008-2010 was known. Samples have been subdivided in three main classes: arable crops, orchards and fodder crops. SOC was higher in FVG samples (2.48%, n=266) than in VEN samples (1.90%, n=894). The average value (2.03%) is clearly affected by the higher number of VEN samples. FVG data have been aggregated in continuous crops (maize, soybean, wheat), 2-yr rotations (maize-wheat, soybean wheat, maize-soybean), 3-yr rotations, vineyards (totally, partially and no-grassed), alfalfa, and permanent fodder crops. No significant differences were detected among the land uses due to the low number of samples in some classes, but some important findings do exist from the agronomic point of view. Fodder crops (5.65%), alfalfa (3.41%) and vineyards (2.72%) showed the higher SOC content. SOC was 2.94% and 1.39 % in the grassed and no-grassed vineyards respectively. In the arable crops the average SOC was 2.18%, ranging from 2.32% (soybean-wheat rotation) to 2.03% (continuous soybean). SOC was 2.19% in the continuous maize, with 2.23% in corn and 1.87% in silage maize. The lower values were in the maize-wheat rotation (1.53%) and the continuous wheat (1.47%). VEN data have been aggregated in continuous crops (maize, soybean and wheat), 2-yr rotations (maize-wheat, soybean-wheat, maize-soybean, soybean-alfalfa, wheat-alfalfa, maize-alfalfa), 3-yr rotations, orchards (mulched, totally, partially and no-grassed), alfalfa, permanent fodder crops, and land use change (from arable to fodder crops and vice versa). The mean value was 1.57% in arable crops, 2.46% in orchards (including vineyards, olive groves, and fruit crops), 3.13% in fodder crops. SOC in orchards was 1.82% (no grassed), 2.46% (grassed), 2.69% (mulched); 2.10 and 2.08% in the 2-yr rotations soybean-wheat and soybean-alfalfa respectively. SOC in the other arable crops was between 1.79% (land use change) and 1.37% (continuous soybean). A higher SOC was shown in VEN samples also when comparing continuous corn (1.69%) and continuous silage maize (1.43%). Data, even limited to two Regions, have clearly shown the positive contribution to SOC storage of orchards (mainly in grassed and mulched systems) and fodder crops, which are more conservative systems due to the lower soil disturbance from tillage operations; and to a lower extent of cropping systems with alfalfa or other legume crops.

Population dynamics of Meloidogyne arenaria and Pasteuria penetrans in a long-term crop rotation study.

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The endospore-forming bacterium Pasteuria penetrans is an obligate parasite of root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.). This study was a continuation of earlier research to determine the effect of crop sequence on abundance of the bacterium, and was conducted from 2000 to 2008 at a field site natura...

Carbon budgets of thirteen years at the FLUXNET cropland site Oensingen, Switzerland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Emmel, Carmen; Revill, Andrew; Hörtnagl, Lukas; Eugster, Werner

2017-04-01

The FLUXNET cropland site at Oensingen, Switzerland (CH-Oe2) is located on the Swiss Plateau, which is representative for the average domain of agricultural crop production in Switzerland. The site is managed under the low pesticide integrated production (IP) farming protocol and features a crop rotation focusing on winter wheat, but also includes winter barley, rapeseed, peas and potatoes as well as intermediate cover crops. Thirteen years of eddy covariance and meteorological measurements are available for the site. The carbon imports through manure applications and sowing, along with the exports through harvests, were quantified. In this study, we analyze the carbon budgets of all crop types and measurement years. These results will be compared to changes in soil carbon content. We will answer the questions: (1) Has the crop rotation and field management resulted in a net carbon source or sink? (2) To what extent are the different crop types linked to net carbon exchanges? (3) What are the climatic potential drivers for the interannual cropland carbon budget? (4) Is the carbon budget reflected in the changes in soil carbon content?

Precipitation partitioning in short rotation bioenergy crops: implications for downstream water availability.

Treesearch

Peter Caldwell; Chelcy F. Miniat; Doug Aubrey; Rhett Jackson; Jeff McDonnell; Ken W. Krauss; James S. Latimer

2016-01-01

The southern United States is a potential leader in producing biofuels from intensively managed, short rotation (8–12 years) woody crops such as southern pines, and native and non-native hardwoods. However, their accelerated development under intensive management has raised concerns that fast-growing bioenergy crops could reduce recharge to stream flows and groundwater...

Long-term changes in the chemical composition of soil organic matter, depending on fertilization and crop rotation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tammik, Kerttu; Kauer, Karin; Astover, Alar

2017-04-01

The objective of this study was to determine whether it is possible to assess the impact of different management practices (crop rotation, fertilization (organic and mineral fertilizers) on the chemical composition of soil organic matter, using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The study is based IOSDV long-term (established in 1989) three field crop rotation (potato-wheat-barely) experiment located in Tartu, Estonia. Soil samples (Stagnic Albeluvisol) were collected from the 0-20 cm depth in the autumn of 2015, air dried, sieved to 2 mm and grinded to obtain homogeneous samples. The content of soil organic matter was measured by the dry combustion method in a varioMax CNS elemental analyser (ELEMENTAR, Germany). The samples were analysed using Thermo-Nicolet iS10 Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer (FT-IR) and OMNIC software. An intense and sharp peak was recorded in the region of Si-O vibrations of clay minerals and polysaccharides in all samples analysed. The volume of the peak correlated with the quantity of fertilizers administered

Barriers to implementing climate resilient agricultural strategies: The case of crop diversification in the U.S. Corn Belt

Treesearch

Gabrielle E. Roesch-McNally; J.G. Arbuckle; John C. Tyndall

2018-01-01

Cropping system diversity can help build greater agroecosystem resilience by suppressing insect, weed, and disease pressures while also mitigating effects of extreme and more variable weather. Despite the potential benefits of cropping systems diversity, few farmers in the US Corn Belt use diverse rotations. This study examines factors that may influence farmers’...

Conversion of Conservation Tillage to Rotational Tillage to Reduce Phosphorus Losses during Snowmelt Runoff in the Canadian Prairies.

PubMed

Liu, Kui; Elliott, Jane A; Lobb, David A; Flaten, Don N; Yarotski, Jim

2014-09-01

In a preceding study, converting conventional tillage (ConvT) to conservation tillage (ConsT) was reported to decrease nitrogen (N) but to increase phosphorus (P) losses during snowmelt runoff. A field-scale study was conducted from 2004 to 2012 to determine if conversion of ConsT to rotational tillage (RotaT), where conservation tillage was interrupted by a fall tillage pass every other year, could effectively reduce P losses compared with ConsT. The RotaT study was conducted on long-term paired watersheds established in 1993. The ConvT field in the pair has remained under ConvT practice since 1993, whereas tillage was minimized on the ConsT field from 1997 until 2007. In fall 2007, RotaT was introduced to the ConsT field, and heavy-duty cultivator passes were conducted in the late fall of years 2007, 2009, and 2011. Runoff volume and nutrient content were monitored at the edge of the two fields, and soil and crop residue samples were taken in each field. Greater soil Olsen P and more P released from crop residue are likely the reasons for the increased P losses in the ConsT treatment (2004-2007) relative to the ConvT treatment (2004-2007). Analysis of covariance indicated that, compared with ConsT (2004-2007), RotaT (2008-2012) increased the concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) by 62%, total dissolved N (TDN) by 190%, and total N (TN) by 272% and increased the loads of DOC by 34%, TDN by 34%, and TN by 60%. However, RotaT (2008-2012) decreased soil test P in surface soil, P released from crop residue, and duration of runoff compared with ConsT (2004-2007) and thus decreased the concentrations of total dissolved P (TDP) by 46% and total P (TP) by 38% and decreased the loads of TDP by 56% and TP by 42%. In the Canadian Prairies, where P is a major environmental concern compared with N, RotaT was demonstrated to be an effective practice to reduce P losses compared with ConsT. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

Comparative acute toxicity of neonicotinoid and pyrethroid insecticides to non-target crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) associated with rice-crayfish crop rotations.

PubMed

Barbee, Gary C; Stout, Michael J

2009-11-01

Most insecticides used to control rice water weevil (Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus Kuscel) infestations are pyrethroids. However, pyrethroids are highly toxic to non-target crayfish associated with rice-crayfish crop rotations. One solution to the near-exclusive reliance on pyrethroids in a rice-crayfish pest management program is to incorporate neonicotinoid insecticides, which are insect specific and effective against weevils but not extremely toxic to crayfish. This study aimed to take the first step to assess neonicotinoids as alternatives to pyrethroids in rice-crayfish crop rotations by measuring the acute toxicities of three candidate neonicotinoid insecticides, clothianidin, dinotefuran and thiamethoxam, to juvenile Procambarus clarkii (Girard) crayfish and comparing them with the acute toxicities of two currently used pyrethroid insecticides, lambda-cyhalothrin and etofenprox. Neonicotinoid insecticides are at least 2-3 orders of magnitude less acutely toxic (96 h LC(50)) than pyrethroids to juvenile Procambarid crayfish: lambda-cyhalothrin (0.16 microg AI L(-1)) = etofenprox (0.29 microg AI L(-1)) > clothianidin (59 microg AI L(-1)) > thiamethoxam (967 microg AI L(-1)) > dinotefuran (2032 microg AI L(-1)). Neonicotinoid insecticides appear to be much less hazardous alternatives to pyrethroids in rice-crayfish crop rotations. Further field-level neonicotinoid acute and chronic toxicity testing with crayfish is needed. (c) 2009 Society of Chemical Industry.

Humus and nitrogen in soddy-podzolic soils of different agricultural lands in Perm region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zav'yalova, N. E.

2016-11-01

Heavy loamy soddy-podzolic soils (Eutric Albic Retisols (Abruptic, Loamic, Cutanic)) under a mixed forest, a grass-herb meadow, a perennial legume crop (fodder galega, Galéga orientalis), and an eightcourse crop rotation (treatment without fertilization) have been characterized by the main fertility parameters. Differences have been revealed in the contents of humus and essential nutrients in the 0- to 20- and 20- to 40-cm layers of soils of the studied agricultural lands. The medium acid reaction and the high content of ash elements and nitrogen in stubble-root residues of legume grasses favor the accumulation of humic acids in the humus of soil under fodder galega; the CHA/CFA ratio is 0.95 in the 0- to 20-cm layer and 0.81 in the 20- to 40-cm layer (under forest, 0.61 and 0.41, respectively). The nitrogen pool in the upper horizon of the studied soddy-podzolic soil includes 61-76% nonhydrolyzable nitrogen and 17-25% difficultly hydrolyzable nitrogen. The content of easily hydrolyzable nitrogen varies depending on the type of agricultural land from 6% in the soil under mixed forest to 10% under crop rotation; the content of mineral nitrogen varies from 0.9 to 1.9%, respectively. The long-term use of plowland in crop rotation and the cultivation of perennial legume crop have increased the content of hydrolyzable nitrogen forms but have not changed the proportions of nitrogen fractions characteristic of this soil type.

Estimating landscape-scale impacts of agricultural management on soil carbon using measurements and models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schipanski, M.; Rosenzweig, S. T.; Robertson, A. D.; Sherrod, L. A.; Ghimire, R.; McMaster, G. S.

2017-12-01

Agriculture covers 40% of Earth's ice-free land area and has broad impacts on global biogeochemical cycles. While some agricultural management changes are small in scale or impact, others have the potential to shift biogeochemical cycles at landscape and larger scales if widely adopted. Understanding which management practices have the potential to contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation while maintaining productivity requires scaling up estimates spatially and temporally. We used on-farm, long-term, and landscape scale datasets to estimate how crop rotations impact soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation rates under current and future climate scenarios across the semi-arid Central and Southern Great Plains. We used a stratified, landscape-scale soil sampling approach across 96 farm fields to evaluate crop rotation intensity effects on SOC pools and pesticide inputs. Replacing traditional wheat-fallow rotations with more diverse, continuously cropped rotations increased SOC by 17% and 12% in 0-10 cm and 0-20 cm depths, respectively, and reduced herbicide use by 50%. Using USDA Cropland Data Layer, we estimated soil C accumulation and pesticide reduction potentials of shifting to more intensive rotations. We also used a 30-year cropping systems experiment to calibrate and validate the Daycent model to evaluate rotation intensify effects under future climate change scenarios. The model estimated greater SOC accumulation rates under continuously cropped rotations, but SOC stocks peaked and then declined for all cropping systems beyond 2050 under future climate scenarios. Perennial grasslands were the only system estimated to maintain SOC levels in the future. In the Southern High Plains, soil C declined despite increasing input intensity under current weather while modest gains were simulated under future climate for sorghum-based cropping systems. Our findings highlight the potential vulnerability of semi-arid regions to climate change, which will be compounded by declining groundwater levels along the western edge of the High Plains Aquifer that increase reliance on dryland farming systems. Understanding these challenges provides opportunities to develop future transition and adaptation strategies in partnership with producers, policy makers, and rural communities.

Generating a Crop Rotation Dataset for the U.S and its Application in Inferring Land Use Change Induced Wetland Losses in the Prairie Pothole Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sahajpal, R.; Zhang, X.; Izaurralde, R. C.; Hurtt, G. C.

2013-12-01

Agricultural management practices plays a major role in the global fluxes of greenhouse gases, soil carbon sequestration and production of ecosystem services. A key component of these practices are the crop rotations selected by the farmer. Here, we present an algorithm to create a crop rotation dataset for the U.S and demonstrate the tradeoffs between the number and accuracy of rotations comprising a state. To generate the rotations, we use the USDA Cropland Data Layer (CDL) available for the entire U.S at a resolution of 30 m from 2010 to 2012. Several studies have generated rotations simply by merging several years of CDL data, resulting in thousands of rotations per state. Alternatively, they tend to aggregate the rotations into a few predefined categories. This over simplification can lead to erroneous acreage values impacting both biogeochemical model estimates and land use change studies. Our algorithm uses the edit distance metric to combine similar rotations to obtain a product which retains the accuracy of CDL while minimizing the number of rotations. We find that 180 unique rotations are needed to represent the entire U.S with an accuracy exceeding 80% when compared to the underlying CDL datasets for rotations from 2010 to 2012. For the agriculturally important and diverse Western corn belt, the number of rotations needed to represent each state with an accuracy exceeding 90% when compared to the CDL dataset, ranges from 3 unique rotations for Iowa to more than 50 for North Dakota. As an application of the dataset, we examine the findings of Wright and Wimberly (1), who reported in a recent issue of PNAS that recent grassland conversion to corn and soybean cropping (GRCS) from 2006 to 2011 in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) is concentrated in the vicinity of wetlands. Their analysis implicitly assumes that all wetlands affected by GRCS in the PPR existed in or after 2006. However, the areal extent of wetlands was based on National Wetland Inventory maps, which were produced from aerial photography taken in the 1970s and 1980s. Thus, we conclude that Wright and Wimberly overestimated the total area of agricultural expansion through GRCS within 500 m of wetlands. Instead of attributing historical wetland conversion to recent land use changes in the PPR, here we provide separate estimates of wetland conversion from 1982 - 2007 and 2006 - 2011 using data from National Resources Inventory and rotations generated using CDL data from 2006 to 2011. We use the rotations generated using CDL data from 2006 to 2011, to estimate the total area of agricultural expansion through GRCS within 500 m of wetlands in the PPR. We find that the total grassland acreage in close proximity to wetlands that was converted to corn/soybean cropping between 2006 and 2011 was 58% of the nearly 400,000 ha estimated by Wright and Wimberly. While biofuel production impacts land use decisions, it is critical to use appropriate tools and datasets to inform our analysis of environmental impacts of these decisions, lest it divert our focus from other drivers of land use change. Reference: 1. Wright CK, Wimberly MC (2013) Recent land use change in the Western Corn Belt threatens grasslands and wetlands. PNAS.

Long-term nitrous oxide fluxes in annual and perennial agricultural and unmanaged ecosystems in the upper Midwest USA

DOE PAGES

Gelfand, Ilya; Shcherbak, Iurii; Millar, Neville; ...

2016-08-11

Differences in soil nitrous oxide (N 2O) fluxes among ecosystems are often difficult to evaluate and predict due to high spatial and temporal variabilities and few direct experimental comparisons. For 20 years, we measured N 2O fluxes in 11 ecosystems in southwest Michigan USA: four annual grain crops (corn–soybean–wheat rotations) managed with conventional, no-till, reduced input, or biologically based/organic inputs; three perennial crops (alfalfa, poplar, and conifers); and four unmanaged ecosystems of different successional age including mature forest. Average N 2O emissions were higher from annual grain and N-fixing cropping systems than from nonleguminous perennial cropping systems and were low across unmanaged ecosystems. Among annual cropping systems full-rotation fluxes were indistinguishable from one another but rotation phase mattered. For example, those systems with cover crops and reduced fertilizer N emitted more N 2O during the corn and soybean phases, but during the wheat phase fluxes were ~40% lower. Likewise, no-till did not differ from conventional tillage over the entire rotation but reduced emissions ~20% in the wheat phase and increased emissions 30–80% in the corn and soybean phases. Greenhouse gas intensity for the annual crops (flux per unit yield) was lowest for soybeans produced under conventional management, while for the 11 other crop 9 management combinations intensities were similar to one another. Among the fertilized systems, emissions ranged from 0.30 to 1.33 kg N 2O-N ha -1 yr -1 and were best predicted by IPCC Tier 1 and DEF emission factor approaches. Annual cumulative fluxes from perennial systems were best explained by soil NOmore » $$-\\atop{3}$$ pools (r 2 = 0.72) but not so for annual crops, where management differences overrode simple correlations. Daily soil N 2O emissions were poorly predicted by any measured variables. Overall, long-term measurements reveal lower fluxes in nonlegume perennial vegetation and, for conservatively fertilized annual crops, the overriding influence of rotation phase on annual fluxes.« less

Long-term nitrous oxide fluxes in annual and perennial agricultural and unmanaged ecosystems in the upper Midwest USA.

PubMed

Gelfand, Ilya; Shcherbak, Iurii; Millar, Neville; Kravchenko, Alexandra N; Robertson, G Philip

2016-11-01

Differences in soil nitrous oxide (N 2 O) fluxes among ecosystems are often difficult to evaluate and predict due to high spatial and temporal variabilities and few direct experimental comparisons. For 20 years, we measured N 2 O fluxes in 11 ecosystems in southwest Michigan USA: four annual grain crops (corn-soybean-wheat rotations) managed with conventional, no-till, reduced input, or biologically based/organic inputs; three perennial crops (alfalfa, poplar, and conifers); and four unmanaged ecosystems of different successional age including mature forest. Average N 2 O emissions were higher from annual grain and N-fixing cropping systems than from nonleguminous perennial cropping systems and were low across unmanaged ecosystems. Among annual cropping systems full-rotation fluxes were indistinguishable from one another but rotation phase mattered. For example, those systems with cover crops and reduced fertilizer N emitted more N 2 O during the corn and soybean phases, but during the wheat phase fluxes were ~40% lower. Likewise, no-till did not differ from conventional tillage over the entire rotation but reduced emissions ~20% in the wheat phase and increased emissions 30-80% in the corn and soybean phases. Greenhouse gas intensity for the annual crops (flux per unit yield) was lowest for soybeans produced under conventional management, while for the 11 other crop × management combinations intensities were similar to one another. Among the fertilized systems, emissions ranged from 0.30 to 1.33 kg N 2 O-N ha -1  yr -1 and were best predicted by IPCC Tier 1 and ΔEF emission factor approaches. Annual cumulative fluxes from perennial systems were best explained by soil NO3- pools (r 2  = 0.72) but not so for annual crops, where management differences overrode simple correlations. Daily soil N 2 O emissions were poorly predicted by any measured variables. Overall, long-term measurements reveal lower fluxes in nonlegume perennial vegetation and, for conservatively fertilized annual crops, the overriding influence of rotation phase on annual fluxes. © 2016 The Authors. Global Change Biology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Organic farming and cover crops as an alternative to mineral fertilizers to improve soil physical properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sánchez de Cima, Diego; Luik, Anne; Reintam, Endla

2015-10-01

For testing how cover crops and different fertilization managements affect the soil physical properties in a plough based tillage system, a five-year crop rotation experiment (field pea, white potato, common barley undersown with red clover, red clover, and winter wheat) was set. The rotation was managed under four different farming systems: two conventional: with and without mineral fertilizers and two organic, both with winter cover crops (later ploughed and used as green manure) and one where cattle manure was added yearly. The measurements conducted were penetration resistance, soil water content, porosity, water permeability, and organic carbon. Yearly variations were linked to the number of tillage operations, and a cumulative effect of soil organic carbon in the soil as a result of the different fertilization amendments, organic or mineral. All the systems showed similar tendencies along the three years of study and differences were only found between the control and the other systems. Mineral fertilizers enhanced the overall physical soil conditions due to the higher yield in the system. In the organic systems, cover crops and cattle manure did not have a significant effect on soil physical properties in comparison with the conventional ones, which were kept bare during the winter period. The extra organic matter boosted the positive effect of crop rotation, but the higher number of tillage operations in both organic systems counteracted this effect to a greater or lesser extent.

Simulated effects of crop rotations and residue management on wind erosion in Wuchuan, west-central Inner Mongolia, China.

PubMed

Wang, Erda; Harman, Wyatte L; Williams, Jimmy R; Xu, Cheng

2002-01-01

For decades, wind erosion has triggered dust and sand storms, buffeting Beijing and areas of northwestern China to the point of being hazardous to human health while rapidly eroding crop and livestock productivity. The EPIC (Environmental Policy Integrated Climate) field-scale simulation model was used to assess long-term effects of improved crop rotations and crop residue management practices on wind erosion in Wuchuan County in Inner Mongolia. Simulation results indicate that preserving crop stalks until land is prepared by zone tillage for the next year's crop in lieu of using them as a source of heating fuel or livestock fodder significantly reduces wind erosion by 60%. At the same time, grain and potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) yields were maintained or improved. Significant reductions in erosion, 35 to 46%, also resulted from delaying stalk removal until late January through late April. Yearly wind erosion was concentrated in April and May, the windiest months. Additionally, the use of alternative crop rotations resulted in differences in wind erosion, largely due to a difference in residue stature and quality and differences in biomass produced. As a result, altering current crop rotation systems by expanding corn (Zea mays L.), wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), and millet [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] and reducing potato and pea (Pisum sativum L.) production significantly reduced simulated wind erosion, thus diminishing the severity of dust and sand storms in northwestern China. Saving and protecting topsoil over time will sustain land productivity and have long-term implications for improving conditions of rural poverty in the region.

Tillage and Irrigation Management of Cotton in a Corn/Cotton Rotation

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A research study was undertaken to evaluate the yield of cotton in a corn-cotton rotation under two tillage treatments, conventional and minimum/conservation, and two irrigation treatments, irrigated and non-irrigated. Crops were grown under four treatments, irrigated-conventional tillage, irrigate...

Impacts on Water Management and Crop Production of Regional Cropping System Adaptation to Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhong, H.; Sun, L.; Tian, Z.; Liang, Z.; Fischer, G.

2014-12-01

China is one of the most populous and fast developing countries, also faces a great pressure on grain production and food security. Multi-cropping system is widely applied in China to fully utilize agro-climatic resources and increase land productivity. As the heat resource keep improving under climate warming, multi-cropping system will also shifting northward, and benefit crop production. But water shortage in North China Plain will constrain the adoption of new multi-cropping system. Effectiveness of multi-cropping system adaptation to climate change will greatly depend on future hydrological change and agriculture water management. So it is necessary to quantitatively express the water demand of different multi-cropping systems under climate change. In this paper, we proposed an integrated climate-cropping system-crops adaptation framework, and specifically focused on: 1) precipitation and hydrological change under future climate change in China; 2) the best multi-cropping system and correspondent crop rotation sequence, and water demand under future agro-climatic resources; 3) attainable crop production with water constraint; and 4) future water management. In order to obtain climate projection and precipitation distribution, global climate change scenario from HADCAM3 is downscaled with regional climate model (PRECIS), historical climate data (1960-1990) was interpolated from more than 700 meteorological observation stations. The regional Agro-ecological Zone (AEZ) model is applied to simulate the best multi-cropping system and crop rotation sequence under projected climate change scenario. Finally, we use the site process-based DSSAT model to estimate attainable crop production and the water deficiency. Our findings indicate that annual land productivity may increase and China can gain benefit from climate change if multi-cropping system would be adopted. This study provides a macro-scale view of agriculture adaptation, and gives suggestions to national agriculture adaptation strategy decisions.

Winter cover crop effect on corn seedling pathogens

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Cover crops are an excellent management tool to improve the sustainability of agriculture. Winter rye cover crops have been used successfully in Iowa corn-soybean rotations. Unfortunately, winter rye cover crops occasionally reduce yields of the following corn crop. We hypothesize that one potential...

7 CFR 1470.3 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... a crop that is one of the following: (1) A perennial grass; (2) A legume grown for use as forage, seed for planting, or green manure; (3) A legume-grass mixture; (4) A small grain grown in combination with a grass or legume, whether inter-seeded or planted in rotation. Resource-conserving crop rotation...

Development of the Land-use and Agricultural Management Practice web-Service (LAMPS) for generating crop rotations in space and time

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Agroecosystem models and conservation planning tools require spatially and temporally explicit input data about agricultural management operations. The Land-use and Agricultural Management Practices web-Service (LAMPS) provides crop rotation and management information for user-specified areas within...

Unique technical innovations for short rotation woody crops research and development

Treesearch

Adam H. Wiese; Ronald S., Jr. Zalesny

2006-01-01

Often technology that is available to conduct short rotation woody crops (SRWC) research is too expensive, difficult to operate, cumbersome, and/or impractical for meeting sample size requirements. Thus, we have designed, constructed, and tested technical innovations that have allowed us to meet our specific experimental needs.

Crop monoculture rather than agriculture reduces the spatial turnover of soil bacterial communities at a regional scale.

PubMed

Figuerola, Eva L M; Guerrero, Leandro D; Türkowsky, Dominique; Wall, Luis G; Erijman, Leonardo

2015-03-01

The goal of this study was to investigate the spatial turnover of soil bacterial communities in response to environmental changes introduced by the practices of soybean monoculture or crop rotations, relative to grassland soils. Amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene was used to analyse bacterial diversity in producer fields through three successive cropping cycles within one and a half years, across a regional scale of the Argentinean Pampas. Unlike local diversity, which was not significantly affected by land use type, agricultural management had a strong influence on β-diversity patterns. Distributions of pairwise distances between all soils samples under soybean monoculture had significantly lower β-diversity and narrower breadth compared with distributions of pairwise distances between soils managed with crop rotation. Interestingly, good agricultural practices had similar degree of β-diversity as natural grasslands. The higher phylogenetic relatedness of bacterial communities in soils under monoculture across the region was likely determined by the observed loss of endemic species, and affected mostly to phyla with low regional diversity, such as Acidobacteria, Verrucomicrobia and the candidates phyla SPAM and WS3. These results suggest that the implementation of good agricultural practices, including crop rotation, may be critical for the long-term conservation of soil biodiversity. © 2014 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Impacts of Cover Crops on Water and Nutrient Dynamics in Agroecosystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williard, K.; Swanberg, S.; Schoonover, J.

2013-05-01

Intensive cropping systems of corn (Zea Mays L.) and soybeans (Glycine max) are commonly leaky systems with respect to nitrogen (N). Reactive N outputs from agroecosystems can contribute to eutrophication and hypoxic zones in downstream water bodies and greenhouse gas (N2O) emissions. Incorporating cover crops into temperate agroecosystem rotations has been promoted as a tool to increase nitrogen use efficiency and thus limit reactive N outputs to the environment. Our objective was determine how cereal rye (Secale cereal L.) and annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) cover crops impact nutrient and soil water dynamics in an intensive corn and soybean cropping rotation in central Illinois. Cover crops were planted in mid to late October and terminated in early April prior to corn or soybean planting. In the spring just prior to cover crop termination, soil moisture levels were lower in the cover crop plots compared to no cover plots. This can be a concern for the subsequent crop in relatively dry years, which the Midwestern United States experienced in 2012. No cover plots had greater nutrient leaching below the rooting zone compared to cover crop areas, as expected. The cover crops were likely scavenging nutrients during the fall and early spring and should provide nutrients to the subsequent crop via decomposition and mineralization of the cover crop residue. Over the long term, cover crop systems should produce greater inputs and cycling of carbon and N, increasing the productivity of crops due to the long-term accumulation of soil organic matter. This study demonstrates that there may be short term trade-offs in reduced soil moisture levels that should be considered alongside the long term nutrient scavenging and recycling benefits of cover crops.

Effect of Nutrient Management Planning on Crop Yield, Nitrate Leaching and Sediment Loading in Thomas Brook Watershed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amon-Armah, Frederick; Yiridoe, Emmanuel K.; Ahmad, Nafees H. M.; Hebb, Dale; Jamieson, Rob; Burton, David; Madani, Ali

2013-11-01

Government priorities on provincial Nutrient Management Planning (NMP) programs include improving the program effectiveness for environmental quality protection, and promoting more widespread adoption. Understanding the effect of NMP on both crop yield and key water-quality parameters in agricultural watersheds requires a comprehensive evaluation that takes into consideration important NMP attributes and location-specific farming conditions. This study applied the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to investigate the effects of crop and rotation sequence, tillage type, and nutrient N application rate on crop yield and the associated groundwater leaching and sediment loss. The SWAT model was applied to the Thomas Brook Watershed, located in the most intensively managed agricultural region of Nova Scotia, Canada. Cropping systems evaluated included seven fertilizer application rates and two tillage systems (i.e., conventional tillage and no-till). The analysis reflected cropping systems commonly managed by farmers in the Annapolis Valley region, including grain corn-based and potato-based cropping systems, and a vegetable-horticulture system. ANOVA models were developed and used to assess the effects of crop management choices on crop yield and two water-quality parameters (i.e., leaching and sediment loading). Results suggest that existing recommended N-fertilizer rate can be reduced by 10-25 %, for grain crop production, to significantly lower leaching ( P > 0.05) while optimizing the crop yield. The analysis identified the nutrient N rates in combination with specific crops and rotation systems that can be used to manage leaching while balancing impacts on crop yields within the watershed.

Impact of crop rotation and soil amendments on long-term no-tilled soybean yields

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Continuous cropping systems without cover crops are perceived as unsustainable for long-term yield and soil health. To test this, cropping sequence and cover crop effects on soybean (Glycine max L.) yields were assessed. Main effects were 10 cropping sequences of soybean, corn (Zea mays L.), and co...

Reducing soil erosion and nutrient loss on sloping land under crop-mulberry management system.

PubMed

Fan, Fangling; Xie, Deti; Wei, Chaofu; Ni, Jiupai; Yang, John; Tang, Zhenya; Zhou, Chuan

2015-09-01

Sloping croplands could result in soil erosion, which leads to non-point source pollution of the aquatic system in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region. Mulberry, a commonly grown cash plant in the region, is traditionally planted in contour hedgerows as an effective management practice to control soil erosion and non-point source pollution. In this field study, surface runoff and soil N and P loss on sloping land under crop-mulberry management were investigated. The experiments consisted of six crop-mulberry treatments: Control (no mulberry hedgerow with mustard-corn rotation); T1 (two-row contour mulberry with mustard-corn rotation); T2 (three-row contour mulberry with mustard-corn rotation); T3 (border mulberry and one-row contour mulberry with mustard-corn rotation); T4 (border mulberry with mustard-corn rotation); T5 (two-row longitudinal mulberry with mustard). The results indicated that crop-mulberry systems could effectively reduce surface runoff and soil and nutrient loss from arable slope land. Surface runoff from T1 (342.13 m(3) hm(-2)), T2 (260.6 m(3) hm(-2)), T3 (113.13 m(3) hm(-2)), T4 (114 m(3) hm(-2)), and T5 (129 m(3) hm(-2)) was reduced by 15.4, 35.6, 72.0, 71.8, and 68.1%, respectively, while soil loss from T1 (0.21 t hm(-2)), T2 (0.13 t hm(-2)), T3 (0.08 t hm(-2)), T4 (0.11 t hm(-2)), and T5 (0.12 t hm(-2)) was reduced by 52.3, 70.5, 81.8, 75.0, and 72.7%, respectively, as compared with the control. Crop-mulberry ecosystem would also elevate soil N by 22.3% and soil P by 57.4%, and soil nutrient status was contour-line dependent.

Partitioning carbon fluxes from a Midwestern corn and soybean rotation system using footprint analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dold, C.; Hatfield, J.; Prueger, J. H.; Wacha, K.

2017-12-01

Midwestern US agriculture is dominated by corn and soybean production. Corn has typically higher Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) than soybean due to increased carboxylation efficiency and different crop management. The conjoined NEE may be measured with eddy covariance (EC) stations covering both crops, however, it is often unclear what the contribution of each crop is, as the CO2 source area remains unknown. The aim of this study was to quantify the contribution of CO2 fluxes from each crop for a conventional corn-soybean rotation system from 2007 - 2015. Therefore, the combined CO2 flux of three adjacent fields with annual corn-soybean rotation was measured with a 9.1 m EC tower (Flux 30). In the center of two of these fields, additional EC towers (Flux 10 and Flux 11) were positioned above the corn and soybean canopy to validate Flux 30 NEE. For each EC system the annual 90% NEE footprint area was calculated, footprints were partitioned among fields, and NEE separated accordingly. The average annual 90% footprint area of Flux 30, and Flux 10/11 corn and soybean was estimated to 206, 11 and 7 ha, respectively. The annual average (±SE) NEE of Flux 30 was -693 ± 47 g CO2 m-2 yr-1, of which 83% out of 90% originated from the three adjacent fields. Corn and soybean NEE measured at Flux 10 and 11 was -1124 ± 95 and 173 ± 73 g CO2 m-2 yr-1, respectively, and 89% and 90% originated from these fields. That demonstrates, that Flux 30 represents the combined NEE of a corn-soybean rotation, and Flux 10 and 11 measured NEE from a single crop. However, the share of Flux 30 NEE originating from corn and soybean grown on the Flux 10/11 fields was -192 ± 16 and -205 ± 18 g CO2 m-2 yr-1, indicating a substantial difference to single crop NEE. While it was possible to measure the NEE of a corn-soybean rotation with a tall EC tower, footprint partitioning could not retrieve NEE for each crop, probably due to differences in measurement height and footprint source area.

Methane production through anaerobic digestion of various energy crops grown in sustainable crop rotations.

PubMed

Amon, Thomas; Amon, Barbara; Kryvoruchko, Vitaliy; Machmüller, Andrea; Hopfner-Sixt, Katharina; Bodiroza, Vitomir; Hrbek, Regina; Friedel, Jürgen; Pötsch, Erich; Wagentristl, Helmut; Schreiner, Matthias; Zollitsch, Werner

2007-12-01

Biogas production is of major importance for the sustainable use of agrarian biomass as renewable energy source. Economic biogas production depends on high biogas yields. The project aimed at optimising anaerobic digestion of energy crops. The following aspects were investigated: suitability of different crop species and varieties, optimum time of harvesting, specific methane yield and methane yield per hectare. The experiments covered 7 maize, 2 winter wheat, 2 triticale varieties, 1 winter rye, and 2 sunflower varieties and 6 variants with permanent grassland. In the course of the vegetation period, biomass yield and biomass composition were measured. Anaerobic digestion was carried out in eudiometer batch digesters. The highest methane yields of 7500-10200 m(N)(3)ha(-1) were achieved from maize varieties with FAO numbers (value for the maturity of the maize) of 300 to 600 harvested at "wax ripeness". Methane yields of cereals ranged from 3200 to 4500 m(N)(3)ha(-1). Cereals should be harvested at "grain in the milk stage" to "grain in the dough stage". With sunflowers, methane yields between 2600 and 4550 m(N)(3)ha(-1) were achieved. There were distinct differences between the investigated sunflower varieties. Alpine grassland can yield 2700-3500 m(N)(3)CH(4)ha(-1). The methane energy value model (MEVM) was developed for the different energy crops. It estimates the specific methane yield from the nutrient composition of the energy crops. Energy crops for biogas production need to be grown in sustainable crop rotations. The paper outlines possibilities for optimising methane yield from versatile crop rotations that integrate the production of food, feed, raw materials and energy. These integrated crop rotations are highly efficient and can provide up to 320 million t COE which is 96% of the total energy demand of the road traffic of the EU-25 (the 25 Member States of the European Union).

Biogas crops grown in energy crop rotations: Linking chemical composition and methane production characteristics.

PubMed

Herrmann, Christiane; Idler, Christine; Heiermann, Monika

2016-04-01

Methane production characteristics and chemical composition of 405 silages from 43 different crop species were examined using uniform laboratory methods, with the aim to characterise a wide range of crop feedstocks from energy crop rotations and to identify main parameters that influence biomass quality for biogas production. Methane formation was analysed from chopped and over 90 days ensiled crop biomass in batch anaerobic digestion tests without further pre-treatment. Lignin content of crop biomass was found to be the most significant explanatory variable for specific methane yields while the methane content and methane production rates were mainly affected by the content of nitrogen-free extracts and neutral detergent fibre, respectively. The accumulation of butyric acid and alcohols during the ensiling process had significant impact on specific methane yields and methane contents of crop silages. It is proposed that products of silage fermentation should be considered when evaluating crop silages for biogas production. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Assessment of soil hydrology variability of a new weighing lysimeter facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brown, S. E.; Wagner-Riddle, C.; Berg, A. A.

2017-12-01

Diversifying annual crop rotations is a strategy that mimics natural ecosystems and is postulated to increase agricultural resilience to climate change, soil quality and provision of soil ecosystem services. However, diverse cropping systems could increase soil mineral N levels and lead to greater leaching and/or N2O emissions; which raises the questions: (i) are diverse cropping systems actually beneficial for air and water quality? (ii) what are the trade-offs between soil, water, and air quality upon implementing a diverse cropping rotation? It can be difficult to fully evaluate the interactions between the two N-pollution pathways simultaneously in traditional field studies as drainage is largely unconstrained. Weighing lysimeters solve this issue by providing a closed system to measure N outputs via drainage and soil gas fluxes. A set of 18 weighting lysimeters were installed in Elora, Ontario, Canada in May 2016, to establish a long-term study of N-leaching and greenhouse gas emission from traditional and diverse cropping rotations for two different soil types. Each lysimeter is equipped with an automated chamber for continuous measurement of soil N2O and CO2 fluxes. A full characterization of variations of physical properties that may affect GHG emissions and N-leaching (e.g., soil temperature, moisture, drainage and evapotranspiration rates) amongst the lysimeters is required prior to application and assessment of the management treatments. Novel techniques such as wavelet analysis is required as standard statistical analyses are not applicable to the time series data. A full description of the lysimeters will be presented along with results of the characterization.

Rotational Effects of Cuphea on Corn, Spring Wheat, and Soybean

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Agricultural diversity is lacking in the northern Corn Belt. Adding crop diversity to rotations can give economic and environmental benefits. Cuphea (Cuphea viscosissima Jacq. x C. lanceolata W.T. Aiton; PSR23), which grows well in the northern Corn Belt, is a new oilseed crop and a source of medium...

Nitrogen supply and demand in short-rotation sweetgum plantations

Treesearch

D. Andrew Scott; James A. Burger; Donald J. Kaczmarek; Michael B. Kane

2004-01-01

Intensive management is crucial for optimizing hardwood plantation success, and nitrogen (N) nutrition management is one of the most important practices in intensive management. Because management of short-rotation woody crop plantations is a mixture of row-crop agriculture and plantation forestry, we tested the usefulness of an agronomic budget modified for deciduous...

Evaluation of short-rotation woody crops to stabilize a decommissioned swine lagoon

Treesearch

K.C. Dipesh; Rodney E. Will; Thomas C. Hennessey; Chad J. Penn

2012-01-01

Fast growing tree stands represent an environmentally friendly, less expensive method for stabilization of decommissioned animal production lagoons than traditional lagoon closure. We tested the feasibility of using short-rotation woody crops (SRWCs) in central Oklahoma to close a decommissioned swine lagoon by evaluating the growth performance and nutrient uptake of...

Replacing fallow with forage triticale in dryland crop rotations increases profitability

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A common dryland rotational cropping system in the semi-arid central Great Plains of the U.S. is wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)-corn (Zea mays L.)-fallow (WCF). However, the 12-month fallow period following corn production has been shown to be relatively inefficient in storing precipitation during the...

Net global warming potential and greenhouse gas intensity influenced by irrigation, tillage, crop rotation, and nitrogen fertilization

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Little information exists about sources and sinks of greenhouse gases (GHGs) affected by management practices to account for net emissions from agroecosystems. We evaluated the effects of irrigation, tillage, crop rotation, and N fertilization on net global warming potential (GWP) and greenhouse gas...

Woody biomass from short rotation energy crops. Chapter 2

Treesearch

R.S., Jr. Zalesny Jr.; M.W. Cunningham; R.B. Hall; J. Mirck; D.L. Rockwood; J.A. Stanturf; T.A. Volk

2011-01-01

Short rotation woody crops (SRWCs) are ideal for woody biomass production and management systems because they are renewable energy feedstocks for biofuels, bioenergy, and bioproducts that can be strategically placed in the landscape to conserve soil and water, recycle nutrients, and sequester carbon. This chapter is a synthesis of the regional implications of producing...

Woody biomass from short rotation energy crops

Treesearch

R.S. Zalesny; M.W. Cunningham; R.B. Hall; J. Mirck; D.L. Rockwood; John Stanturf; T.A. Volk

2011-01-01

Short rotation woody crops (SRWCs) are ideal for woody biomass production and management systems because they are renewable energy feedstocks for biofuels, bioenergy, and bioproducts that can be strategically placed in the landscape to conserve soil and water, recycle nutrients, and sequester carbon. This chapter is a synthesis of the regional implications of producing...

Characteristics of Nitrogen and Phosphorus Effluent Load from a Paddy-field District Implementing Crop Rotation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hama, Takehide; Aoki, Takeru; Osuga, Katsuyuki; Nakamura, Kimihito; Sugiyama, Sho; Kawashima, Shigeto

Implementation of collective crop rotation in a paddy-field district may increase nutrients effluent load. We have investigated a paddy-field district implementing collective crop rotation of wheat and soybeans, measured temporal variations in nutrients concentration of drainage water and the amount of discharged water for consecutive three years, and estimated nutrients effluent load from the district during the irrigation and non-irrigation periods. As a result, the highest concentration of nutrients was observed during the non-irrigation period in every investigation year. It was shown that high nutrients concentration of drainage water during the non-irrigation period was caused by runoff of fertilizer applied to wheat because the peaks of nutrients concentration of drainage water were seen in rainy days after fertilizer application in the crop-rotation field. The effluent load during the non-irrigation periods was 16.9-22.1 kgN ha-1 (nitrogen) and 0.84-1.42 kgP ha-1 (phosphorus), which respectively accounted for 46-66% and 27-54% of annual nutrients effluent load.

Tracking nitrogen losses in a greenhouse crop rotation experiment in North China using the EU-Rotate_N simulation model.

PubMed

Guo, Ruiying; Nendel, Claas; Rahn, Clive; Jiang, Chunguang; Chen, Qing

2010-06-01

Vegetable production in China is associated with high inputs of nitrogen, posing a risk of losses to the environment. Organic matter mineralisation is a considerable source of nitrogen (N) which is hard to quantify. In a two-year greenhouse cucumber experiment with different N treatments in North China, non-observed pathways of the N cycle were estimated using the EU-Rotate_N simulation model. EU-Rotate_N was calibrated against crop dry matter and soil moisture data to predict crop N uptake, soil mineral N contents, N mineralisation and N loss. Crop N uptake (Modelling Efficiencies (ME) between 0.80 and 0.92) and soil mineral N contents in different soil layers (ME between 0.24 and 0.74) were satisfactorily simulated by the model for all N treatments except for the traditional N management. The model predicted high N mineralisation rates and N leaching losses, suggesting that previously published estimates of N leaching for these production systems strongly underestimated the mineralisation of N from organic matter. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sycamore and sweetgum plantation productivity on former agricultural land in South Carolina

Treesearch

A.A. Davis; C.C. Trettin

2006-01-01

Former agricultural lands in the southern US comprise a significant land base to support short rotation woody crop (SRWC) plantations. This study presents the seven-year response of productivity and biomass allocation in operational-scale, first rotation sycamore (Plantanus occidentalis L.) and sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua L...

Impacts of crop growth dynamics on soil quality at the regional scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gobin, Anne

2014-05-01

Agricultural land use and in particular crop growth dynamics can greatly affect soil quality. Both the amount of soil lost from erosion by water and soil organic matter are key indicators for soil quality. The aim was to develop a modelling framework for quantifying the impacts of crop growth dynamics on soil quality at the regional scale with test case Flanders. A framework for modelling the impacts of crop growth on soil erosion and soil organic matter was developed by coupling the dynamic crop cover model REGCROP (Gobin, 2010) to the PESERA soil erosion model (Kirkby et al., 2009) and to the RothC carbon model (Coleman and Jenkinson, 1999). All three models are process-based, spatially distributed and intended as a regional diagnostic tool. A geo-database was constructed covering 10 years of crop rotation in Flanders using the IACS parcel registration (Integrated Administration and Control System). Crop allometric models were developed from variety trials to calculate crop residues for common crops in Flanders and subsequently derive stable organic matter fluxes to the soil. Results indicate that crop growth dynamics and crop rotations influence soil quality for a very large percentage. soil erosion mainly occurs in the southern part of Flanders, where silty to loamy soils and a hilly topography are responsible for soil loss rates of up to 40 t/ha. Parcels under maize, sugar beet and potatoes are most vulnerable to soil erosion. Crop residues of grain maize and winter wheat followed by catch crops contribute most to the total carbon sequestered in agricultural soils. For the same rotations carbon sequestration is highest on clay soils and lowest on sandy soils. This implies that agricultural policies that impact on agricultural land management influence soil quality for a large percentage. The coupled REGCROP-PESERA-ROTHC model allows for quantifying the impact of seasonal and year-to-year crop growth dynamics on soil quality. When coupled to a multi-annual crop rotation database both spatial and temporal analysis becomes possible and allows for decision support at both farm and regional level. The framework is therefore suited for further scenario analysis and impact assessment. The research is funded by the Belgian Science Policy Organisation (Belspo) under contract nr SD/RI/03A.

Production of sugarcane and tropical grasses as a renewable energy source. Second annual report, 1978-1979

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1979-01-01

Reseach continued on tropical grasses from Saccharum and related genera as sources of intensively-produced, solar-dried biomass. Categories of candidate grasses include short-, intermediate-, and long-rotation species. These categories are based on the time interval required for maximum dry matter production, and on future management requirements of energy crops for intensive co-production with food crop commodities. Year 1 studies at the greenhouse and field-plot levels were continued and broadened during Year 2. This included candidate screening, importation and quarantine of new clones, breeding, controlled nitrogen and water regimes, chemical growth control, tissue expansion and maturation control, seeding rates, harvest frequency, andmore » variable row spacing. Second-year studies were extended to the project's field-scale and mechanized-harvest phases. These include initial economic anayses for the short-rotation phases. These include initial economic analyses for the short-rotation category of candidate species.« less

Identifying potential areas for biofuel production and evaluating the environmental effects: a case study of the James River Basin in the Midwestern United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wu, Yiping; Liu, Shu-Guang; Li, Zhengpeng

2012-01-01

Biofuels are now an important resource in the United States because of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Both increased corn growth for ethanol production and perennial dedicated energy crop growth for cellulosic feedstocks are potential sources to meet the rising demand for biofuels. However, these measures may cause adverse environmental consequences that are not yet fully understood. This study 1) evaluates the long-term impacts of increased frequency of corn in the crop rotation system on water quantity and quality as well as soil fertility in the James River Basin and 2) identifies potential grasslands for cultivating bioenergy crops (e.g. switchgrass), estimating the water quality impacts. We selected the soil and water assessment tool, a physically based multidisciplinary model, as the modeling approach to simulate a series of biofuel production scenarios involving crop rotation and land cover changes. The model simulations with different crop rotation scenarios indicate that decreases in water yield and soil nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N) concentration along with an increase in NO3-N load to stream water could justify serious concerns regarding increased corn rotations in this basin. Simulations with land cover change scenarios helped us spatially classify the grasslands in terms of biomass productivity and nitrogen loads, and we further derived the relationship of biomass production targets and the resulting nitrogen loads against switchgrass planting acreages. The suggested economically efficient (planting acreage) and environmentally friendly (water quality) planting locations and acreages can be a valuable guide for cultivating switchgrass in this basin. This information, along with the projected environmental costs (i.e. reduced water yield and increased nitrogen load), can contribute to decision support tools for land managers to seek the sustainability of biofuel development in this region.

Impact of preceding crop on alfalfa competitiveness with weeds

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Organic producers would like to include no-till practices in their farming systems. We are seeking to develop a continuous no-till system for organic farming, based on a complex rotation that includes a 3-year sequence of alfalfa. In this study, we evaluated impact of preceding crop on weed infest...

Diazotroph community structure and abundance in wheat-fallow and wheat-pea crop rotations

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Biological input of nitrogen (N) from the atmosphere either through free-living diazotrophs or legume-associated rhizobia can help alleviate fertilizer use in agricultural systems. In this study, we investigated the effect of N fertilizer and winter pea (Pisum sativum L.) crop on the diversity and a...

Life cycle assessments of bioenergy oilseed production in rotation with dryland cereals in eastern Oregon, USA

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Oilseed crops are expected to become increasingly important as feedstock for production of renewable jet fuel for the airline industry. However, there are potential social and environmental problems associated with using agricultural land to produce energy crops. The objective of this study was to...

Tillage, crop rotation, and cultural practice impact on nitrogen balance under dryland cropping systems

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Accounting of N inputs and outputs and N retention in the soil provides N balance that measures agroecosystem performance and environmental sustainability. Because of the complexity of measurements of some N inputs and outputs, studies on N balance in long-term experiments are scanty. We examined th...

Soil erosion and mitigation measures on rented and owned fields in Uruguay: the impact of transgenic soya and foreign investors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caon, Lucrezia; Kessler, Aad; Keesstra, Saskia; Cruze, Rick

2014-05-01

Governments, companies and individuals with financial capital to invest, are worldwide buying or renting land in developing or third world countries. Uruguay is a developing country whose economy is mainly based on agriculture. Since 2000 many foreigners started to invest in the Uruguayan agricultural sector and to practice intensive large-scale agriculture. The significant presence of foreigners in the country is proven by the fact that almost 360 000 ha out of the 500 000 ha forming the study area were managed by foreigners in 2012. Nowadays farmers have abandoned the traditional crop rotation plan that included pasture to produce grain for export, and transgenic soya (soya RR) became the main crop planted by both foreigners and locals. Besides the high soil erosion rates related to having soya as main crop, planting soya implies the use of glyphosate, a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide leading to important environmental impacts. It is commonly said that foreigners investing in poor countries are exploiting the local natural resources aiming to get the highest possible profit from them. Is this a valid assumption in Uruguay? The purpose of this study was to compare the land management style of foreign and local farmers and to relate it to the soil erosion occurring in the study area. The land tenure (rented or owned fields) and the type of farmer interviewed ("individual farmer" equivalent to L.L.C. or "anonymous society" equivalent to P.L.C.) were taken into consideration during the analysis. Based on what stated by the farmers interviewed, the soil erosion simulations considered the seven most popular crop rotation plans on rented and owned fields, three ideals crop rotation plans, the application of no mitigation measures, and the construction of terraces and conservation buffers. Depending on the crop rotation plan, soils characterized by slope gradients higher than 2 resulted in soil erosion rates higher than the 7 ton/ha/year allowed by law. The highest soil erosion rates corresponded to crop rotation plans having high percentage of soybeans and low percentages of sorghum and/or maize. In addition, the soil erosion rate was even higher when only one crop, especially soybeans, was planted during an agricultural year. Although there were not significant differences in the land management style between foreign and local farmers, the land management style significantly differed between L.L.C. and P.L.C., and between owned and rented fields. Compared to L.L.C., P.L.C. applied more soil erosion mitigation measures on both rented and owned fields and invested in research. Owned fields resulted to be better managed than rented fields in which soil erosion mitigation measures were taken only in presence of an agreement with the landlord. Indeed, although the construction of terraces having a distance of 30-50 m significantly reduced the soil erosion rate, those were mainly built on owned fields.

Incorporating soil health management practices into viable potato cropping systems

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Soil health is critical to agricultural sustainability, environmental quality, and ecosystem function, but is generally degraded through intensive potato production. Soil and crop management practices beneficial to soil health, such as crop rotations, cover crops and green manures, organic amendment...

Energy Product Options for Eucalyptus Species Grown as Short Rotation Woody Crops

PubMed Central

Rockwood, Donald L.; Rudie, Alan W.; Ralph, Sally A.; Zhu, J.Y.; Winandy, Jerrold E.

2008-01-01

Eucalyptus species are native to Australia but grown extensively worldwide as short rotation hardwoods for a variety of products and as ornamentals. We describe their general importance with specific emphasis on existing and emerging markets as energy products and the potential to maximize their productivity as short rotation woody crops. Using experience in Florida USA and similar locations, we document their current energy applications and assess their productivity as short-term and likely long-term energy and related products. PMID:19325808

[Cyanobacteria populations in rice soils: rotation effects].

PubMed

Sánchez, Cecilia I; Benintende, María C; Benintende, Silvia M

2018-04-21

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different rice rotations on cyanobacteria populations during the growing season. The study was conducted in Entre Ríos (Argentina). Four crop rotations were evaluated: rice-soybean (AS); rice-soybean-corn-soybean (ASMS); rice-rice (AA) and rice-pasture (AP). Soil and water samples were collected in 4 stages: implantation, tillering, booting and physiological maturity. The potential number of cyanobacteria population was lowerin relation to other rice sites previously reported. The lowest counts were recorded during implantation whereas the highest counts were obtained during booting. The statistical analysis showed no effect of rotation on the variable number of cyanobacteria, although AA was the most abundant. A total of 13 taxa were identified: Lyngbya, Oscillatoria, Plectonema, Spirulina, Anabaena, Nostoc, Aulosira, Calothrix, Gloeotrichia, Aphanocapsa, Croococcus, Mycrocystis and Gloeocapsa. AP rotation recorded the lowest number of genera. AS and AA had a higher proportion of filamentous cyanobacteria. Simpson's index was low. It was concluded that crop rotations had a differential effect on some aspects of cyanobacteria population such as the proportion of unicellular to filamentous cyanobacteria, genera presence and richness. Copyright © 2018 Asociación Argentina de Microbiología. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

U.S. effort in the development of new crops (Lesquerella, Pennycress and Cuphea)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The U.S. effort for the development of New Crops is directed toward the development of crops that can be grown in rotation with traditional commodity crops, off-season production and utilization of acreage not currently under cultivation. This effort is intended to have no or minimal impact on crop...

Regulation of Population Densities of Heterodera cajani and Other Plant-Parasitic Nematodes by Crop Rotations on Vertisols, in Semi-Arid Tropical Production Systems in India

PubMed Central

Sharma, S. B.; Rego, T. J.; Mohiuddin, M.; Rao, V. N.

1996-01-01

The significance of double crop (intercrop and sequential crop), single crop (rainy season crop fallow from June to September), and rotations on densities of Heterodera cajani, Helicotylenchus retusus, and Rotylenchulus reniformis was studied on Vertisol (Typic Pellusterts) between 1987 and 1993. Cowpea (Vigna sinensis), mungbean (Phaseolus aureus), and pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) greatly increased the population densities of H. cajani and suppressed the population densities of other plant-parasitic nematodes. Mean population densities of H. cajani were about 8 times lower in single crop systems than in double crop systems, with pigeonpea as a component intercrop. Plots planted to sorghum, safflower, and chickpea in the preceding year contained fewer H. cajani eggs and juveniles than did plots previously planted to pigeonpea, cowpea, or mungbean. Continuous cropping of sorghum in the rainy season and safflower in the post-rainy season markedly reduced the population density of H. cajani. Sorghum, safflower, and chickpea favored increased population densities of H. retusus. Adding cowpea to the system resulted in a significant increase in the densities of R. reniformis. Mean densities of total plant-parasitic nematodes were three times greater in double crop systems, with pigeonpea as a component intercrop than in single crop systems with rainy season fallow component. Cropping systems had a regulatory effect on the nematode populations and could be an effective nematode management tactic. Intercropping of sorghum with H. cajani tolerant pigeonpea could be effective in increasing the productivity of traditional production systems in H. cajani infested regions. PMID:19277141

Simulating crop growth with Expert-N-GECROS under different site conditions in Southwest Germany

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poyda, Arne; Ingwersen, Joachim; Demyan, Scott; Gayler, Sebastian; Streck, Thilo

2016-04-01

When feedbacks between the land surface and the atmosphere are investigated by Atmosphere-Land surface-Crop-Models (ALCM) it is fundamental to accurately simulate crop growth dynamics as plants directly influence the energy partitioning at the plant-atmosphere interface. To study both the response and the effect of intensive agricultural crop production systems on regional climate change in Southwest Germany, the crop growth model GECROS (YIN & VAN LAAR, 2005) was calibrated based on multi-year field data from typical crop rotations in the Kraichgau and Swabian Alb regions. Additionally, the SOC (soil organic carbon) model DAISY (MÜLLER et al., 1998) was implemented in the Expert-N model tool (ENGEL & PRIESACK, 1993) and combined with GECROS. The model was calibrated based on a set of plant (BBCH, LAI, plant height, aboveground biomass, N content of biomass) and weather data for the years 2010 - 2013 and validated with the data of 2014. As GECROS adjusts the root-shoot partitioning in response to external conditions (water, nitrogen, CO2), it is suitable to simulate crop growth dynamics under changing climate conditions and potentially more frequent stress situations. As C and N pools and turnover rates in soil as well as preceding crop effects were expected to considerably influence crop growth, the model was run in a multi-year, dynamic way. Crop residues and soil mineral N (nitrate, ammonium) available for the subsequent crop were accounted for. The model simulates growth dynamics of winter wheat, winter rape, silage maize and summer barley at the Kraichgau and Swabian Alb sites well. The Expert-N-GECROS model is currently parameterized for crops with potentially increasing shares in future crop rotations. First results will be shown.

Winter rye cover crops as a host for corn seedling pathogens

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Cover cropping is a prevalent conservation practice that offers substantial benefits to soil protection, soil health and water quality. However, emerging implementations of cover cropping, such as winter cereals preceding corn, may dampen beneficial rotation effects by putting similar crop species i...

Soil microbiome characteristics and soilborne disease development associated with long-term potato cropping system practices

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Potato cropping system practices substantially affect soil microbial communities and the development of soilborne diseases. Cropping systems incorporating soil health management practices, such as longer rotations, disease-suppressive crops, reduced tillage, and/or organic amendments can potentially...

Soil structural stability assessment with the fluidized bed, aggregate stability, and rainfall simulation on long-term tillage and crop rotation systems

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The formation of stable soil aggregates is an important indicator of soil susceptibility to erosion and a factor defining soil health. On cropland, tillage practices and crop rotations have shown to control soil biophysical properties with potential consequences on erosion susceptibility. Thus, the ...

Future market scenarios for pulpwood supply from agricultural short-rotation woody crops

Treesearch

Alexander N. Moiseyev; Daniel G. de la Torre Ugarte; Peter J. Ince

2000-01-01

The North American Pulp And Paper (NAPAP) model and USDA POLYSYS agricultural policy analysis model were linked to project future market scenarios for pulpwood supply from agricultural short-rotation woody crops in the United States. Results suggest that pulpwood supply from fast- growing hybrid poplars and cottonwoods will become marginally economical but fairly...

Aspen-triticale alleycropping system: effects of landscape position and fertilizer rate

Treesearch

W.L. Headlee; R.B. Hall; R.S. Jr. Zalesny

2010-01-01

Short-rotation woody crops offer several key advantages over other potential bioenergy feedstocks, particularly with regard to nutrient inputs and biomass storage. However, a key disadvantage is a lack of income for the grower early in the rotation. Alleycropping offers the opportunity to grow annual crops for income while the trees become established.

Overcoming weed management challenges in cover crop-based organic rotational no-till soybean production in the Eastern US

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Cover crop-based, organic rotational no-till soybean production has been gaining traction in the Eastern region of the United States because of the ability of this new system to enhance soil conservation, reduce labor requirements, and decrease diesel fuel use compared to traditional organic product...

Cultivation-Based and Molecular Assessment of Bacterial Diversity in the Rhizosheath of Wheat under Different Crop Rotations

PubMed Central

Tahir, Muhammad; Mirza, M. Sajjad; Hameed, Sohail; Dimitrov, Mauricio R.; Smidt, Hauke

2015-01-01

A field study was conducted to compare the formationand bacterial communities of rhizosheaths of wheat grown under wheat-cotton and wheat-rice rotation and to study the effects of bacterial inoculation on plant growth. Inoculation of Azospirillum sp. WS-1 and Bacillus sp. T-34 to wheat plants increased root length, root and shoot dry weight and dry weight of rhizosheathsoil when compared to non-inoculated control plants, and under both crop rotations. Comparing both crop rotations, root length, root and shoot dry weight and dry weight of soil attached with roots were higher under wheat-cotton rotation. Organic acids (citric acid, malic acid, acetic acid and oxalic acid) were detected in rhizosheaths from both rotations, with malic acid being most abundant with 24.8±2 and 21.3±1.5 μg g-1 dry soil in wheat-cotton and wheat-rice rotation, respectively. Two sugars (sucrose, glucose) were detected in wheat rhizosheath under both rotations, with highest concentrations of sucrose (4.08±0.5 μg g-1and 7.36±1.0 μg g-1) and glucose (3.12±0.5 μg g-1 and 3.01± μg g-1) being detected in rhizosheaths of non-inoculated control plants under both rotations. Diversity of rhizosheath-associated bacteria was evaluated by cultivation, as well as by 454-pyrosequencing of PCR-tagged 16S rRNA gene amplicons. A total of 14 and 12 bacterial isolates predominantly belonging to the genera Arthrobacter, Azospirillum, Bacillus, Enterobacter and Pseudomonaswere obtained from the rhizosheath of wheat grown under wheat-cotton and wheat-rice rotation, respectively. Analysis of pyrosequencing data revealed Proteobacteria, Bacteriodetes and Verrucomicrobia as the most abundant phyla in wheat-rice rotation, whereas Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria, Planctomycetes and Cyanobacteria were predominant in wheat-cotton rotation. From a total of 46,971 sequences, 10.9% showed ≥97% similarity with 16S rRNA genes of 32 genera previously shown to include isolates with plant growth promoting activity (nitrogen fixation, phosphate-solubilization, IAA production). Among these, the most predominant genera were Arthrobacter, Azoarcus, Azospirillum, Bacillus, Cyanobacterium, Paenibacillus, Pseudomonas and Rhizobium. PMID:26121588

Efect of organic barley-based crop rotations on soil nutrient balance in a semiarid environment for a 16-year experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meco, Ramón; María Moreno, Marta; Lacasta, Carlos; Moreno, Carmen

2013-04-01

In natural ecosystems with no percolating moisture regime, the biogeochemical cycle can be considered a closed system because the nutrients extracted by the roots will be returned to the soil after a certain time. In organic farming, a cycle model as close as possible is taken as a guideline, but we have to consider that unlike natural ecosystems, where most of the nutrients remain in the cycle, the agrosystems are open cycles. To achieve a sustainable fertility of the soil, the soil nutrient levels, the extractions according to the expected crop yields and the export refunds in the form of crop residues, biological nitrogen fixation, green manure or compost will have to be determined. Nutrient balance should be closed with external inputs, always avoiding to be a source of negative impacts on the environment. In organic farming without exogenous inputs, the effect of the crop rotations is much more noticeable in the nutrient balance than in the conventional farming fields which every year receive inputs of nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) in the form of chemical fertilizers. The most extractive crop rotations are those that produce a greater decrease in soil reserves, and in these cases exogenous inputs to maintain sustainability should be considered; however, in less extractive crop rotations, extractions can be restored by the edaphogenesis processes. In this work, soil organic matter, phosphorus and potassium balances were analyzed in different organic barley-based crop rotations (barley monoculture [b-b] and in rotation with vetch for hay production [B-Vh], vetch as green manure [B-Vm], sunflower [B-S], chickpea [B-C] and fallow [B-F]) in clay soils under a semiarid environment ("La Higueruela" Experimental Farm, Santa Olalla, Toledo, central Spain) over a 16 year period. Additionally, barley monoculture in conventional farming [B-B] was included. In the organic system, the fertilization involved the barley straw in all rotations, the sunflower straw in B-S, the symbiotic nitrogen from the vetch crops and the green manure in B-Vm. In the conventional system, fertilization consisted on barley straw and chemical fertilizers at a rate of 80-60-30 kg N-P-K ha-1. Before the organic management, the whole plot was subjected to conventional practices. The highest total yields (and therefore the nutrients extractions) were obtained in B-Vh, followed in this order by B-B, B-S, B-F, B-Vm, B-C and b-b. The crop rotations with the highest yields favoured the microbial activity and the organic residues mineralization, although this caused, eventually, a small decrease in the soil organic matter content. Since the eighth year, this parameter remained more stable until the end of the study period. The highest decrease of soil organic matter took place in B-F and B-S, while the lowest ones happened in B-B, where the great amounts of barley straw incorporated into the soil compensated the organic matter losses. The conversion from conventional to organic management with the incorporation of the straw to the soil implies a re-adaptation process with a decrease of the soil phosphorus level by the increasing soil microbial biomass. A decrease of phosphorus during the first six years of the experiment and a posterior recovery and stabilization of this ratio by the solubilisation of the fixed phosphorus was observed. B-F and B-S presented the lowest soluble phosphorus losses, while B-C the highest ones. In the same way, the potassium level decreased during the first eight years and after that remained constant. The highest decreases took place in the rotations with the biggest amounts of barley straw; this decrease could be explained by the nutrient immobilization caused by the microbial biomass.

Evaluation of carbon saturation across gradients of cropping systems diversity and soil depth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castellano, Michael; Poffenbarger, Hanna; Cambardella, Cindy; Liebman, Matt; Mallarino, Antonio; Olk, Dan; Russell, Ann; Six, Johan

2017-04-01

Growing evidence indicates arable soils in the US Maize Belt are effectively carbon-saturated. We hypothesized that: 1) surface soil mineral-associated soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in these systems are effectively carbon-saturated and 2) diverse cropping systems with greater belowground C inputs would increase subsoil SOC stocks because subsoils have large C saturation deficit. Using three long-term field trials in Iowa (study durations of 60, 35, and 12 years), we examined the effects of cropping system diversity (maize-soybean-oat/alfalfa-alfalfa or corn-corn-oat/alfalfa-alfalfa vs. maize-soybean rotation) on SOC content at different depths (0-100 cm) throughout the soil profile. Average annual C inputs were similar for both cropping systems, but the proportion of C delivered belowground was approximately twice as great in the extended rotations. Within and across cropping systems and the three field trial locations, there was a positive linear relationship between total SOC and the concentration of SOC in the mineral-associated fraction, indicating mineral-associated SOC stocks are not saturated. Organic C accumulation was observed at depth (15-100 cm) but not at the surface (0-15 cm) across all sites and rotations. These data suggest surface SOC stocks may have reached equilibrium rather than effective C saturation. In the absence of experiments that manipulate C inputs, the relationship between total SOC and the concentration of SOC in the mineral-associated fraction is frequently used as a proxy for C-saturation, and this relationship should be further explored.

Assessing gaps in irrigated agricultural productivity through satellite earth observations-A case study of the Fergana Valley, Central Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Löw, Fabian; Biradar, Chandrashekhar; Fliemann, Elisabeth; Lamers, John P. A.; Conrad, Christopher

2017-07-01

Improving crop area and/or crop yields in agricultural regions is one of the foremost scientific challenges for the next decades. This is especially true in irrigated areas because sustainable intensification of irrigated crop production is virtually the sole means to enhance food supply and contribute to meeting food demands of a growing population. Yet, irrigated crop production worldwide is suffering from soil degradation and salinity, reduced soil fertility, and water scarcity rendering the performance of irrigation schemes often below potential. On the other hand, the scope for improving irrigated agricultural productivity remains obscure also due to the lack of spatial data on agricultural production (e.g. crop acreage and yield). To fill this gap, satellite earth observations and a replicable methodology were used to estimate crop yields at the field level for the period 2010/2014 in the Fergana Valley, Central Asia, to understand the response of agricultural productivity to factors related to the irrigation and drainage infrastructure and environment. The results showed that cropping pattern, i.e. the presence or absence of multi-annual crop rotations, and spatial diversity of crops had the most persistent effects on crop yields across observation years suggesting the need for introducing sustainable cropping systems. On the other hand, areas with a lower crop diversity or abundance of crop rotation tended to have lower crop yields, with differences of partly more than one t/ha yield. It is argued that factors related to the infrastructure, for example, the distance of farms to the next settlement or the density of roads, had a persistent effect on crop yield dynamics over time. The improvement potential of cotton and wheat yields were estimated at 5%, compared to crop yields of farms in the direct vicinity of settlements or roads. In this study it is highlighted how remotely sensed estimates of crop production in combination with geospatial technologies provide a unique perspective that, when combined with field surveys, can support planners to identify management priorities for improving regional production and/or reducing environmental impacts.

Long-term tillage and crop rotation effects on residual nitrate in the crop root zone and nitrate accumulation in the intermediate vadose zone

USGS Publications Warehouse

Katupitiya, A.; Eisenhauer, D.E.; Ferguson, R.B.; Spalding, R.F.; Roeth, F.W.; Bobier, M.W.

1997-01-01

Tillage influences the physical and biological environment of soil. Rotation of crops with a legume affects the soil N status. A furrow irrigated site was investigated for long-term tillage and crop rotation effects on leaching of nitrate from the root zone and accumulation in the intermediate vadose zone (IVZ). The investigated tillage systems were disk-plant (DP), ridge-till (RT) and slot-plant (SP). These tillage treatments have been maintained on the Hastings silt loam (Udic Argiustoll) and Crete silt loam (Pachic Argiustoll) soils since 1976. Continuous corn (CC) and corn soybean (CS) rotations were the subtreatments. Since 1984, soybeans have been grown in CS plots in even calendar years. All tillage treatments received the same N rate. The N rate varied annually depending on the root zone residual N. Soybeans were not fertilized with N-fertilizer. Samples for residual nitrate in the root zone were taken in 8 of the 15 year study while the IVZ was only sampled at the end of the study. In seven of eight years, root zone residual soil nitrate-N levels were greater with DP than RT and SP. Residual nitrate-N amounts were similar in RT and SP in all years. Despite high residual nitrate-N with DP and the same N application rate, crop yields were higher in RT and SP except when DP had an extremely high root zone nitrate level. By applying the same N rates on all tillage treatments, DP may have been fertilized in excess of crop need. Higher residual nitrate-N in DP was most likely due to a combination of increased mineralization with tillage and lower yield compared to RT and SP. Because of higher nitrate availability with DP, the potential for nitrate leaching from the root zone was greater with DP as compared to the RT and SP tillage systems. Spring residual nitrate-N contents of DP were larger than RT and SP in both crop rotations. Ridge till and SP systems had greater nitrate-N with CS than CC rotations. Nitrate accumulation in IVZ at the upstream end of the field was twice as high with DP compared to RT and SP. At the downstream end, it was 2.4 and 1.6 times greater with DP than RT and SP, respectively. Nitrate concentration was greater in the IVZ of DP compared to RT and SP tillage systems. Nitrate accumulations in IVZ of RT and SP were not different. Continuous corn had slightly higher nitrate levels in IVZ than CS. The depth of nitrate penetration at the upstream end was greater than that of the downstream end. Estimated rates of nitrate movement ranged from 0.87 to 0.92 m yr-1 at the upstream end and 0.73 to 0.78 m yr-1 at the downstream end.

Big agronomic data validates an oxymoron: Sustainable intensification under climate change

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Crop science is increasingly embracing big data to reconcile the apparent rift between intensification of food production and sustainability of a steadily stressed production base. A strategy based on long-term agroecosystem research and modeling simulation of crops, crop rotations and cropping sys...

Residue management increases fallow water conservation and yield deficit irrigated crops grown in rotation with wheat

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

No-tillage (NT) residue management provides cover to increase precipitation capture compared with disk tillage (DT) or in the absence of a cover crop. Therefore, NT has the potential to reduce irrigation withdrawals from the declining Ogallala Aquifer. In a 4-year study, we quantified DT and NT effe...

Legumes or nitrification inhibitors to reduce N2O emissions in subtropical cereal cropping systems? A simulation study

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The DAYCENT biogeochemical model was used to investigate how the use of fertilisers coated with nitrification inhibitors and the introduction of legumes in the crop rotation can affect subtropical cereal production and N2O emissions. The model was validated using comprehensive multi-seasonal, high-f...

Harvesting fertilized rye cover crop: simulated revenue, net energy, and drainage Nitrogen loss

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Food and biofuel production along with global N use are expected to increase over the next few decades, which complicates the goal of reducing N loss to the environment. Including winter rye as a cover crop in corn-soybean rotations reduces N loss to drainage. A few studies suggest that harvesting r...

Limited Impact of a Fall-Seeded, Spring-Terminated Rye Cover Crop on Beneficial Arthropods.

PubMed

Dunbar, Mike W; Gassmann, Aaron J; O'Neal, Matthew E

2017-04-01

Cover crops are beneficial to agroecosystems because they decrease soil erosion and nutrient loss while increasing within-field plant diversity. Greater plant diversity within cropping systems can positively affect beneficial arthropod communities. We hypothesized that increasing plant diversity within annually rotated corn and soybean with the addition of a rye cover crop would positively affect the beneficial ground and canopy-dwelling communities compared with rotated corn and soybean grown without a cover crop. From 2011 through 2013, arthropod communities were measured at two locations in Iowa four times throughout each growing season. Pitfall traps were used to sample ground-dwelling arthropods within the corn and soybean plots and sweep nets were used to measure the beneficial arthropods in soybean canopies. Beneficial arthropods captured were identified to either class, order, or family. In both corn and soybean, community composition and total community activity density and abundance did not differ between plots that included the rye cover crop and plots without the rye cover crop. Most taxa did not significantly respond to the presence of the rye cover crop when analyzed individually, with the exceptions of Carabidae and Gryllidae sampled from soybean pitfall traps. Activity density of Carabidae was significantly greater in soybean plots that included a rye cover crop, while activity density of Gryllidae was significantly reduced in plots with the rye cover crop. Although a rye cover crop may be agronomically beneficial, there may be only limited effects on beneficial arthropods when added within an annual rotation of corn and soybean. © The Authors 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Soil Water Improvements with the Long Term Use of a Winter Rye Cover Crop

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basche, A.; Kaspar, T.; Archontoulis, S.; Jaynes, D. B.; Sauer, T. J.; Parkin, T.; Miguez, F.

2015-12-01

The Midwestern United States, a region that produces one-third of maize and one-quarter of soybeans globally, is projected to experience increasing rainfall variability with future climate change. One approach to mitigate climate impacts is to utilize crop and soil management practices that enhance soil water storage, reducing the risks of flooding and runoff as well as drought-induced crop water stress. While some research indicates that a winter cover crop in a maize-soybean rotation increases soil water, producers continue to be concerned that water use by cover crops will reduce water for a following cash crop. We analyzed continuous in-field soil moisture measurements over from 2008-2014 at a Central Iowa research site that has included a winter rye cover crop in a maize-soybean rotation for thirteen years. This period of study included years in the top third of wettest years on record (2008, 2010, 2014) as well as years in the bottom third of driest years (2012, 2013). We found the cover crop treatment to have significantly higher soil water storage from 2012-2014 when compared to the no cover crop treatment and in most years greater soil water content later in the growing season when a cover crop was present. We further found that the winter rye cover crop significantly increased the field capacity water content and plant available water compared to the no cover crop treatment. Finally, in 2012 and 2013, we measured maize and soybean biomass every 2-3 weeks and did not see treatment differences in crop growth, leaf area or nitrogen uptake. Final crop yields were not statistically different between the cover and no cover crop treatment in any of the years of this analysis. This research indicates that the long-term use of a winter rye cover crop can improve soil water dynamics without sacrificing cash crop growth.

U.S. Effort in the Development of New Crops (Lesquerella, Pennycress, Coriander, and Cuphea)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The U.S. effort for the development of New Crops is directed toward the advancement of crops that can be grown in rotation with traditional commodity crops, off-season production and utilization of acreage not currently under cultivation. This effort is intended to have no or minimal impact on crop...

Potential benefits of farm scale measures versus landscape measures for reducing nitrate loads in a Danish catchment.

PubMed

Hashemi, Fatemeh; Olesen, Jørgen E; Børgesen, Christen D; Tornbjerg, Henrik; Thodsen, Hans; Dalgaard, Tommy

2018-05-08

To comply with the EU Water Framework Directive, Denmark must further reduce the nitrate (N)-load to marine ecosystems from agricultural areas. Under the anticipated future spatially targeted regulation, the required N-load reductions will differ between catchments, and these are expected to be mitigated by a combination of land and water management measures. Here, we explored how the expected N-load reduction target of 38% for a Danish catchment (River Odense) could be achieved through a combination of farm and landscape measures. These include: (a) N-leaching reduction through changing the crop rotation and applying cover crops, (b) enhancing N-reduction through (re)establishment of wetlands, and (c) reducing N-leaching through spatially targeting of set-aside to high N-load areas. Changes in crop rotations were effective in reducing N-leaching by growing crops with a longer growing season and by allowing a higher use of cover crops. A combination of wetlands and changes in crop rotations were needed for reaching the N-load reduction target without use of set-aside. However, not all combinations of wetlands and crop rotation changes achieved the required N-load reduction, resulting in a need for targeted set-aside, implying a need for balancing measures at farm and landscape scale to maximize N load reduction while minimizing loss of productive land. The effectiveness of farm scale measures is affected by farm and soil types as well as by N-reduction in groundwater, while the possibilities for using wetlands for decreasing the N-load depends on landscape features, allowing the establishment of wetlands connected to streams and rivers. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The consequences of land-cover changes on soil erosion distribution in Slovakia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cebecauer, Tomáš; Hofierka, Jaroslav

2008-06-01

Soil erosion is a complex process determined by mutual interaction of numerous factors. The aim of erosion research at regional scales is a general evaluation of the landscape susceptibility to soil erosion by water, taking into account the main factors influencing this process. One of the key factors influencing the susceptibility of a region to soil erosion is land cover. Natural as well as human-induced changes of landscape may result in both the diminishment and acceleration of soil erosion. Recent studies of land-cover changes indicate that during the last decade more than 4.11% of Slovak territory has changed. The objective of this study is to assess the influence of land-cover and crop rotation changes over the 1990-2000 period on the intensity and spatial pattern of soil erosion in Slovakia. The assessment is based on principles defined in the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) modified for application at regional scale and the use of the CORINE land cover (CLC) databases for 1990 and 2000. The C factor for arable land has been refined using statistical data on the mean crop rotation and the acreage of particular agricultural crops in the districts of Slovakia. The L factor has been calculated using sample areas with parcels identified by LANDSAT TM data. The results indicate that the land-cover and crop rotation changes had a significant influence on soil erosion pattern predominately in the hilly and mountainous parts of Slovakia. The pattern of soil erosion changes exhibits high spatial variation with overall slightly decreased soil erosion risks. These changes are associated with ongoing land ownership changes, changing structure of crops, deforestation and afforestation.

Soil Physicochemical and Biological Properties of Paddy-Upland Rotation: A Review

PubMed Central

Lv, Teng-Fei; Chen, Yong; Westby, Anthony P.; Ren, Wan-Jun

2014-01-01

Paddy-upland rotation is an unavoidable cropping system for Asia to meet the increasing demand for food. The reduction in grain yields has increased the research interest on the soil properties of rice-based cropping systems. Paddy-upland rotation fields are unique from other wetland or upland soils, because they are associated with frequent cycling between wetting and drying under anaerobic and aerobic conditions; such rotations affect the soil C and N cycles, make the chemical speciation and biological effectiveness of soil nutrient elements varied with seasons, increase the diversity of soil organisms, and make the soil physical properties more difficult to analyze. Consequently, maintaining or improving soil quality at a desirable level has become a complicated issue. Therefore, fully understanding the soil characteristics of paddy-upland rotation is necessary for the sustainable development of the system. In this paper, we offer helpful insight into the effect of rice-upland combinations on the soil chemical, physical, and biological properties, which could provide guidance for reasonable cultivation management measures and contribute to the improvement of soil quality and crop yield. PMID:24995366

The potential for cereal rye cover crops to host corn seedling pathogens

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Cover cropping is a prevalent conservation practice that offers substantial benefits to soil health and water quality. However, winter cereal cover crops preceding corn may diminish beneficial rotation effects by growing two grass species in succession. Here, we show that rye cover crops host pathog...

Remote sensing to monitor cover crop adoption in southeastern Pennsylvania

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

In the Chesapeake Bay watershed, winter cereal cover crops are often planted in rotation with summer crops to reduce the loss of nutrients and sediment from agricultural systems. Cover crops can also improve soil health, control weeds and pests, supplement forage needs, and support resilient croppin...

Establishment and function of cover crops interseeded into corn

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Cover crops can provide ecological services and improve the resiliency of annual cropping systems; however, cover crop use is low in corn (Zea mays L.)-soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] rotations in the upper Midwest due to challenges with establishment. Our objective was to compare three planting me...

Preceding crop affects soybean aphid abundance and predator-prey dynamics in soybean

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Crop rotations alter the soil environment and physiology of the subsequent crop in ways that may affect herbivore abundance. Soybean aphids are a consistent pest of soybean throughout North America, but little work has focused on how preceding crops may affect aphid populations. In a replicated expe...

Wheat yield and yield stability of eight dryland crop rotations

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)-fallow (WF) dryland production system employed in the Central Great Plains has evolved in the past 40 years to include a diversity of other crops, with a reduction in fallow frequency. Wheat remains the base crop for essentially all cropping systems. Decisions...

Intensifying a semi-arid dryland crop rotation by replacing fallow with pea

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Increasing dryland cropping system intensity in the semi-arid central Great Plains by reducing frequency of fallow can add diversity to cropping systems and decrease erosion potential. However elimination of the periodic fallow phase has been shown to reduce yields of subsequent crops in this region...

Influence of cover crops on arthropods, free-living nematodes, and yield in a succeeding no-till soybean crop

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Production practices that incorporate fall-planted cover crops into no-till agronomic crop rotations have become increasingly popular across the Northeastern United States for weed suppression and enhancing environmental stewardship. Field experiments were conducted in 2011 and 2012 to investigate e...

Measuring and partitioning soil respiration in sharkey shrink-swell clays under plantation grown short-rotation woody crops

Treesearch

Wilson G. Hood; Michael C. Tyree; Dylan N. Dillaway Dillaway; Theodor D. Leininger

2015-01-01

The Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (LMAV) offers an ecological niche for short-rotation woody crop (SRWC) production by mating marginal agricultural land with optimal growing conditions. Approximately 1.7 million ha within the LMAV consist of Sharkey shrink-swell clays. They are considered marginal in terms of traditional agricultural productivity due to their...

A GIS-based approach to prevent contamination of groundwater at regional scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balderacchi, M.; Vischetti, C.; di Guardo, A.; Trevisan, M.

2009-04-01

Sustainable development is a fundamental objective of the European Union. Since 1991, the use of numerical models has been used to assess the environmental fate of pesticides (directive 91/414 EC). Since then, new approaches to assess pesticide contamination have been developed. This is an ongoing process, with approaches getting increasingly close to reality. Actually, there is a new challenge to integrate the most advanced and cost-effective monitoring strategies with simulation models so that reliable indicators of unsaturated flow and transport can be suitably mapped and coupled with other indicators related to productivity and sustainability. The most relevant role of GIS in the analysis of pesticide fate in soil is its application to process together input data and the results of distribution model based simulations of pesticide transport. FitoMarche is a GIS-based software tool that estimates pesticide movement in the unsaturated zone using MACRO 5 and it is able to simulate complex and real crop rotations at the regional scale. Crop rotation involves the sequential production of different plant species on the same land, every crop is characterized by different agricultural practices that involve the use of different pesticides at different doses. FitoMarche extracts MACRO input data from a series of geographic data sets (shapefiles) and an internal database, writes input files for MACRO, executes the simulation and extracts solute and water fluxes from MACRO output files. The study has been performed in the Marche region, located in central Italy along the Adriatic coast. Soil, climate, land use shapefiles were provided from public authorities, crop rotation schemes were estimated from ISTAT (the national statistics institute) 5th agricultural census database using a municipality detail and agricultural practices following the local customs. Two herbicides have been tested: "A" is employed on maize crop, and "B" on maize, sunflower and sugarbeet. In the first part the study focused of a definition of an indicator of groundwater contamination. The probably to exceed the groundwater quality endpoint has been chosen and it has been developed according a probabilistic approach and following a lognormal distribution of the data. After that the effect of crop rotation on pesticide leaching has been evaluated by a stepwise procedure. The tier 1 was the worst case in which the whole region is considered cropped with maize, therefore the pesticide application is every year on the crop with the highest application rate, whereas the tier 2 was a first refinement of the previous tier, the pesticide application was still every year but only in to the areas with the presence of authorised crop fore the assessed pesticide and with a crop LUA (land under agriculture) ratio higher than 10%. In the passage from tier 1 to tier 2 a contemporaneous reduction of simulated surface and pesticide leaching occurred because a relationship exists between agriculture and pesticide use. The step 3 considered a pesticide timing based on typical crop rotations. Te application followed label doses and was every time an authorised crop was found in the rotation. The passage to step 3 allowed a further percolation reduction. Step 3 blind simulations have been plotted as maps and matched with the results of the regional environment agency monitoring plan. A good correspondence between prediction and observation has got. Nevertheless herbicide "A" was detected in a larger area than assumed to be cropped with maize. However, in the past this compound was authorized for application to crops other than maize and was also used extensively in non-agricultural applications. Herbicide "B" was also detected in two wells located in areas not considered vulnerable. In the first well, water was sampled three times and the compound was detected once, in the other water was sampled once and the compound was detected. In this case point contamination, could be the origin of that. These pesticides were also researched in areas in which there is not application. This suggest that GIS approach can allow the design of new agrochemical monitoring plans that focus resources in areas with the highest probability of detection, reducing the cost to the community, and increasing the scientific value of the data collected. In the future, when well validated geographic data sets are available, it will also be possible to distinguish between point and diffuse contamination.

The cultivation of energy crops for biogas production and the application of digestates are characterized by high variability of CO2 exchange and soil organic C stock changes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Augustin, Juergen; Fiedler, Sebastian; Heintze, Gawan; Rohwer, Marcus; Prescher, Anne-Katrin; Pohl, Madlen; Jurisch, Nicole; Hagemann, Ulrike

2017-04-01

In Germany, agricultural production accounts for approx. 15% of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. The cultivation of energy crops is thus considered an important option to reduce the climate impact and maintain or increase soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks. In particular, this applies to the continuously expanding cultivation of energy crops for biogas production and the associated use of residues from anaerobic digestion (digestates) as organic fertilizer. To date, there is only limited and contradicting evidence on the impacts of this management practice on the CO2 exchange as well as the change of SOC stocks. We will present results from a 4-year field study at 5 sites in Germany using identical methods to investigate the interacting effects of i) 3 N-fertilizer treatments including calcium ammonium nitrate and digestates and ii) a crop rotation of 7 energy crops like maize, sorghum, triticale, and wheat on net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE) and the change of SOC stocks. We used the manual chamber approach for measuring NEE as the difference between gross primary production and ecosystem respiration. The determination of SOC stock changes was based on a C budget approach, which includes the cumulated annual NEE, the C export by harvest, and the C import by application of anaerobic digestates. The CO2 exchange and the change of SOC stocks were influenced by multiple factors like crop, site, fertilization, and climate, as well as their complex interactions. A large proportion of the variability of the CO2 exchange can be attributed to interannual climatic variability. Productive crops like maize and sorghum generally feature the most intensive CO2 exchange, while less productive crops can compensate for this by means of longer cultivation times. Regardless of the extreme variability, pronounced and partly significant differences of NEE and C budgets between sites were observed. On average, SOC stocks declined over a full crop rotation, but with highly variable positive and negative C budgets. This indicates that, in most cases, neither the selected crops nor the application of anaerobic digestates were sufficient to compensate for SOC losses. Apparently, the potential of anaerobic digestates to maintain or increase SOC stocks is considerably smaller than expected. If continuous decreases of SOC stocks due to energy crop cultivation are to be avoided, additional studies on the optimization of crop rotations (selection of plants with high C input), and digestate fertilization (type of digestate, amount and application technique) are required. A continuously improved version of the methodology used in this study promises faster and more precise results than classic long-term field trials.

Crop Yields and Climate Change to the Year 2000. Volume 2: Climate Model and Technical Appendixes.

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-01-01

drawn for an even chance assumes that technology will allow for man- agement of the soil to maintain fertility through crop rotation , etc. I would expect... rotations , or it may be barley/fallow or some other combination, and often the cereal is grown several years in a row. Wheat seeded on stubble, i.e... rotations , and that there might be a gradual conversion to this system, to be completed by the year 2000. Then, taking the value of 31.9 for the year 2000

A Decade of Carbon Flux Measurements with Annual and Perennial Crop Rotations on the Canadian Prairies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amiro, B. D.; Tenuta, M.; Gao, X.; Gervais, M.

2016-12-01

The Fluxnet database has over 100 cropland sites, some of which have long-term (over a decade) measurements. Carbon neutrality is one goal of sustainable agriculture, although measurements over many annual cropping systems have indicated that soil carbon is often lost. Croplands are complex systems because the CO2 exchange depends on the type of crop, soil, weather, and management decisions such as planting date, nutrient fertilization and pest management strategy. Crop rotations are often used to decrease pest pressure, and can range from a simple 2-crop system, to have 4 or more crops in series. Carbon dioxide exchange has been measured using the flux-gradient technique since 2006 in agricultural systems in Manitoba, Canada. Two cropping systems are being followed: one that is a rotation of annual crops (corn, faba bean, spring wheat, rapeseed, barley, spring wheat, corn, soybean, spring wheat, soybean); and the other with a perennial phase of alfalfa/grass in years 3 to 6. Net ecosystem production ranged from a gain of 330 g C m-2 y-1 in corn to a loss of 75 g C m-2 y-1 in a poor spring-wheat crop. Over a decade, net ecosystem production for the annual cropping system was not significantly different from zero (carbon neutral), but the addition of the perennial phase increased the sink to 130 g C m-2 y-1. Once harvest removals were included, there was a net loss of carbon ranging from 77 g C m-2 y-1 in the annual system to 52 g C m-2 y-1 in the annual-perennial system; but neither of these were significantly different from zero. Termination of the perennial phase of the rotation only caused short-term increases in respiration. We conclude that both these systems were close to carbon-neutral over a decade even though they were tilled with a short growing season (90 to 130 days). We discuss the need for more datasets on agricultural systems to inform management options to increase the soil carbon sink.

Extractable pool of biochar controls on crop productivity rather than greenhouse gas emission from a rice paddy under rice-wheat rotation.

PubMed

Korai, Punhoon Khan; Xia, Xin; Liu, Xiaoyu; Bian, Rongjun; Omondi, Morris Oduor; Nahayo, Alphonse; Pan, Genxing

2018-01-16

The role of extractable pool of biochar in crop productivity and soil greenhouse gas (GHGs) emission is not yet clear. In this study, two biochars with and without extraction was added to a paddy before rice transplantation at 20 t·ha -1 . Crop yield, plant traits and greenhouse gas emission monitored throughout a rice-wheat rotation. Between the biochar treatments, changes in bulk density and microbial biomass carbon were insignificant. However, the increase in organic carbon was similar between maize and wheat biochars while higher under bulk wheat biochar than extracted one. The increase in available P and K was higher under wheat than maize biochar regardless of extraction. Moreover, the increase in plant traits and grain yield, in rice season only, was higher under bulk than extracted biochars. Yet, there was no difference in changes in GHGs emission between bulk and extracted biochars regardless of feedstock. Nevertheless, increased methane emission for rice season was lower under extracted biochars than bulk ones. Overall, crop productivity rather than GHGs emission was affected by treatment of extraction of biochars. Thus, use of unextracted biochar is recommended for improving soil crop productivity in the paddy soils.

Crop Rotation and Races of Meloidogyne incognita in Cotton Root-knot Management

PubMed Central

Kirkpatrick, T. L.; Sasser, J. N.

1984-01-01

The influence o f various crop rotations and nematode inoculum levels on subsequent population densities of Meloidogyne incognita races 1 and 3 were studied in microplots. Ten different 3-year sequences o f cotton, corn, peanut, or soybean, all with cotton as the 3rd-year crop, were grown in microplots infested with each race. Cotton monoculture, two seasons o f corn, or cotton followed by corn resulted in high race 3 population densities and severe root galling on cotton the 3rd year. Peanut for 2 years preceding cotton most effectively decreased the race 3 population and root galls on cotton the 3rd year. Race 1 did not significantly influence cotton growth or yield at initial populations of up to 5,000 eggs/500 cm³ soil. At 5,000 eggs/500 cm³, cotton growth was suppressed by race 3 but yield was not affected. PMID:19294030

Fungal Genetics and Functional Diversity of Microbial Communities in the Soil under Long-Term Monoculture of Maize Using Different Cultivation Techniques

PubMed Central

Gałązka, Anna; Grządziel, Jarosław

2018-01-01

Fungal diversity in the soil may be limited under natural conditions by inappropriate environmental factors such as: nutrient resources, biotic and abiotic factors, tillage system and microbial interactions that prevent the occurrence or survival of the species in the environment. The aim of this paper was to determine fungal genetic diversity and community level physiological profiling of microbial communities in the soil under long-term maize monoculture. The experimental scheme involved four cultivation techniques: direct sowing (DS), reduced tillage (RT), full tillage (FT), and crop rotation (CR). Soil samples were taken in two stages: before sowing of maize (DSBS-direct sowing, RTBS-reduced tillage, FTBS-full tillage, CRBS-crop rotation) and the flowering stage of maize growth (DSF-direct sowing, RTF-reduced tillage, FTF-full tillage, CRF-crop rotation). The following plants were used in the crop rotation: spring barley, winter wheat and maize. The study included fungal genetic diversity assessment by ITS-1 next generation sequencing (NGS) analyses as well as the characterization of the catabolic potential of microbial communities (Biolog EcoPlates) in the soil under long-term monoculture of maize using different cultivation techniques. The results obtained from the ITS-1 NGS technique enabled to classify and correlate the fungi species or genus to the soil metabolome. The research methods used in this paper have contributed to a better understanding of genetic diversity and composition of the population of fungi in the soil under the influence of the changes that have occurred in the soil under long-term maize cultivation. In all cultivation techniques, the season had a great influence on the fungal genetic structure in the soil. Significant differences were found on the family level (P = 0.032, F = 3.895), genus level (P = 0.026, F = 3.313) and on the species level (P = 0.033, F = 2.718). This study has shown that: (1) fungal diversity was changed under the influence different cultivation techniques; (2) techniques of maize cultivation and season were an important factors that can influence the biochemical activity of soil. Maize cultivated in direct sowing did not cause negative changes in the fungal structure, even making it more stable during seasonal changes; (3) full tillage and crop rotation may change fungal community and soil function. PMID:29441054

Mechanisms for increased soil C storage with increasing temporal and spatial plant diversity in Agroecosystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tiemann, L. K.; Grandy, S.; Marin-Spiotta, E.; Atkinson, E. E.

2012-12-01

Generally, there are positive relationships between plant species diversity and net primary production and other key ecosystem functions. However, the effects of aboveground diversity on soil microbial communities and ecosystem processes they mediate, such as soil C sequestration, remain unclear. In this study, we used an 11-y cropping diversity study where increases in diversity have increased crop yields. At the experimental site, temporal diversity is altered using combinations of annual crop rotations, while spatial diversity is altered using cover crop species. We used five treatments ranging in diversity from one to five species consisting of continuous corn with no cover crop or one cover crop and corn-soy-wheat rotations with no cover, one cover or two cover crop species. We collected soils from four replicate plots of each treatment and measured the distribution of mega- (>2 mm), macro- (0.25-2 mm), and micro- (0.053-0.25 mm) aggregates. Within each aggregate size class, we also measured total soil C and N, permanganate oxidizable C (POXC), extracellular enzyme activities (EEA), and microbial community structure with phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis. We use these data to address the impacts of both rotational and cover crop diversity on soil physical structure, associated microbial community structure and activity and soil C storage. As spatial diversity increased, we found concurrent increases in mega-aggregate abundance as well as increasing soil C in the mega- and micro-aggregates but not macro-aggregates. The proportion of total soil C in each aggregate size class that is relatively labile (POXC) was highest in the micro-aggregates, as was enzyme activity associated with labile C acquisition across all levels of diversity. Enzyme activity associated with more recalcitrant forms of soil C was highest in the mega-aggregate class, also across all diversity levels; however, the ratio of labile to recalcitrant EEA increased with increasing diversity in the mega- and micro-aggregates. In addition, soil N increased with diversity such that microbial C:N EEA simultaneously decreased in mega-aggregates. We also found that cropping diversity has created distinctive soil microbial communities, highlighted by variation in the abundance of gram positive bacteria and Actinomycetes. Further research will help us determine how these changes in community structure with increasing diversity are related to concomitant changes in aggregation and enzyme activities. We suggest that the additional organic matter inputs from cover crops in the high diversity treatments have increased aggregation processes and C pools. While microbial activity has also increased in association with this increased C availability, the activity of recalcitrant and N-acquiring enzymes has declined, suggesting an overall decrease in SOM mineralization with possible increased SOM stabilization. The addition of crop species in rotation (temporal diversity) had minimal influence on any of the measured parameters. We thus conclude that spatial diversity is a more important driver of soil structure and microbial activity, likely due to the high quality organic matter inputs derived from the leguminous cover crops; however, spatial diversity alone did not lead to the same level of C storage potential as mixtures of temporal and spatial diversity.

Assessing the impacts of crop-rotation and tillage on crop yields and sediment yield using a modeling approach

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

This study was conducted in the Big Sunflower River Watershed (BSRW), north-west, Mississippi. The watershed has been identified as “impaired waters” under Section 303(d) of the Federal Clean Water Act due to high levels of sediment and total phosphorus. This excess is then transported to the Gulf o...

Colonisation of winter wheat grain by Fusarium spp. and mycotoxin content as dependent on a wheat variety, crop rotation, a crop management system and weather conditions.

PubMed

Czaban, Janusz; Wróblewska, Barbara; Sułek, Alicja; Mikos, Marzena; Boguszewska, Edyta; Podolska, Grażyna; Nieróbca, Anna

2015-01-01

Field experiments were conducted during three consecutive growing seasons (2007/08, 2008/09 and 2009/10) with four winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars - 'Bogatka', 'Kris', 'Satyna' and 'Tonacja' - grown on fields with a three-field crop rotation (winter triticale, spring barley, winter wheat) and in a four-field crop rotation experiment (spring wheat, spring cereals, winter rapeseed, winter wheat). After the harvest, kernels were surface disinfected with 2% NaOCl and then analysed for the internal infection by different species of Fusarium. Fusaria were isolated on Czapek-Dox iprodione dichloran agar medium and identified on the basis of macro- and micro-morphology on potato dextrose agar and synthetic nutrient agar media. The total wheat grain infection by Fusarium depended mainly on relative humidity (RH) and a rainfall during the flowering stage. Intensive rainfall and high RH in 2009 and 2010 in the period meant the proportions of infected kernels by the fungi were much higher than those in 2008 (lack of precipitation during anthesis). Weather conditions during the post-anthesis period changed the species composition of Fusarium communities internally colonising winter wheat grain. The cultivars significantly varied in the proportion of infected kernels by Fusarium spp. The growing season and type of crop rotation had a distinct effect on species composition of Fusarium communities colonising the grain inside. A trend of a higher percentage of the colonised kernels by the fungi in the grain from the systems using more fertilisers and pesticides as well as the buried straw could be perceived. The most frequent species in the grain were F. avenaceum, F. tricinctum and F. poae in 2008, and F. avenaceum, F. graminearum, F. tricinctum and F. poae in 2009 and 2010. The contents of deoxynivalenol and zearalenon in the grain were correlated with the percentage of kernels colonised by F. graminearum and were the highest in 2009 in the grain from the four-field crop rotation. The content of T-2/HT-2 toxins was the highest in 2010 in grain from the three-field crop rotation and it was correlated with the isolation frequency of F. langsethiae.

Particulate Organic Matter Affects Soil Nitrogen Mineralization under Two Crop Rotation Systems

PubMed Central

Bu, Rongyan; Lu, Jianwei; Ren, Tao; Liu, Bo; Li, Xiaokun; Cong, Rihuan

2015-01-01

Changes in the quantity and/or quality of soil labile organic matter between and after different types of cultivation system could play a dominant role in soil nitrogen (N) mineralization. The quantity and quality of particulate organic matter (POM) and potentially mineralizable-N (PMN) contents were measured in soils from 16 paired rice-rapeseed (RR)/cotton-rapeseed (CR) rotations sites in Hubei province, central China. Then four paired soils encompassing low (10th percentile), intermediate (25th and 75th percentiles), and high (90th percentile) levels of soil PMN were selected to further study the effects of POM on soil N mineralization by quantifying the net N mineralization in original soils and soils from which POM was removed. Both soil POM carbon (POM-C) and N (POM-N) contents were 45.8% and 55.8% higher under the RR rotation compared to the CR rotation, respectively. The PMN contents were highly correlated with the POM contents. The PMN and microbial biomass N (MBN) contents concurrently and significantly decreased when POM was removed. The reduction rate of PMN was positively correlated with changes in MBN after the removal of POM. The reduction rates of PMN and MBN after POM removal are lower under RR rotations (38.0% and 16.3%, respectively) than CR rotations (45.6% and 19.5%, respectively). Furthermore, infrared spectroscopy indicated that compounds with low-bioavailability accumulated (e.g., aromatic recalcitrant materials) in the soil POM fraction under the RR rotation but not under the CR rotation. The results of the present study demonstrated that POM plays a vital role in soil N mineralization under different rotation systems. The discrepancy between POM content and composition resulting from different crop rotation systems caused differences in N mineralization in soils. PMID:26647157

Particulate Organic Matter Affects Soil Nitrogen Mineralization under Two Crop Rotation Systems.

PubMed

Bu, Rongyan; Lu, Jianwei; Ren, Tao; Liu, Bo; Li, Xiaokun; Cong, Rihuan

2015-01-01

Changes in the quantity and/or quality of soil labile organic matter between and after different types of cultivation system could play a dominant role in soil nitrogen (N) mineralization. The quantity and quality of particulate organic matter (POM) and potentially mineralizable-N (PMN) contents were measured in soils from 16 paired rice-rapeseed (RR)/cotton-rapeseed (CR) rotations sites in Hubei province, central China. Then four paired soils encompassing low (10th percentile), intermediate (25th and 75th percentiles), and high (90th percentile) levels of soil PMN were selected to further study the effects of POM on soil N mineralization by quantifying the net N mineralization in original soils and soils from which POM was removed. Both soil POM carbon (POM-C) and N (POM-N) contents were 45.8% and 55.8% higher under the RR rotation compared to the CR rotation, respectively. The PMN contents were highly correlated with the POM contents. The PMN and microbial biomass N (MBN) contents concurrently and significantly decreased when POM was removed. The reduction rate of PMN was positively correlated with changes in MBN after the removal of POM. The reduction rates of PMN and MBN after POM removal are lower under RR rotations (38.0% and 16.3%, respectively) than CR rotations (45.6% and 19.5%, respectively). Furthermore, infrared spectroscopy indicated that compounds with low-bioavailability accumulated (e.g., aromatic recalcitrant materials) in the soil POM fraction under the RR rotation but not under the CR rotation. The results of the present study demonstrated that POM plays a vital role in soil N mineralization under different rotation systems. The discrepancy between POM content and composition resulting from different crop rotation systems caused differences in N mineralization in soils.

Crop residues of the contiguous United States: Balancing feedstock and soil needs with conservation tillage, cover crops, and biochar

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Crop residues are among the cellulosic feedstocks expected to provide renewable energy. The availability of crop species and residue availability varies across the United States. Estimates of harvestable residues must consider all the residues produced during the entire rotation. Inclusion of fallow...

Impact of Organic Amendments on Global Warming Potential of Diversified Tropical Rice Rotation Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Janz, B.; Weller, S.; Kraus, D.; Wassmann, R.; Butterbach-Bahl, K.; Ralf, K.

2017-12-01

Paddy rice cultivation is increasingly challenged by irrigation water scarcity, which is forcing farmers to change traditional rice cultivation from flooded double-rice systems to the introduction of well-aerated upland crops during dry season. Emissions of methane (CH4) are expected to decrease, while there is a risk of increasing emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) and decreasing soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks through volatilization in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2). We present a unique dataset of long-term continuous greenhouse gas emission measurements (CH4 and N2O) in the Philippines to assess global warming potentials (GWP) of diversified rice crop rotations including different field management practices such as straw residue application and legume intercropping. Since 2012, more than four years of CH4 and N2O emissions in double-rice cropping (R-R) and paddy rice rotations diversified with either maize (R-M) or aerobic rice (R-A) during dry season have been collected. Introduction of upland crops reduced irrigation water use and CH4 emissions by 66-81% and 95-99%, respectively. Although dry season N2O emissions increased twice- to threefold in the diversified systems, the strong reduction of CH4 led to a significantly lower annual GWP (CH4 + N2O) as compared to the traditional R-R system. Diversified crop management practices were first implemented during land-preparation for dry season 2015 where i) 6 t/ha rice straw was returned to the field and ii) mungbean was grown as a cover-crop between dry and wet season in addition to rice straw application. The input of organic material (straw and mungbean) led to higher substrate availability for methanogens during the following season. Therefore, GWP was 9-39% higher following straw incorporation than the control treatment. This increase was mainly driven by additional CH4 emissions. Even more, mungbean intercropping further increased GWPs, whereby the increment was highest in R-R rotation (88%) and lowest in R-M rotation (55%), with annual emissions of 11.8 and 5.6 t CO2 eq. ha-1, respectively. Nevertheless, regarding a future expansion of lowland-upland rotations due to water scarcity in SE Asia it can be expected that input of crop residues can counteract the SOC loss that is likely associated with the shift to more aerated soil conditions under upland crops.

Topography Mediates the Influence of Cover Crops on Soil Nitrate Levels in Row Crop Agricultural Systems

PubMed Central

Ladoni, Moslem; Kravchenko, Alexandra N.; Robertson, G. Phillip

2015-01-01

Supplying adequate amounts of soil N for plant growth during the growing season and across large agricultural fields is a challenge for conservational agricultural systems with cover crops. Knowledge about cover crop effects on N comes mostly from small, flat research plots and performance of cover crops across topographically diverse agricultural land is poorly understood. Our objective was to assess effects of both leguminous (red clover) and non-leguminous (winter rye) cover crops on potentially mineralizable N (PMN) and NO3--N levels across a topographically diverse landscape. We studied conventional, low-input, and organic managements in corn-soybean-wheat rotation. The rotations of low-input and organic managements included rye and red clover cover crops. The managements were implemented in twenty large undulating fields in Southwest Michigan starting from 2006. The data collection and analysis were conducted during three growing seasons of 2011, 2012 and 2013. Observational micro-plots with and without cover crops were laid within each field on three contrasting topographical positions of depression, slope and summit. Soil samples were collected 4–5 times during each growing season and analyzed for NO3--N and PMN. The results showed that all three managements were similar in their temporal and spatial distributions of NO3 —N. Red clover cover crop increased NO3--N by 35% on depression, 20% on slope and 32% on summit positions. Rye cover crop had a significant 15% negative effect on NO3--N in topographical depressions but not in slope and summit positions. The magnitude of the cover crop effects on soil mineral nitrogen across topographically diverse fields was associated with the amount of cover crop growth and residue production. The results emphasize the potential environmental and economic benefits that can be generated by implementing site-specific topography-driven cover crop management in row-crop agricultural systems. PMID:26600462

Topography Mediates the Influence of Cover Crops on Soil Nitrate Levels in Row Crop Agricultural Systems.

PubMed

Ladoni, Moslem; Kravchenko, Alexandra N; Robertson, G Phillip

2015-01-01

Supplying adequate amounts of soil N for plant growth during the growing season and across large agricultural fields is a challenge for conservational agricultural systems with cover crops. Knowledge about cover crop effects on N comes mostly from small, flat research plots and performance of cover crops across topographically diverse agricultural land is poorly understood. Our objective was to assess effects of both leguminous (red clover) and non-leguminous (winter rye) cover crops on potentially mineralizable N (PMN) and [Formula: see text] levels across a topographically diverse landscape. We studied conventional, low-input, and organic managements in corn-soybean-wheat rotation. The rotations of low-input and organic managements included rye and red clover cover crops. The managements were implemented in twenty large undulating fields in Southwest Michigan starting from 2006. The data collection and analysis were conducted during three growing seasons of 2011, 2012 and 2013. Observational micro-plots with and without cover crops were laid within each field on three contrasting topographical positions of depression, slope and summit. Soil samples were collected 4-5 times during each growing season and analyzed for [Formula: see text] and PMN. The results showed that all three managements were similar in their temporal and spatial distributions of NO3-N. Red clover cover crop increased [Formula: see text] by 35% on depression, 20% on slope and 32% on summit positions. Rye cover crop had a significant 15% negative effect on [Formula: see text] in topographical depressions but not in slope and summit positions. The magnitude of the cover crop effects on soil mineral nitrogen across topographically diverse fields was associated with the amount of cover crop growth and residue production. The results emphasize the potential environmental and economic benefits that can be generated by implementing site-specific topography-driven cover crop management in row-crop agricultural systems.

Dry Matter Production, Nutrient Cycled and Removed, and Soil Fertility Changes in Yam-Based Cropping Systems with Herbaceous Legumes in the Guinea-Sudan Zone of Benin.

PubMed

Maliki, Raphiou; Sinsin, Brice; Floquet, Anne; Cornet, Denis; Malezieux, Eric; Vernier, Philippe

2016-01-01

Traditional yam-based cropping systems (shifting cultivation, slash-and-burn, and short fallow) often result in deforestation and soil nutrient depletion. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of yam-based systems with herbaceous legumes on dry matter (DM) production (tubers, shoots), nutrients removed and recycled, and the soil fertility changes. We compared smallholders' traditional systems (1-year fallow of Andropogon gayanus-yam rotation, maize-yam rotation) with yam-based systems integrated herbaceous legumes (Aeschynomene histrix/maize intercropping-yam rotation, Mucuna pruriens/maize intercropping-yam rotation). The experiment was conducted during the 2002 and 2004 cropping seasons with 32 farmers, eight in each site. For each of them, a randomized complete block design with four treatments and four replicates was carried out using a partial nested model with five factors: Year, Replicate, Farmer, Site, and Treatment. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the general linear model (GLM) procedure was applied to the dry matter (DM) production (tubers, shoots), nutrient contribution to the systems, and soil properties at depths 0-10 and 10-20 cm. DM removed and recycled, total N, P, and K recycled or removed, and soil chemical properties (SOM, N, P, K, and pH water) were significantly improved on yam-based systems with legumes in comparison with traditional systems.

Dry Matter Production, Nutrient Cycled and Removed, and Soil Fertility Changes in Yam-Based Cropping Systems with Herbaceous Legumes in the Guinea-Sudan Zone of Benin

PubMed Central

Sinsin, Brice; Floquet, Anne; Cornet, Denis; Malezieux, Eric; Vernier, Philippe

2016-01-01

Traditional yam-based cropping systems (shifting cultivation, slash-and-burn, and short fallow) often result in deforestation and soil nutrient depletion. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of yam-based systems with herbaceous legumes on dry matter (DM) production (tubers, shoots), nutrients removed and recycled, and the soil fertility changes. We compared smallholders' traditional systems (1-year fallow of Andropogon gayanus-yam rotation, maize-yam rotation) with yam-based systems integrated herbaceous legumes (Aeschynomene histrix/maize intercropping-yam rotation, Mucuna pruriens/maize intercropping-yam rotation). The experiment was conducted during the 2002 and 2004 cropping seasons with 32 farmers, eight in each site. For each of them, a randomized complete block design with four treatments and four replicates was carried out using a partial nested model with five factors: Year, Replicate, Farmer, Site, and Treatment. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the general linear model (GLM) procedure was applied to the dry matter (DM) production (tubers, shoots), nutrient contribution to the systems, and soil properties at depths 0–10 and 10–20 cm. DM removed and recycled, total N, P, and K recycled or removed, and soil chemical properties (SOM, N, P, K, and pH water) were significantly improved on yam-based systems with legumes in comparison with traditional systems. PMID:27446635

Cover crops effect on farm benefits and nitrate leaching: linking economic and environmental analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gabriel, José Luis; Vanclooster, Marnik; Garrido, Alberto; Quemada, Miguel

2013-04-01

Introducing cover crops interspersed with intensively fertilized crops in rotation has the potential to reduce nitrate leaching. However, despite the evident environmental services provided and the range of agronomic benefits documented in the literature, farmers' adoption of the technique is still limited because growing CC could lead to extra costs for the farm in three different forms: direct, indirect, and opportunity costs. Environmental studies are complex, and evaluating the indicators that are representative of the environmental impact of an agricultural system is a complicated task that is conducted by specialized groups and methodologies. Multidisciplinary studies may help to develop reliable approaches that would contribute to choosing the best agricultural strategies based on linking economic and environmental benefits. This study evaluates barley (Hordeum vulgare L., cv. Vanessa), vetch (Vicia villosa L., cv. Vereda) and rapeseed (Brassica napus L., cv. Licapo) as cover crops between maize, leaving the residue in the ground or selling it for animal feeding, and compares the economic and environmental results with respect to a typical maize-fallow rotation. Nitrate leaching for different weather conditions was calculated using the mechanistic-deterministic WAVE model, using the Richards equation parameterised with a conceptual model for the soil hydraulic properties for describing the water flow in the vadose zone, combined with field observed data. The economic impact was evaluated through stochastic (Monte-Carlo) simulation models of farms' profits using probability distribution functions of maize yield and cover crop biomass developed fitted with data collected from various field trials (during more than 5 years) and probability distribution functions of maize and different cover crop forage prices fitted from statistical sources. Stochastic dominance relationships are obtained to rank the most profitable strategies from a farm financial perspective. A two-criterion comparison scheme is proposed to rank alternative strategies based on farm profit and nitrate leaching levels, taking the baseline scenario as the maize-fallow rotation. The results show that cover crops reduced nitrate leaching respect to fallow almost every year and, when cover crop biomass is sold as forage instead of keeping it in the soil, greater profit were achieved than in the baseline scenario. While the fertilizer could be lower if cover crop is sold than if it is kept in the soil, the revenue obtained from the sale of the cover crops can compensate improvement of the soil properties. The results show that cover crops would perhaps provide a double dividend of greater profit and reduced nitrate leaching in intensive irrigated cropping systems in Mediterranean regions. But, if agro-environmental services provided by leaving the barley residue in the field were to be promoted, farmer subsidies would be required to promote cover cropping. Acknowledgements: Financial support by Spain CICYT (ref. AGL 2011-24732), Comunidad de Madrid (project AGRISOST, S2009/AGR-1630), Belgium FSR 2012 (ref. SPER/DST/340-1120525) and Marie Curie actions.

Greenhouse gas emissions and global warming potential of traditional and diversified tropical rice rotation systems.

PubMed

Weller, Sebastian; Janz, Baldur; Jörg, Lena; Kraus, David; Racela, Heathcliff S U; Wassmann, Reiner; Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus; Kiese, Ralf

2016-01-01

Global rice agriculture will be increasingly challenged by water scarcity, while at the same time changes in demand (e.g. changes in diets or increasing demand for biofuels) will feed back on agricultural practices. These factors are changing traditional cropping patterns from double-rice cropping to the introduction of upland crops in the dry season. For a comprehensive assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) balances, we measured methane (CH4 )/nitrous oxide (N2 O) emissions and agronomic parameters over 2.5 years in double-rice cropping (R-R) and paddy rice rotations diversified with either maize (R-M) or aerobic rice (R-A) in upland cultivation. Introduction of upland crops in the dry season reduced irrigation water use and CH4 emissions by 66-81% and 95-99%, respectively. Moreover, for practices including upland crops, CH4 emissions in the subsequent wet season with paddy rice were reduced by 54-60%. Although annual N2 O emissions increased two- to threefold in the diversified systems, the strong reduction in CH4 led to a significantly lower (P < 0.05) annual GWP (CH4  + N2 O) as compared to the traditional double-rice cropping system. Measurements of soil organic carbon (SOC) contents before and 3 years after the introduction of upland crop rotations indicated a SOC loss for the R-M system, while for the other systems SOC stocks were unaffected. This trend for R-M systems needs to be followed as it has significant consequences not only for the GWP balance but also with regard to soil fertility. Economic assessment showed a similar gross profit span for R-M and R-R, while gross profits for R-A were reduced as a consequence of lower productivity. Nevertheless, regarding a future increase in water scarcity, it can be expected that mixed lowland-upland systems will expand in SE Asia as water requirements were cut by more than half in both rotation systems with upland crops. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Tropical legume crop rotation and nitrogen fertilizer effects on agronomic and nitrogen efficiency of rice.

PubMed

Rahman, Motior M; Islam, Aminul M; Azirun, Sofian M; Boyce, Amru N

2014-01-01

Bush bean, long bean, mung bean, and winged bean plants were grown with N fertilizer at rates of 0, 2, 4, and 6 g N m(-2) preceding rice planting. Concurrently, rice was grown with N fertilizer at rates of 0, 4, 8, and 12 g N m(-2). No chemical fertilizer was used in the 2nd year of crop to estimate the nitrogen agronomic efficiency (NAE), nitrogen recovery efficiency (NRE), N uptake, and rice yield when legume crops were grown in rotation with rice. Rice after winged bean grown with N at the rate of 4 g N m(-2) achieved significantly higher NRE, NAE, and N uptake in both years. Rice after winged bean grown without N fertilizer produced 13-23% higher grain yield than rice after fallow rotation with 8 g N m(-2). The results revealed that rice after winged bean without fertilizer and rice after long bean with N fertilizer at the rate of 4 g N m(-2) can produce rice yield equivalent to that of rice after fallow with N fertilizer at rates of 8 g N m(-2). The NAE, NRE, and harvest index values for rice after winged bean or other legume crop rotation indicated a positive response for rice production without deteriorating soil fertility.

Simulation of hydrology of short rotation hardwood plantations

Treesearch

John E. Parsons; Carl C. Trettin

2001-01-01

A 76 ha hardwood plantation at Trice Research Forest near Sumter, SC is being usedto study forest hydrology on an operational scale. The overall objective of this project is to develop tools to enable forest managers to assess and manage sustainable short rotation woody crop production systems. This paper reports on the use of the water management model, WATRCOM, as a...

Profitability potential for Pinus taeda L. (loblolly pine) short-rotation bioenergy plantings in the southern USA

Treesearch

James H. Perdue; John A. Stanturf; Timothy M. Young; Xia Huang; Derek Dougherty; Michael Pigott; Zhimei Guo

2017-01-01

The use of renewable resources is important to the developing bioenergy economy and short rotation woody crops (SRWC) are key renewable feedstocks. A necessary step in advancing SRWC is defining regions suitable for SRWC commercial activities and assessing the relative economic viability among suitable regions. The goal of this study was to assess the potential...

Long-term effects of potato cropping system strategies on soilborne diseases and soil microbial communities

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Cropping systems incorporating soil health management practices, such as longer rotations, disease-suppressive crops, reduced tillage, and/or organic amendments can substantially affect soil microbial communities, and potentially reduce soilborne potato diseases and increase productivity, but long-t...

Agricultural conversion of floodplain ecosystems: implications for groundwater quality.

PubMed

Schilling, Keith E; Jacobson, Peter J; Vogelgesang, Jason A

2015-04-15

With current trends of converting grasslands to row crop agriculture in vulnerable areas, there is a critical need to evaluate the effects of land use on groundwater quality in large river floodplain systems. In this study, groundwater hydrology and nutrient dynamics associated with three land cover types (grassland, floodplain forest and cropland) were assessed at the Cedar River floodplain in southeastern Iowa. The cropland site consisted of newly-converted grassland, done specifically for our study. Our objectives were to evaluate spatial and temporal variations in groundwater hydrology and quality, and quantify changes in groundwater quality following land conversion from grassland to row crop in a floodplain. We installed five shallow and one deep monitoring wells in each of the three land cover types and recorded water levels and quality over a three year period. Crop rotations included soybeans in year 1, corn in year 2 and fallow with cover crops during year 3 due to river flooding. Water table levels behaved nearly identically among the sites but during the second and third years of our study, NO₃-N concentrations in shallow floodplain groundwater beneath the cropped site increased from 0.5 mg/l to more than 25 mg/l (maximum of 70 mg/l). The increase in concentration was primarily associated with application of liquid N during June of the second year (corn rotation), although site flooding may have exacerbated NO₃-N leaching. Geophysical investigation revealed differences in ground conductivity among the land cover sites that related significantly to variations in groundwater quality. Study results provide much-needed information on the effects of different land covers on floodplain groundwater and point to challenges ahead for meeting nutrient reduction goals if row crop land use expands into floodplains. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Changes in soil bacterial community structure as a result of incorporation of Brassica plants compared with continuous planting eggplant and chemical disinfection in greenhouses

PubMed Central

Zheng, Chengyu; Kang, Chunsheng; Yang, Zichao; Yao, Xiaotong; Song, Fengbin; Zhang, Runzhi; Wang, Xuerong; Xu, Ning; Zhang, Chunyi; Li, Wei; Li, Shumin

2017-01-01

Greenhouse eggplant monocropping in China has contributed to the aggravation of soil-borne diseases, reductions in crop quality and yield, and the degradation of physical and chemical soil properties. Crop rotation is one effective way of alleviating the problems of continuous cropping worldwide; however, few studies have reported changes in soil bacterial community structures and physical and chemical soil properties after Brassica vegetables had been rotated with eggplant in greenhouses. In this experiment, mustard-eggplant (BFN) and oilseed rape-eggplant (BFC) rotations were studied to identify changes in the physicochemical properties and bacterial community structure in soil that was previously subject to monocropping. Samples were taken after two types of Brassica plants incorporated into soil for 15 days to compare with continually planted eggplant (control, CN) and chemical disinfection of soil (CF) in greenhouses. MiSeq pyrosequencing was used to analyze soil bacterial diversity and structure in the four different treatments. A total of 55,129 reads were identified, and rarefaction analysis showed that the soil treatments were equally sampled. The bacterial richness of the BFC treatment and the diversity of the BFN treatment were significantly higher than those of the other treatments. Further comparison showed that the bacterial community structures of BFC and BFN treatments were also different from CN and CF treatments. The relative abundance of several dominant bacterial genera in the BFC and BFN treatments (such as Flavobacteria, Stenotrophomonas, Massilia and Cellvibrio, which played different roles in improving soil fertility and advancing plant growth) was distinctly higher than the CN or CF treatments. Additionally, the total organic matter and Olsen-P content of the BFC and BFN treatments were significantly greater than the CN treatment. We conclude that Brassica vegetables-eggplant crop rotations could provide a more effective means of solving the problems of greenhouse eggplant monocultures. PMID:28346463

Changes in soil bacterial community structure as a result of incorporation of Brassica plants compared with continuous planting eggplant and chemical disinfection in greenhouses.

PubMed

Li, Tianzhu; Liu, Tongtong; Zheng, Chengyu; Kang, Chunsheng; Yang, Zichao; Yao, Xiaotong; Song, Fengbin; Zhang, Runzhi; Wang, Xuerong; Xu, Ning; Zhang, Chunyi; Li, Wei; Li, Shumin

2017-01-01

Greenhouse eggplant monocropping in China has contributed to the aggravation of soil-borne diseases, reductions in crop quality and yield, and the degradation of physical and chemical soil properties. Crop rotation is one effective way of alleviating the problems of continuous cropping worldwide; however, few studies have reported changes in soil bacterial community structures and physical and chemical soil properties after Brassica vegetables had been rotated with eggplant in greenhouses. In this experiment, mustard-eggplant (BFN) and oilseed rape-eggplant (BFC) rotations were studied to identify changes in the physicochemical properties and bacterial community structure in soil that was previously subject to monocropping. Samples were taken after two types of Brassica plants incorporated into soil for 15 days to compare with continually planted eggplant (control, CN) and chemical disinfection of soil (CF) in greenhouses. MiSeq pyrosequencing was used to analyze soil bacterial diversity and structure in the four different treatments. A total of 55,129 reads were identified, and rarefaction analysis showed that the soil treatments were equally sampled. The bacterial richness of the BFC treatment and the diversity of the BFN treatment were significantly higher than those of the other treatments. Further comparison showed that the bacterial community structures of BFC and BFN treatments were also different from CN and CF treatments. The relative abundance of several dominant bacterial genera in the BFC and BFN treatments (such as Flavobacteria, Stenotrophomonas, Massilia and Cellvibrio, which played different roles in improving soil fertility and advancing plant growth) was distinctly higher than the CN or CF treatments. Additionally, the total organic matter and Olsen-P content of the BFC and BFN treatments were significantly greater than the CN treatment. We conclude that Brassica vegetables-eggplant crop rotations could provide a more effective means of solving the problems of greenhouse eggplant monocultures.

Evaluating a biomass resource: The TVA region-wide biomass resource assessment model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Downing, M.; Graham, R.L.

1993-12-31

The economic and supply structures of short rotation woody crop (SRWC) markets have not been established. Establishing the likely price and supply of SRWC biomass in a region is a complex task because biomass is not an established commodity as are oil, natural gas and coal. In this study we project the cost and supply of short-rotation woody biomass for the TVA region -- a 276 county area that includes all of Tennessee and portions of 10 contiguous states in the southeastern United States. Projected prices and quantities of SRWC are assumed to be a function of the amount andmore » quality of crop and pasture land available in a region, expected SRWC yields and production costs on differing soils and land types, and the profit that could be obtained from current conventional crop production on these same lands. Results include the supply curve of SRWC biomass that is projected to be available from the entire region, the amount and location of crop and pasture land that would be used, and the conventional agricultural crops that would be displaced as a function of SRWC production. Finally, we show the results of sensitivity analysis on the projected cost and supply of SRWC biomass. In particular, we examine the separate impacts of varying SRWC production yields.« less

Environmental impacts of conversion of cropland to biomass production

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Green, T.H.; Brown, G.F.; Bingham, L.

1996-12-31

A study was initiated to determine the effects of conversion of row crop land to biomass production on runoff quality and quantity. Treatments were: (1) remain in row crop (no-till corn); (2) convert to short rotation woody crop (SRWC) production with sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua L.) planted in a 1.5 in by 3 in spacing maintaining complete weed control; (3) convert to SRWC with a tall fescue (Festuca eliator L.) cover crop planted in a 2.4 in strip centered between rows of trees to reduce erosion; and (4) convert to switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) as a biomass energy crop. Plots withinmore » a block similar in size (approximately 0.45 ha in block 1 and 0.20 ha in block 2), slope, soils, topographic position, recent land use history, etc. Although switchgrass plots eroded more early in the growing season, erosion was low once it became well established. Conversely, plots where trees were grown with no cover continued to erode throughout the growing season. These results indicate that growing short-rotation intensively cultured hardwoods with complete weed control will provide little erosion relief in agricultural fields, at least during the first growing season. Planting switchgrass for bioenergy production, however, does protect the soil. Nutrient runoff was related to fertilization.« less

Strategies for management of Sicyos polyacanthus Cogn. (Cucurbitaceae) in sugarcane crops of Tucumán, Argentina.

PubMed

Chaila, Salvador; Arévalo, Roberto A; Piscitelli, Francisco R; Gómez, Raúl Aguero; Sobrero, María T

2005-01-01

Sicyos polyacanthus is one of the most important weed in sugarcane crops of Tucumán (Argentina). The objective of this work was to establish strategies that would decrease the weed incidence in the crop to a minimum level. The study was carried out during 1998--2003 at five localities of sugarcane production of Tucumán (Argentina). The plots were 20 m long (192 m2) with 6 furrows and each plot was replicated five times. Treatments were: (i) Mechanical-chemical cultivation without fire; (ii) Mechanical-chemical culltivation with fire; (iii) Mechanical cultivation with handle pulled and with fire; (iv) Mechanical cultivation with handle pulled without fire; (v) Mechanical and chemical variants with fertilization and without fertilization; (vi) Mechanical and chemical variants with watering and without watering; (vii) Fallow and rotation, at the sugarcane crop renovation; (viii) Mechanical and chemical variants for plant cane and ratoon cane; and (ix) Mulching of harvest rests. The results suggest that besides the use of preemergent herbicides, fire marks the entry point of control, influencing fluxes and seed viability. It appears that fallow, mulching, and rotation of crops is fundamental for eliminating seeds that live short time in the soil and increase the mortality rate of species.

Global warming likely reduces crop yield and water availability of the dryland cropping systems in the U.S. central Great Plains

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

We investigated impacts of GCM-projected climate change on dryland crop rotations of wheat-fallow and wheat-corn-fallow in the Central Great Plains (Akron in Colorado, USA) using the CERES 4.0 crop modules in RZWQM2. The climate change scenarios for CO2, temperature, and precipitation were produced ...

Spatial variability of soil total and DTPA-extractable cadmium caused by long-term application of phosphate fertilizers, crop rotation, and soil characteristics.

PubMed

Jafarnejadi, A R; Sayyad, Gh; Homaee, M; Davamei, A H

2013-05-01

Increasing cadmium (Cd) accumulation in agricultural soils is undesirable due to its hazardous influences on human health. Thus, having more information on spatial variability of Cd and factors effective to increase its content on the cultivated soils is very important. Phosphate fertilizers are main contamination source of cadmium (Cd) in cultivated soils. Also, crop rotation is a critical management practice which can alter soil Cd content. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of long-term consumption of the phosphate fertilizers, crop rotations, and soil characteristics on spatial variability of two soil Cd species (i.e., total and diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) extractable) in agricultural soils. The study was conducted in wheat farms of Khuzestan Province, Iran. Long-term (27-year period (1980 to 2006)) data including the rate and the type of phosphate fertilizers application, the respective area, and the rotation type of different regions were used. Afterwards, soil Cd content (total or DTPA extractable) and its spatial variability in study area (400,000 ha) were determined by sampling from soils of 255 fields. The results showed that the consumption rate of di-ammonium phosphate fertilizer have been varied enormously in the period study. The application rate of phosphorus fertilizers was very high in some subregions with have extensive agricultural activities (more than 95 kg/ha). The average and maximum contents of total Cd in the study region were obtained as 1.47 and 2.19 mg/kg and DTPA-extractable Cd as 0.084 and 0.35 mg/kg, respectively. The spatial variability of Cd indicated that total and DTPA-extractable Cd contents were over 0.8 and 0.1 mg/kg in 95 and 25 % of samples, respectively. The spherical model enjoys the best fitting and lowest error rate to appraise the Cd content. Comparing the phosphate fertilizer consumption rate with spatial variability of the soil cadmium (both total and DTPA extractable) revealed the high correlation between the consumption rate of P fertilizers and soil Cd content. Rotation type was likely the main effective factor on variations of the soil DTPA-extractable Cd contents in some parts (eastern part of study region) and could explain some Cd variation. Total Cd concentrations had significant correlation with the total neutralizing value (p < 0.01), available P (p < 0.01), cation exchange capacity (p < 0.05), and organic carbon (p < 0.05) variables. The DTPA-extractable Cd had significant correlation with OC (p < 0.01), pH, and clay content (p < 0.05). Therefore, consumption rate of the phosphate fertilizers and crop rotation are important factors on solubility and hence spatial variability of Cd content in agricultural soils.

Gene flow from single and stacked herbicide-resistant rice (Oryza sativa): modeling occurrence of multiple herbicide-resistant weedy rice.

PubMed

Dauer, Joseph; Hulting, Andrew; Carlson, Dale; Mankin, Luke; Harden, John; Mallory-Smith, Carol

2018-02-01

Provisia™ rice (PV), a non-genetically engineered (GE) quizalofop-resistant rice, will provide growers with an additional option for weed management to use in conjunction with Clearfield ® rice (CL) production. Modeling compared the impact of stacking resistance traits versus single traits in rice on introgression of the resistance trait to weedy rice (also called red rice). Common weed management practices were applied to 2-, 3- and 4-year crop rotations, and resistant and multiple-resistant weedy rice seeds, seedlings and mature plants were tracked for 15 years. Two-year crop rotations resulted in resistant weedy rice after 2 years with abundant populations (exceeding 0.4 weedy rice plants m -2 ) occurring after 7 years. When stacked trait rice was rotated with soybeans in a 3-year rotation and with soybeans and CL in a 4-year rotation, multiple-resistance occurred after 2-5 years with abundant populations present in 4-9 years. When CL rice, PV rice, and soybeans were used in 3- and 4-year rotations, the median time of first appearance of multiple-resistance was 7-11 years and reached abundant levels in 10-15 years. Maintaining separate CL and PV rice systems, in rotation with other crops and herbicides, minimized the evolution of multiple herbicide-resistant weedy rice through gene flow compared to stacking herbicide resistance traits. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Modeling impacts of water and fertilizer management on the ecosystem service of rice rotated cropping system in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, H.; Yu, C.; Li, C.

2015-12-01

Sustainable agricultural intensification demand optimum resource managements of agro-ecosystems. Detailed information on the impacts of water use and nutrient application on agro-ecosystem services including crop yields, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and nitrogen (N) loss is the key to guide field managements. In this study, we use the DeNitrification-DeComposition (DNDC) model to simulate the biogeochemical processes for rice rotated cropping systems in China. We set varied scenarios of water use in more than 1600 counties, and derived optimal rates of N application for each county in accordance to water use scenarios. Our results suggest that 0.88 ± 0.33 Tg per year (mean ± standard deviation) of synthetic N could be reduced without reducing rice yields, which accounts for 15.7 ± 5.9% of current N application in China. Field managements with shallow flooding and optimal N applications could enhance ecosystem services on a national scale, leading to 34.3% reduction of GHG emissions (CH4, N2O, and CO2), 2.8% reduction of overall N loss (NH3 volatilization, denitrification and N leaching) and 1.7% increase of rice yields, as compared to current management conditions. Among provinces with major rice production, Jiangsu, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Hubei could achieve more than 40% reduction of GHG emissions under appropriate water managements, while Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Fujian could reduce more than 30% N loss with optimal N applications. Our modeling efforts suggest that China is likely to benefit from reforming water and fertilization managements for rice rotated cropping system in terms of sustainable crop yields, GHG emission mitigation and N loss reduction, and the reformation should be prioritized in the above-mentioned provinces. Keywords: water regime, nitrogen fertilization, sustainable management, ecological modeling, DNDC

Dynamic precision phenotyping reveals mechanism of crop tolerance to root herbivory

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera (LeConte) is a major pest of maize, Zea mays L. Over the years, this pest has repeatedly shown its resilience and adaptability not only to traditional crop management strategies including chemical pesticides and crop rotation, but also to de...

Effects of alternative cropping systems on globe artichoke qualitative traits.

PubMed

Spanu, Emanuela; Deligios, Paola A; Azara, Emanuela; Delogu, Giovanna; Ledda, Luigi

2018-02-01

Traditionally, globe artichoke cultivation in the Mediterranean basin is based on monoculture and on use of high amounts of nitrogen fertiliser. This raises issues regarding its compatibility with sustainable agriculture. We studied the effect of one typical conventional (CONV) and two alternative cropping systems [globe artichoke in sequence with French bean (NCV1), or in biannual rotation (NCV2) with cauliflower and with a leguminous cover crop in inter-row spaces] on yield, polyphenol and mineral content of globe artichoke heads over two consecutive growing seasons. NCV2 showed statistical differences in terms of fresh product yield with respect to the monoculture systems. In addition, the dihydroxycinnamic acids and dicaffeoylquinic acids of non-conventional samples were one-fold significantly higher than the conventional one. All the samples reported good mineral content, although NCV2 achieved a higher Fe content than conventional throughout the two seasons. After two and three dates of sampling, the CONV samples showed the highest levels of K content. In our study, an acceptable commercial yield and quality of 'Spinoso sardo' were achieved by shifting the common conventional agronomic management to more sustainable ones, by means of an accurate choice of cover crop species and rotations introduced in the systems. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Predicting the global warming potential of agro-ecosystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lehuger, S.; Gabrielle, B.; Larmanou, E.; Laville, P.; Cellier, P.; Loubet, B.

2007-04-01

Nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide and methane are the main biogenic greenhouse gases (GHG) contributing to the global warming potential (GWP) of agro-ecosystems. Evaluating the impact of agriculture on climate thus requires a capacity to predict the net exchanges of these gases in an integrated manner, as related to environmental conditions and crop management. Here, we used two year-round data sets from two intensively-monitored cropping systems in northern France to test the ability of the biophysical crop model CERES-EGC to simulate GHG exchanges at the plot-scale. The experiments involved maize and rapeseed crops on a loam and rendzina soils, respectively. The model was subsequently extrapolated to predict CO2 and N2O fluxes over an entire crop rotation. Indirect emissions (IE) arising from the production of agricultural inputs and from cropping operations were also added to the final GWP. One experimental site (involving a wheat-maize-barley rotation on a loamy soil) was a net source of GHG with a GWP of 350 kg CO2-C eq ha-1 yr-1, of which 75% were due to IE and 25% to direct N2O emissions. The other site (involving an oilseed rape-wheat-barley rotation on a rendzina) was a net sink of GHG for -250 kg CO2-C eq ha-1 yr-1, mainly due to a higher predicted C sequestration potential and C return from crops. Such modelling approach makes it possible to test various agronomic management scenarios, in order to design productive agro-ecosystems with low global warming impact.

Profiling agricultural land cover change in the North Central U.S. using ten years of the Cropland Data Layer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sandborn, A.; Ebinger, L.

2016-12-01

The Cropland Data Layer (CDL), produced by the USDA/National Agricultural Statistics Service, provides annual, georeferenced crop specific land cover data over the contiguous United States. Several analyses were performed on ten years (2007-2016) of CDL data in order to visualize and quantify agricultural change over the North Central region (North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota). Crop masks were derived from the CDL and layered to produce a ten-year time stack of corn, soybeans, and spring wheat at 30m spatial resolution. Through numerous image analyses, a temporal profile of each crop type was compiled and portrayed cartographically. For each crop, analyses included calculating the mean center of crop area over the ten year sequence, identifying the first and latest year the crop was grown on each pixel, and distinguishing crop rotation patterns and replacement statistics. Results show a clear north-western expansion trend for corn and soybeans, and a western migration trend for spring wheat. While some change may be due to commonly practiced crop rotation, this analysis shows that crop footprints have extended into areas that were previously other crops, idle cropland, and pasture/rangeland. Possible factors contributing to this crop migration pattern include profit advantages of row crops over small grains, improved crop genetics, climate change, and farm management program changes. Identifying and mapping these crop planting differences will better inform agricultural best practices, help to monitor the latest crop migration patterns, and present researchers with a way to quantitatively measure and forecast future agricultural trends.

Biodiversity can support a greener revolution in Africa

PubMed Central

Snapp, Sieglinde S.; Blackie, Malcolm J.; Gilbert, Robert A.; Bezner-Kerr, Rachel; Kanyama-Phiri, George Y.

2010-01-01

The Asian green revolution trebled grain yields through agrochemical intensification of monocultures. Associated environmental costs have subsequently emerged. A rapidly changing world necessitates sustainability principles be developed to reinvent these technologies and test them at scale. The need is particularly urgent in Africa, where ecosystems are degrading and crop yields have stagnated. An unprecedented opportunity to reverse this trend is unfolding in Malawi, where a 90% subsidy has ensured access to fertilization and improved maize seed, with substantive gains in productivity for millions of farmers. To test if economic and ecological sustainability could be improved, we preformed manipulative experimentation with crop diversity in a countrywide trial (n = 991) and at adaptive, local scales through a decade of participatory research (n = 146). Spatial and temporal treatments compared monoculture maize with legume-diversified maize that included annual and semiperennial (SP) growth habits in temporal and spatial combinations, including rotation, SP rotation, intercrop, and SP intercrop systems. Modest fertilizer intensification doubled grain yield compared with monoculture maize. Biodiversity improved ecosystem function further: SP rotation systems at half-fertilizer rates produced equivalent quantities of grain, on a more stable basis (yield variability reduced from 22% to 13%) compared with monoculture. Across sites, profitability and farmer preference matched: SP rotations provided twofold superior returns, whereas diversification of maize with annual legumes provided more modest returns. In this study, we provide evidence that in Africa, crop diversification can be effective at a countrywide scale, and that shrubby, grain legumes can enhance environmental and food security. PMID:21098285

Productivity, biomass partitioning, and energy yield of low-input short-rotation American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis L.) grown on marginal land: Effects of planting density and simulated drought

Treesearch

Jean-Christophe Domec; Elissa Ashley; Milan Fischer; Asko Noormets; Jameson Boone; James C. Williamson; John S. King

2017-01-01

Short-rotation woody crops (SRWC) grown for bioenergy production are considered a more sustainable feedstock than food crops such as corn and soybean. However, to be sustainable SRWC should be deployed on land not suitable for agriculture (e.g., marginal lands). Here we quantified productivity and energy yield of four SRWC candidate species grown at different planting...

Tropical Legume Crop Rotation and Nitrogen Fertilizer Effects on Agronomic and Nitrogen Efficiency of Rice

PubMed Central

Rahman, Motior M.; Islam, Aminul M.; Azirun, Sofian M.; Boyce, Amru N.

2014-01-01

Bush bean, long bean, mung bean, and winged bean plants were grown with N fertilizer at rates of 0, 2, 4, and 6 g N m−2 preceding rice planting. Concurrently, rice was grown with N fertilizer at rates of 0, 4, 8, and 12 g N m−2. No chemical fertilizer was used in the 2nd year of crop to estimate the nitrogen agronomic efficiency (NAE), nitrogen recovery efficiency (NRE), N uptake, and rice yield when legume crops were grown in rotation with rice. Rice after winged bean grown with N at the rate of 4 g N m−2 achieved significantly higher NRE, NAE, and N uptake in both years. Rice after winged bean grown without N fertilizer produced 13–23% higher grain yield than rice after fallow rotation with 8 g N m−2. The results revealed that rice after winged bean without fertilizer and rice after long bean with N fertilizer at the rate of 4 g N m−2 can produce rice yield equivalent to that of rice after fallow with N fertilizer at rates of 8 g N m−2. The NAE, NRE, and harvest index values for rice after winged bean or other legume crop rotation indicated a positive response for rice production without deteriorating soil fertility. PMID:24971378

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

D. Muth, Jr.; K. M. Bryden; R. G. Nelson

This study provides a spatially comprehensive assessment of sustainable agricultural residue removal potential across the United States. Earlier assessments determining the quantity of agricultural residue that could be sustainably removed for bioenergy production at the regional and national scale faced a number of computational limitations. These limitations included the number of environmental factors, the number of land management scenarios, and the spatial fidelity and spatial extent of the assessment. This study utilizes integrated multi-factor environmental process modeling and high fidelity land use datasets to perform a spatially comprehensive assessment of sustainably removable agricultural residues across the conterminous United States. Soilmore » type represents the base spatial unit for this study and is modeled using a national soil survey database at the 10 – 100 m scale. Current crop rotation practices are identified by processing land cover data available from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service Cropland Data Layer database. Land management and residue removal scenarios are identified for each unique crop rotation and crop management zone. Estimates of county averages and state totals of sustainably available agricultural residues are provided. The results of the assessment show that in 2011 over 150 million metric tons of agricultural residues could have been sustainably removed across the United States. Projecting crop yields and land management practices to 2030, the assessment determines that over 207 million metric tons of agricultural residues will be able to be sustainably removed for bioenergy production at that time.« less

Effects of rotation of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] crops on soil fertility in Elizabeth, Mississippi, USA

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The effects of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.):soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] rotations on the soil fertility levels are limited. An irrigated soybean:cotton rotation experiment was conducted from 2012 through 2015 near Elizabeth, MS. Rotation sequences were; continuous soybean, continuous cotton...

Does crop rotational diversity increase soil microbial resistance and resilience to drought and flooding?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schnecker, Jörg; Calderon, Francisco; Cavigelli, Michel; Lehman, Michael; Tiemann, Lisa; Grandy, Stuart

2017-04-01

Future climate scenarios indicate more frequent and stronger extreme weather events. This includes more severe droughts but also an increase in heavy rain events and flooding. Agricultural systems are of special interest in this context because of their role in food security but also because of their potentially changing role in global carbon and nutrient cycling under these extreme conditions. Plant diversification strategies like more complex crop rotations which support more diverse soil microbial communities with higher functional redundancy might be more resistant to drought and flooding and could help to reduce impacts on microbial carbon and nutrient cycling. To test how crop diversification affects the response of soil microbial processes to drought and flooding and reoccurring drought and flooding, we manipulated water regimes in lab incubation experiments using soils from four long term rotation experiments across the USA, including a low (one or two crops) vs. high (>3 crops) diversity rotations at each site. The sites range from low precipitation (Colorado), over intermediate precipitation (Michigan and South Dakota) to high precipitation in Maryland. Replicate sets of samples were either allowed to dry out, were gradually flooded or kept at a constant water content (control). We monitored CO2 production during five stress cycles. Additionally, we determined microbial biomass, enzyme activities and N pools during the first and last stress cycle in soils from the precipitation extremes. After a total incubation length of 165 days and five stress cycles only the soils from short rotations in Maryland and South Dakota that had been subjected to reoccurring drought showed significantly less cumulative CO2 loss compared to their respective controls. All the other sites and rotation length did not significantly differ from control when subjected to reoccurring drought or flooding. A Principal component analysis using all measured parameters of Colorado and Maryland soils showed a clear clustering of samples by site and in case of Maryland also by rotation length before the first stress. During the stress, samples were significantly separated by the treatment (drought and flooding). Immediately after the stress, samples again clustered by site and rotation length. After four stress cycles, soils from the long rotation in Colorado were the only samples that did not show a significant response to the laboratory treatments anymore. Our results indicate that agricultural soils, irrespective of the climatic region they are from and the rotation regime, are highly susceptible to changes in water content, especially drought. We did however also found that all tested soils were quickly recovering from the applied stress treatment and that plant diversification might help to increase the microbial resistance to water stress in certain soil systems.

Steers grazing of a rye cover crop influences growth of rye and no-till cotton

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Small grain cover crops offer opportunities for grazing but effects on following row crops are not well understood. From 1999 through 2008, stocker steers sequence grazed small grains in a 2-paddock rye-cotton-wheat-fallow- rye rotation. Treatments imposed on rye included 1) zero-grazing from 1999; ...

Energy beets: an undiscovered crop for the Southeastern US

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Energy beets (Beta vulgaris), which are sugar beets grown for non-food sources, are a potential winter cash crop for growers in the southeastern U.S. that are planted in the autumn and harvested in the spring, complementing current summer crop rotations. The end-product from energy beets will be in...

Can novel management practice improve soil and environmental quality and sustain crop yield simultaneously?

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Little is known about management practices that can simultaneously improve soil and environmental quality and sustain crop yields. The effect of a combination of tillage, crop rotation, and N fertilization on soil C and N, global warming potential (GWP), greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI), and malt bar...

7 CFR 205.206 - Crop pest, weed, and disease management practice standard.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... (CONTINUED) ORGANIC FOODS PRODUCTION ACT PROVISIONS NATIONAL ORGANIC PROGRAM Organic Production and Handling... rotation and soil and crop nutrient management practices, as provided for in §§ 205.203 and 205.205; (2... substance included on the National List of synthetic substances allowed for use in organic crop production...

7 CFR 205.206 - Crop pest, weed, and disease management practice standard.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... (CONTINUED) ORGANIC FOODS PRODUCTION ACT PROVISIONS NATIONAL ORGANIC PROGRAM Organic Production and Handling... rotation and soil and crop nutrient management practices, as provided for in §§ 205.203 and 205.205; (2... substance included on the National List of synthetic substances allowed for use in organic crop production...

7 CFR 205.206 - Crop pest, weed, and disease management practice standard.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... (CONTINUED) ORGANIC FOODS PRODUCTION ACT PROVISIONS NATIONAL ORGANIC PROGRAM Organic Production and Handling... rotation and soil and crop nutrient management practices, as provided for in §§ 205.203 and 205.205; (2... substance included on the National List of synthetic substances allowed for use in organic crop production...

Long-term conventional and no-tillage effects on field hydrology and yields of a dryland crop rotation

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Semiarid dryland crop yields with no-till, NT, residue management are often greater than stubble-mulch, SM, tillage as a result of improved soil conditions and water conservation, but information on long-term tillage effects on field hydrology and sustained crop production are needed. Our objective ...

[Effects of strip planting and fallow rotation on the soil and water loss and water use efficiency of slope farmland].

PubMed

Hou, Xian-Qing; Li, Rong; Han, Qing-Fang; Jia, Zhi-Kuan; Wang, Wei; Yan, Bo; Yang, Bao-Ping

2012-08-01

In order to enhance the soil water-retaining capacity of slope farmland and reduce its soil and water loss, a field study was conducted in 2007-2010 to examine the effects of strip planting and fallow rotation on the soil water regime, soil and water loss characteristics, and water use efficiency of a 10 degrees-15 degrees slope farmland in the arid area of southern Ningxia, Northwest China. Compared with the traditional no-strip planting, strip planting and fallow rotation increased the soil water content in 0-200 cm layer significantly, with an increment of 4.9% -7.0%. Strip planting and fallow rotation pattern could also effectively conserve the soil water in rain season, and obviously improve the soil water regime at crops early growth stages. As compared to no-strip planting, strip planting and fallow rotation increased the soil water content in 0-200 cm layer by 5.4%-8.5%, decreased the surface runoff by 0.7-3.2 m3 x hm(-2), sediment runoff by 0.2-1.9 t x hm(-2), and soil total N loss by 42.1% -73.3%, while improved the crop water use efficiency by 6.1% -24.9% and the precipitation use efficiency by 6.3% -15.3%.

Impacts of Watershed Characteristics and Crop Rotations on Winter Cover Crop Nitrate-Nitrogen Uptake Capacity within Agricultural Watersheds in the Chesapeake Bay Region.

PubMed

Lee, Sangchul; Yeo, In-Young; Sadeghi, Ali M; McCarty, Gregory W; Hively, W Dean; Lang, Megan W

2016-01-01

The adoption rate of winter cover crops (WCCs) as an effective conservation management practice to help reduce agricultural nutrient loads in the Chesapeake Bay (CB) is increasing. However, the WCC potential for water quality improvement has not been fully realized at the watershed scale. This study was conducted to evaluate the long-term impact of WCCs on hydrology and NO3-N loads in two adjacent watersheds and to identify key management factors that affect the effectiveness of WCCs using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and statistical methods. Simulation results indicated that WCCs are effective for reducing NO3-N loads and their performance varied based on planting date, species, soil characteristics, and crop rotations. Early-planted WCCs outperformed late-planted WCCs on the reduction of NO3-N loads and early-planted rye (RE) reduced NO3-N loads by ~49.3% compared to the baseline (no WCC). The WCCs were more effective in a watershed dominated by well-drained soils with increased reductions in NO3-N fluxes of ~2.5 kg N·ha-1 delivered to streams and ~10.1 kg N·ha-1 leached into groundwater compared to poorly-drained soils. Well-drained agricultural lands had higher transport of NO3-N in the soil profile and groundwater due to increased N leaching. Poorly-drained agricultural lands had lower NO3-N due to extensive drainage ditches and anaerobic soil conditions promoting denitrification. The performance of WCCs varied by crop rotations (i.e., continuous corn and corn-soybean), with increased N uptake following soybean crops due to the increased soil mineral N availability by mineralization of soybean residue compared to corn residue. The WCCs can reduce N leaching where baseline NO3-N loads are high in well-drained soils and/or when residual and mineralized N availability is high due to the cropping practices. The findings suggested that WCC implementation plans should be established in watersheds according to local edaphic and agronomic characteristics for reducing N leaching.

Impacts of Watershed Characteristics and Crop Rotations on Winter Cover Crop Nitrate-Nitrogen Uptake Capacity within Agricultural Watersheds in the Chesapeake Bay Region

PubMed Central

Lee, Sangchul; Yeo, In-Young; Sadeghi, Ali M.; McCarty, Gregory W.; Hively, W. Dean; Lang, Megan W.

2016-01-01

The adoption rate of winter cover crops (WCCs) as an effective conservation management practice to help reduce agricultural nutrient loads in the Chesapeake Bay (CB) is increasing. However, the WCC potential for water quality improvement has not been fully realized at the watershed scale. This study was conducted to evaluate the long-term impact of WCCs on hydrology and NO3-N loads in two adjacent watersheds and to identify key management factors that affect the effectiveness of WCCs using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and statistical methods. Simulation results indicated that WCCs are effective for reducing NO3-N loads and their performance varied based on planting date, species, soil characteristics, and crop rotations. Early-planted WCCs outperformed late-planted WCCs on the reduction of NO3-N loads and early-planted rye (RE) reduced NO3-N loads by ~49.3% compared to the baseline (no WCC). The WCCs were more effective in a watershed dominated by well-drained soils with increased reductions in NO3-N fluxes of ~2.5 kg N·ha-1 delivered to streams and ~10.1 kg N·ha-1 leached into groundwater compared to poorly-drained soils. Well-drained agricultural lands had higher transport of NO3-N in the soil profile and groundwater due to increased N leaching. Poorly-drained agricultural lands had lower NO3-N due to extensive drainage ditches and anaerobic soil conditions promoting denitrification. The performance of WCCs varied by crop rotations (i.e., continuous corn and corn-soybean), with increased N uptake following soybean crops due to the increased soil mineral N availability by mineralization of soybean residue compared to corn residue. The WCCs can reduce N leaching where baseline NO3-N loads are high in well-drained soils and/or when residual and mineralized N availability is high due to the cropping practices. The findings suggested that WCC implementation plans should be established in watersheds according to local edaphic and agronomic characteristics for reducing N leaching. PMID:27352119

SPECTRAL data-based estimation of soil heat flux

USGS Publications Warehouse

Singh, Ramesh K.; Irmak, A.; Walter-Shea, Elizabeth; Verma, S.B.; Suyker, A.E.

2011-01-01

Numerous existing spectral-based soil heat flux (G) models have shown wide variation in performance for maize and soybean cropping systems in Nebraska, indicating the need for localized calibration and model development. The objectives of this article are to develop a semi-empirical model to estimate G from a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and net radiation (Rn) for maize (Zea mays L.) and soybean (Glycine max L.) fields in the Great Plains, and present the suitability of the developed model to estimate G under similar and different soil and management conditions. Soil heat fluxes measured in both irrigated and rainfed fields in eastern and south-central Nebraska were used for model development and validation. An exponential model that uses NDVI and Rn was found to be the best to estimate G based on r2 values. The effect of geographic location, crop, and water management practices were used to develop semi-empirical models under four case studies. Each case study has the same exponential model structure but a different set of coefficients and exponents to represent the crop, soil, and management practices. Results showed that the semi-empirical models can be used effectively for G estimation for nearby fields with similar soil properties for independent years, regardless of differences in crop type, crop rotation, and irrigation practices, provided that the crop residue from the previous year is more than 4000 kg ha-1. The coefficients calibrated from particular fields can be used at nearby fields in order to capture temporal variation in G. However, there is a need for further investigation of the models to account for the interaction effects of crop rotation and irrigation. Validation at an independent site having different soil and crop management practices showed the limitation of the semi-empirical model in estimating G under different soil and environment conditions.

Intensification of tropical agriculture as seen by satellite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galford, G. L.; Michelson, H. C.; Spera, S. A.; Hadnott, B.

2013-12-01

We present case studies from Latin America and Africa on intensification of tropical agriculture. The Brazilian Amazon of the early 2000s experienced intensification and extensification. We use time series analysis of MODIS vegetation indices to track changes in cropping intensity and crop types over time. The state of Mato Grosso is Brazil's leading producer of soy, corn and cotton. Using 250 m MODIS EVI data and a new decision-tree algorithm tuned to phenological patterns characteristic of Mato Grosso's major natural vegetation and crop rotations, we mapped land-cover across the state over 11 growing seasons (2001-2011). Between 2000 and 2011, a majority of the cultivated land in Mato Grosso transitioned from the cultivation of one commercial crop per growing season (soy or cotton) to two commercial crops (a soy crop followed by a corn or cotton crop). Over our study period, the cultivated area of double cropped land in Mato Grosso steadily increased over 6-fold from .46 million hectares to 2.9 million hectares, 92% of which was in a soy-corn double cropping rotation. In the sub-Saharan country of Malawi, 70% of the land is dedicated to food production yet yields of the primary staple crop, maize, have stagnated around 1 ton ha-1 (developed nations' maize yields are 12-16 tons ha-1). Due to the limited land area, improving yields through intensification is a necessary objective of development. Poverty and food insecurity were widespread and persistent for smallholder farmers cultivating less than 1 hectare of land until the implementation of a government intervention, funded through foreign aid, subsidized allocations of fertilizer and improved seed to small farmers. Since implementation of the policy, the number of food insecure, or people in need of food aid, has decreased from 5 million to half a million people. We present indicators that levels of poverty have decreased since the subsidy. National yields have doubled. Applying modified methods from Brazil, we are able to detect cropland intensification through remote sensing. We present remote sensing analysis of social and economic correlates to changes in yields and build an empirical model of sustainable intensification. Together, these case studies demonstrate that remote sensing techniques can be easily adapted across very different crop types, field sizes and environments.

Effects of ecological and conventional agricultural intensification practices on maize yields in sub-Saharan Africa under potential climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Folberth, Christian; Yang, Hong; Gaiser, Thomas; Liu, Junguo; Wang, Xiuying; Williams, Jimmy; Schulin, Rainer

2014-04-01

Much of Africa is among the world’s regions with lowest yields in staple food crops, and climate change is expected to make it more difficult to catch up in crop production in particular in the long run. Various agronomic measures have been proposed for lifting agricultural production in Africa and to adapt it to climate change. Here, we present a projection of potential climate change impacts on maize yields under different intensification options in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) using an agronomic model, GIS-based EPIC (GEPIC). Fallow and nutrient management options taken into account are (a) conventional intensification with high mineral N supply and a bare fallow, (b) moderate mineral N supply and cowpea rotation, and (c) moderate mineral N supply and rotation with a fast growing N fixing tree Sesbania sesban. The simulations suggest that until the 2040s rotation with Sesbania will lead to an increase in yields due to increasing N supply besides improving water infiltration and soils’ water holding capacity. Intensive cultivation with a bare fallow or an herbaceous crop like cowpea in the rotation is predicted to result in lower yields and increased soil erosion during the same time span. However, yields are projected to decrease in all management scenarios towards the end of the century, should temperature increase beyond critical thresholds. The results suggest that the effect of eco-intensification as a sole means of adapting agriculture to climate change is limited in Sub-Saharan Africa. Highly adverse temperatures would rather have to be faced by improved heat tolerant cultivars, while strongly adverse decreases in precipitation would have to be faced by expanding irrigation where feasible. While the evaluation of changes in agro-environmental variables like soil organic carbon, erosion, and soil humidity hints that these are major factors influencing climate change resilience of the field crop, no direct relationship between these factors, crop yields, and changes in climate variables could be identified. This will need further detailed studies at the field and regional scale.

Carbon stocks quantification in agricultural systems employing succession and rotation of crops in Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walter, Michele K. C.; Marinho, Mara de A.; Denardin, José E.; Zullo, Jurandir, Jr.; Paz-González, Antonio

2013-04-01

Soil and vegetation constitute respectively the third and the fourth terrestrial reservoirs of Carbon (C) on Earth. C sequestration in these reservoirs includes the capture of the CO2 from the atmosphere by photosynthesis and its storage as organic C. Consequently, changes in land use and agricultural practices affect directly the emissions of the greenhouse gases and the C sequestration. Several studies have already demonstrated that conservation agriculture, and particularly zero tillage (ZT), has a positive effect on soil C sequestration. The Brazilian federal program ABC (Agriculture of Low Carbon Emission) was conceived to promote agricultural production with environmental protection and represents an instrument to achieve voluntary targets to mitigate emissions or NAMAS (National Appropriated Mitigation Actions). With financial resources of about US 1.0 billion until 2020 the ABC Program has a target of expand ZT in 8 million hectares of land, with reduction of 16 to 20 million of CO2eq. Our objective was to quantify the C stocks in soil, plants and litter of representative grain crops systems under ZT in Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. Two treatments of a long term experimental essay (> 20 years) were evaluated: 1) Crop succession with wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)/soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merril); 2) Crop rotation with wheat/soybean (1st year), vetch (Vicia sativa L.)/soybean (2nd year), and white oat (Avena sativa L.)/sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) (3rd year). C quantification in plants and in litter was performed using the direct method of biomass quantification. The soil type evaluated was a Humic Rhodic Hapludox, and C quantification was executed employing the method referred by "C mass by unit area". Results showed that soybean plants under crop succession presented greater C stock (4.31MgC ha-1) comparing with soybean plants cultivated under crop rotation (3.59 MgC ha-1). For wheat, however, greater C stock was quantified in plants under rotation comparing with that under succession (4.95 and 4.14 MgC ha-1, respectively). No differences between succession X rotation (1st year) and succession X rotation (3rd year) were found for litter. Differences in C stock in litter were found only comparing succession (2.42 MgC ha-1) X rotation (2nd year) (3.44 MgC ha-1). Average values of soil C stocks at depth 0-30cm under succession (67.79 MgC ha-1) and rotation (64.83 MgC ha-1) don't differ among treatments. These values in comparison with other determined for similar soil-climate conditions for soils under native forest (60.83 MgC ha-1) and under conventional tillage (60.68 MgC ha-1) reveals a beneficial effect of ZT in soil C stock. Finally, the C stocks determined for plants and litter, representing only 4.0% and 6.4% of that determined for soil, confirm the relevance of soil as a terrestrial C reservoir. Acknowledgments: The authors express thanks for the financial support and technical facilities receipt from Embrapa Trigo, CEPAGRI/ UNICAMP, and FAEPEX/ UNICAMP. CAPES/GOV.BRAZIL is also acknowledged by Dr. Michele K. C. Walter for the greeted scholarship.

Assessment of soil biological quality index (QBS-ar) in different crop rotation systems in paddy soils

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nadimi-Goki, Mandana; Bini, Claudio; haefele, Stephan

2013-04-01

New methods, based on soil microarthropods for soil quality evaluation have been proposed by some Authors. Soil microarthropods demonstrated to respond sensitively to land management practices and to be correlated with beneficial soil functions. QBS Index (QBS-ar) is calculated on the basis of microarthropod groups present in a soil sample. Each biological form found in the sample receives a score from 1 to 20 (eco-morphological index, EMI), according to its adaptation to soil environment. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of various rotation systems and sampling periods on soil biological quality index, in paddy soils. For the purpose of this study surface soil samples (0-15 cm depth) were collected from different rotation systems (rice-rice-rice, soya-rice-rice, fallow-rice and pea-soya-rice) with three replications, and four sampling times in April (after field preparation), June (after seedling), August (after tillering stage) and October (after rice harvesting). The study area is located in paddy soils of Verona area, Northern Italy. Soil microarthropods from a total of 48 samples were extracted and classified according to the Biological Quality of Soil Index (QBS-ar) method. In addition soil moisture, Cumulative Soil Respiration and pH were measured in each site. More diversity of microarthropod groups was found in June and August sampling times. T-test results between different rotations did not show significant differences while the mean difference between rotation and different sampling times is statistically different. The highest QBS-ar value was found in the fallow-rice rotation in the forth soil sampling time. Similar value was found in soya-rice-rice rotation. Result of linear regression analysis indicated that there is significant correlation between QBS-ar values and Cumulative Soil Respiration. Keywords: soil biological quality index (QBS-ar), Crop Rotation System, paddy soils, Italy

Assessment of food-water nexus by water footprint: a case study in Saskatchewan, Canada

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Y.; Si, B.

2016-12-01

It is important but challengeable to understand the water-food nexus complexity. The water footprint (WF), a relatively new index, is a comprehensive indicator that can be used to evaluate crop water production. This paper aims to 1) determine how water footprint changes at different crop rotational types; 2) investigate what is difference if WF is calculated by yield-based or protein-based; and 3) explore how virtual water flows are responding to regional meteorological, agricultural, and socio-economic factors. The result provided the water footprint and virtual water flow exemplified for Saskatchewan agri-food production industries. By using the water footprint, we determined the best rotation for pulse crops in terms of efficiency of water productivity and water-saving opportunity. While yield is a comprehensive index to assess the productivity (yield-based WF), it underestimated the contribution of some crops, such as pulse crops with relatively low yield but high protein contents (protein-based WF). Consequently, we concluded that water-saving benefits can be achieved by the development and adoption of water efficient technology and better virtual water flows may be achieved by increased area of low water footprint in Saskatchewan. Our finding improves the current concepts of water and food security, informs production and trade decisions, and thus suggests optimal strategies by reduced water footprints in terms of agricultural management.

Ranking agricultural practices on soil water improvements: a meta-analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basche, A.; DeLonge, M. S.; Gonzalez, J.

2016-12-01

Increased rainfall variability is well documented in the historic record and predicted to intensify with future climate change. Managing excess water in periods of heavy rain and a lack of water in periods of inadequate precipitation will continue to be a challenge. Improving soil resiliency through increased water storage is a promising strategy to combat effects of both rainfall extremes. The goal of this research is to quantify to what extent various conservation and ecological practices can improve soil hydrology. We are conducting a global meta-analysis focused on studies where conservation and ecological practices are compared to more conventional management. To date we have analyzed 100 studies with more than 450 paired comparisons to understand the effect of management on water infiltration rates, a critical process that ensures water enters the soil profile for crop use, water storage and runoff prevention. The database will be expanded to include studies measuring soil porosity and the water retained at field capacity. Statistical analysis has been done both with both a bootstrap method and a mixed model that weights studies based on precision while accounting for between-study variation. We find that conservation and ecological practices, ranging from no-till, cover crops, crop rotation, perennial crops and agroforestry, on average significantly increased water infiltration rates relative to more conventional practice controls (mean of 75%, standard error 25%). There were significant differences between practices, where perennial and agroforestry systems show the greatest potential for improving water infiltration rates (> 100% increase). Cover crops also lead to a significant increase in water infiltration rates (> 60%) while crop rotations and no-till systems did not consistently demonstrate increases. We also found that studies needed to include alternative management for more than two years to detect a significant increase. Overall this global meta-analysis improves understanding of how alternative management, notably the use of continuous cover in agricultural systems, improves water dynamics. Policies should be designed in a way that allows agricultural producers to prioritize and implement practices that offer greater water conservation while maintaining crop productivity.

Soil pH and exchangeable cation responses to tillage and fertilizer in dryland cropping systems

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Long-term use of nitrogen (N) fertilizers can lead to soil acidification and other chemical changes that can lower fertility. Here, we present near-surface (0-7.6 cm) soil chemistry data from 16 years of two different crop rotations in the US northern Great Plains: (1) continuous crop (CC; spring w...

Pacific Northwest Condiment Yellow Mustard (Sinapis alba L.) Grower Guide: 2000-2002

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brown, J.; Davis, J. B.; Esser, A.

2005-07-01

This report is a grower guide for yellow mustard. Yellow mustard (Sinapis alba L.), synonymous with white mustard, is a spring annual crop and well adapted to hot, dry growing conditions. It has shown potential as an alternative crop in rotations with small grain cereals and has fewer limitations compared to other traditional alternative crops.

Use of Cover Crops in Hardwood Production

Treesearch

Randy Rentz

2005-01-01

Cover crops are as essential a practice in hardwood production as in pine production or any other nursery operation. Without proper cover crop rotation in a nursery plan, we open ourselves up to an array of problems: more diseases, wrong pH, more weeds, reduced fertility, and less downward percolation of soil moisture due, in part, to compaction....

Seasonal Soil Nitrogen Mineralization within an Integrated Crop and Livestock System in Western North Dakota, USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Landblom, Douglas; Senturklu, Songul; Cihacek, Larry; Pfenning, Lauren; Brevik, Eric C.

2015-04-01

Protecting natural resources while maintaining or maximizing crop yield potential is of utmost importance for sustainable crop and livestock production systems. Since soil organic matter and its decomposition by soil organisms is at the very foundation of healthy productive soils, systems research at the North Dakota State University Dickinson Research Extension Center is evaluating seasonal soil nitrogen fertility within an integrated crop and livestock production system. The 5-year diverse crop rotation is: sunflower (SF) - hard red spring wheat (HRSW) - fall seeded winter triticale-hairy vetch (THV; spring harvested for hay)/spring seeded 7-species cover crop (CC) - Corn (C) (85-90 day var.) - field pea-barley intercrop (PBY). The HRSW and SF are harvested as cash crops and the PBY, C, and CC are harvested by grazing cattle. In the system, yearling beef steers graze the PBY and C before feedlot entry and after weaning, gestating beef cows graze the CC. Since rotation establishment, four crop years have been harvested from the crop rotation. All crops have been seeded using a JD 1590 no-till drill except C and SF. Corn and SF were planted using a JD 7000 no-till planter. The HRSW, PBY, and CC were seeded at a soil depth of 3.8 cm and a row width of 19.1 cm. Seed placement for the C and SF crops was at a soil depth of 5.1 cm and the row spacing was 0.762 m. The plant population goal/ha for C, SF, and wheat was 7,689, 50,587, and 7,244 p/ha, respectively. During the 3rd cropping year, soil bulk density was measured and during the 4th cropping year, seasonal nitrogen fertility was monitored throughout the growing season from June to October. Seasonal nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N), ammonium nitrogen (NH4-N), total season mineral nitrogen (NO3-N + NH4-N), cropping system NO3-N, and bulk density were measured in 3 replicated non-fertilized field plot areas within each 10.6 ha triple replicated crop fields. Within each plot area, 6 - 20.3 cm x 0.61 m aluminum irrigation pipes were pressed into the soil as enclosures to restrict root access to soil nitrogen. Soil samples were taken as close to 2-week intervals as possible from both inside and outside the enclosures. The crop rotation N values were also compared to triple replicated perennial native grassland plot areas (predominate sp. Western wheatgrass - Pascopyrum smithii, Blue grama - Bouteloua gracilis, Little bluestem - Schizachyrium scoparium, Switchgrass - Panicum virgatum). Trends identified for both NH4-N and NO3-N indicate that the values are relatively similar with respect to seasonal change over time. There was a greater amount of soil nitrogen accumulation inside the enclosures indicating that outside the enclosures roots scavenge nitrogen for plant growth and production. Seasonally, comparing the cropping system crops, NO3-N declined mid-July and then rebounded by mid-August and continued to increase until leveling off in September. Corn NO3-N, however, did not follow this pattern, but increased from early June to the end of June and remained high until the first of September. We will present the results of bulk density data and seasonal N fertility data providing evidence for the impact of previous CC on corn production. Probable explanation for the mid-summer nitrogen decline will be presented and justification for reduced fertilizer application will be discussed.

Influence of tillage practices and straw incorporation on soil aggregates, organic carbon, and crop yields in a rice-wheat rotation system

PubMed Central

Song, Ke; Yang, Jianjun; Xue, Yong; Lv, Weiguang; Zheng, Xianqing; Pan, Jianjun

2016-01-01

In this study, a fixed-site field experiment was conducted to study the influence of different combinations of tillage and straw incorporation management on carbon storage in different-sized soil aggregates and on crop yield after three years of rice-wheat rotation. Compared to conventional tillage, the percentages of >2 mm macroaggregates and water-stable macroaggregates in rice-wheat double-conservation tillage (zero-tillage and straw incorporation) were increased 17.22% and 36.38% in the 0–15 cm soil layer and 28.93% and 66.34% in the 15–30 cm soil layer, respectively. Zero tillage and straw incorporation also increased the mean weight diameter and stability of the soil aggregates. In surface soil (0–15 cm), the maximum proportion of total aggregated carbon was retained with 0.25–0.106 mm aggregates, and rice-wheat double-conservation tillage had the greatest ability to hold the organic carbon (33.64 g kg−1). However, different forms occurred at higher levels in the 15–30 cm soil layer under the conventional tillage. In terms of crop yield, the rice grown under conventional tillage and the wheat under zero tillage showed improved equivalent rice yields of 8.77% and 6.17% compared to rice-wheat double-cropping under zero tillage or conventional tillage, respectively. PMID:27812038

HERBICIDE SENSITIVITY OF ECHINOCHLOA CRUS-GALLI POPULATIONS: A COMPARISON BETWEEN CROPPING SYSTEMS.

PubMed

Claerhout, S; De Cauwer, B; Reheul, D

2014-01-01

Echinochloa crus-galli populations exhibit high morphological variability and their response to herbicides varies from field to field. Differential response to herbicides could reflect differences in selection pressure, caused by years of cropping system related herbicide usage. This study investigates the relation between herbicide sensitivity of Echinochloa crus-galli populations and the cropping system to which they were subjected. The herbicide sensitivity of Echinochloa crus-galli was evaluated for populations collected on 18 fields, representing three cropping systems, namely (1) a long-term organic cropping system, (2) a conventional cropping system with corn in crop rotation or (3) a conventional cropping system with long-term monoculture of corn. Each cropping system was represented by 6 E. crus-galli populations. All fields were located on sandy soils. Dose-response pot experiments were conducted in the greenhouse to assess the effectiveness of three foliar-applied corn herbicides: nicosulfuron (ALS-inhibitor), cycloxydim (ACCase-inhibitor) and topramezone (HPPD-inhibitor), and two soil-applied corn herbicides: S-metolachlor and dimethenamid-P (both VLCFA-inhibitors). Foliar-applied herbicides were tested at a quarter, half and full recommended doses. Soil-applied herbicides were tested within a dose range of 0-22.5 g a.i. ha(-1) for S-metolachlor and 0-45 g a.i. ha(-1) for dimethenamid-P. Foliar-applied herbicides were applied at the three true leaves stage. Soil-applied herbicides were treated immediately after sowing the radicle-emerged seeds. All experiments were performed twice. The foliage dry weight per pot was determined four weeks after treatment. Plant responses to herbicides were expressed as biomass reduction (%, relative to the untreated control). Sensitivity to foliar-applied herbicides varied among cropping systems. Compared to populations from monoculture corn fields, populations originating from organic fields were significantly more sensitive to cycloxydim, topramezone and nicosulfuron (resp. 5.3%, 5.9% and 12.3%). Populations from the conventional crop rotation system showed intermediate sensitivity levels. Contrary to foliar-applied herbicides, the effectiveness of soil-applied herbicides was not affected by cropping system. Integrated weed management may be necessary to preserve herbicide efficacy on the long term.

7 CFR 205.205 - Crop rotation practice standard.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

....205 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing Practices), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (CONTINUED) ORGANIC FOODS... pest management in annual and perennial crops; (c) Manage deficient or excess plant nutrients; and (d...

Fingerprinting selection for agroenvironmental catchment studies: EDXRF analysis for solving complex artificial mixtures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Torres Astorga, Romina; Velasco, Hugo; Dercon, Gerd; Mabit, Lionel

2017-04-01

Soil erosion and associated sediment transportation and deposition processes are key environmental problems in Central Argentinian watersheds. Several land use practices - such as intensive grazing and crop cultivation - are considered likely to increase significantly land degradation and soil/sediment erosion processes. Characterized by highly erodible soils, the sub catchment Estancia Grande (12.3 km2) located 23 km north east of San Luis has been investigated by using sediment source fingerprinting techniques to identify critical hot spots of land degradation. The authors created 4 artificial mixtures using known quantities of the most representative sediment sources of the studied catchment. The first mixture was made using four rotation crop soil sources. The second and the third mixture were created using different proportions of 4 different soil sources including soils from a feedlot, a rotation crop, a walnut forest and a grazing soil. The last tested mixture contained the same sources as the third mixture but with the addition of a fifth soil source (i.e. a native bank soil). The Energy Dispersive X Ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) analytical technique has been used to reconstruct the source sediment proportion of the original mixtures. Besides using a traditional method of fingerprint selection such as Kruskal-Wallis H-test and Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA), the authors used the actual source proportions in the mixtures and selected from the subset of tracers that passed the statistical tests specific elemental tracers that were in agreement with the expected mixture contents. The selection process ended with testing in a mixing model all possible combinations of the reduced number of tracers obtained. Alkaline earth metals especially Strontium (Sr) and Barium (Ba) were identified as the most effective fingerprints and provided a reduced Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of approximately 2% when reconstructing the 4 artificial mixtures. This study demonstrates that the EDXRF fingerprinting approach performed very well in reconstructing our original mixtures especially in identifying and quantifying the contribution of the 4 rotation crop soil sources in the first mixture.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Muth, David J.; Bryden, Kenneth Mark; Nelson, R. G.

This study provides a spatially comprehensive assessment of sustainable agricultural residue removal potential across the United States for bioenergy production. Earlier assessments determining the quantity of agricultural residue that could be sustainably removed for bioenergy production at the regional and national scale faced a number of computational limitations. These limitations included the number of environmental factors, the number of land management scenarios, and the spatial fidelity and spatial extent of the assessment. This study utilizes integrated multi-factor environmental process modeling and high fidelity land use datasets to perform the sustainable agricultural residue removal assessment. Soil type represents the base spatialmore » unit for this study and is modeled using a national soil survey database at the 10–100 m scale. Current crop rotation practices are identified by processing land cover data available from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service Cropland Data Layer database. Land management and residue removal scenarios are identified for each unique crop rotation and crop management zone. Estimates of county averages and state totals of sustainably available agricultural residues are provided. The results of the assessment show that in 2011 over 150 million metric tons of agricultural residues could have been sustainably removed across the United States. Projecting crop yields and land management practices to 2030, the assessment determines that over 207 million metric tons of agricultural residues will be able to be sustainably removed for bioenergy production at that time. This biomass resource has the potential for producing over 68 billion liters of cellulosic biofuels.« less

N use efficiencies and N2O emissions in two contrasting, biochar amended soils under winter wheat—cover crop—sorghum rotation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hüppi, Roman; Neftel, Albrecht; Lehmann, Moritz F.; Krauss, Maike; Six, Johan; Leifeld, Jens

2016-08-01

Biochar, a carbon-rich, porous pyrolysis product of organic residues, is evaluated as an option to tackle major problems of the global food system. Applied to soil, biochar can sequester carbon and have beneficial effects on nitrogen (N) cycling, thereby enhancing crop yields and reducing nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. There is little understanding of the underlying mechanisms, but many experiments indicated increased yields and manifold changes in N transformation, suggesting an increase in N use efficiency. Biochar’s effects can be positive in extensively managed tropical agriculture, however less is known about its use in temperate soils with intensive fertilisation. We tested the effect of slow pyrolysis wood chip biochar on N use efficiency, crop yields and N2O emissions in a lysimeter system with two soil types (sandy loamy Cambisol and silty loamy Luvisol) in a winter wheat—cover crop—sorghum rotation. 15N-labelled ammonium nitrate fertiliser (170 kg N ha-1 in 3 doses, 10% 15N) was applied to the first crop to monitor its fate in three ecosystem components (plants, soil, leachate). Green rye was sown as cover crop to keep the first year’s fertiliser N for the second year’s sorghum crop (fertilised with 110 kg N ha-1 in two doses and natural abundance 15N). We observed no effects of biochar on N fertiliser use efficiency, yield or N uptake for any crop. Biochar reduced leaching by 43 ± 19% but only towards the end of the experiment with leaching losses being generally low. For both soils N2O emissions were reduced by 15 ± 4% with biochar compared to the control treatments. Our results indicate that application of the chosen biochar induces environmental benefits in terms of N2O emission and N leaching but does not substantially affect the overall N cycle and hence crop performance in the analyzed temperate crop rotation.

[Distribution characteristics of soil profile nitrous oxide concentration in paddy fields with different rice-upland crop rotation systems].

PubMed

Liu, Ping-li; Zhang, Xiao-lin; Xiong, Zheng-qin; Huang, Tai-qing; Ding, Min; Wang, Jin-yang

2011-09-01

To investigate the dynamic distribution patterns of nitrous oxide (N2O) in the soil profiles in paddy fields with different rice-upland crop rotation systems, a special soil gas collection device was adopted to monitor the dynamics of N2O at the soil depths 7, 15, 30, and 50 cm in the paddy fields under both flooding and drainage conditions. Two rotation systems were installed, i.e., wheat-single rice and oilseed rape-double rice, each with or without nitrogen (N) application. Comparing with the control, N application promoted the N2O production in the soil profiles significantly (P < 0.01), and there existed significant correlations in the N2O concentration among the four soil depths during the whole observation period (P < 0.01). In the growth seasons of winter wheat and oilseed rape under drainage condition and with or without N application, the N2O concentrations at the soil depths 30 cm and 50 cm were significantly higher than those at the soil depths 7 cm and 15 cm; whereas in the early rice growth season under flooding condition and without N application, the N2O concentrations at the soil depth 7 cm and 15 cm were significantly higher than those at the soil depths 30 cm and 50 cm (P < 0.05). No significant differences were observed in the N2O concentrations at the test soil depths among the other rice cropping treatments. The soil N2O concentrations in the treatments without N application peaked in the transitional period from the upland crops cropping to rice planting, while those in the treatments with N application peaked right after the second topdressing N of upland crops. Relatively high soil N2O concentrations were observed at the transitional period from the upland crops cropping to rice planting.

Mapping Large-Scale Mechanized Agriculture Across the Brazilian Cerrado Between 2001-2013

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spera, S. A.; Mustard, J. F.; VanWey, L.

2014-12-01

Brazil is a global commodities powerhouse. Over the last decade, dynamic changes in agricultural development and land transformations occurred within Brazil's tropical savanna region, the cerrado. This interdisciplinary study uses remote sensing tools to map land cover across more than 3.6 million km2 of cerrado and statistical methods to characterize drivers of this land-cover change. We use the MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index 16-day data product and a decision-tree algorithm, proven highly accurate in Mato Grosso (Spera et al. 2014) and here modified for the broader cerrado region, to characterize crop type, cropping frequency, expansion, and abandonment of large-scale mechanized agriculture during the 2001-2013 period. The algorithm exploits phenological differences between forest, pasture and cerrado, and mechanized agriculture. It is parameterized to distinguish between crop rotations in Mato Grosso, Goias, and the new agricultural frontier spanning Maranhao, Tocantins, Piaui, and Bahia (MaToPiBa). Training and validation data were collected using Google's Earth Engine. We map single-cropped soy, corn, and cotton; double-cropped soy/corn and soy/cotton rotations; and irrigated agriculture across these six Brazilian cerrado states. We find that while double cropping dominates in Mato Grosso and Goias, single cropping is still the dominant form of mechanized agriculture in the burgeoning MaToPiBa region. In western Bahia alone, preliminary results show agriculture has expanded by almost 350,000 ha and double cropping has increased by almost 40,000 ha. With MaToPiBa touted as Brazil's latest and last agricultural frontier, we predict that the region will experience a transition similar to that of Mato Grosso during the 2000s—an expansion and intensification of agriculture—which may beget unprecedented ramifications on regional climate processes that can then affect ecosystem health and the economic feasibility of cultivating rain-fed export crops.

Influence of precipitation and crop germination on resource selection by mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in southwest Colorado

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carrollo, Emily M.; Johnson, Heather E.; Fischer, Justin W.; Hammond, Matthew; Dorsey, Patricia D.; Anderson, Charles; Vercauteren, Kurt C.; Walter, W. David

2017-01-01

Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) populations in the western United States provide many benefits to local economies but can also cause considerable damage to agriculture, particularly damage to lucrative crops. Limited information exists to understand resource selection of mule deer in response to annual variation in crop rotation and climatic conditions. We tested the hypothesis that mule deer select certain crops, and in particular sunflower, based on annual climatic variability. Our objective was to use movements, estimates of home range, and resource selection analysis to identify resources selected by mule deer. We used annually-derived crop-specific datasets along with Global Positioning System collars to monitor 14 mule deer in an agricultural area near public lands in southwestern Colorado, USA. We estimated home ranges for two winter seasons that ranged between 7.68 and 9.88 km2, and for two summer seasons that ranged between 5.51 and 6.24 km2. Mule deer selected areas closer to forest and alfalfa for most periods during 2012, but selected areas closer to sunflower in a majority of periods during 2013. Considerable annual variation in climate patterns and precipitation levels appeared to influence selection by mule deer because of variability in crop rotation and success of germination of specific crops.

Influence of Precipitation and Crop Germination on Resource Selection by Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in Southwest Colorado.

PubMed

Carrollo, Emily M; Johnson, Heather E; Fischer, Justin W; Hammond, Matthew; Dorsey, Patricia D; Anderson, Charles; Vercauteren, Kurt C; Walter, W David

2017-11-09

Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) populations in the western United States provide many benefits to local economies but can also cause considerable damage to agriculture, particularly damage to lucrative crops. Limited information exists to understand resource selection of mule deer in response to annual variation in crop rotation and climatic conditions. We tested the hypothesis that mule deer select certain crops, and in particular sunflower, based on annual climatic variability. Our objective was to use movements, estimates of home range, and resource selection analysis to identify resources selected by mule deer. We used annually-derived crop-specific datasets along with Global Positioning System collars to monitor 14 mule deer in an agricultural area near public lands in southwestern Colorado, USA. We estimated home ranges for two winter seasons that ranged between 7.68 and 9.88 km 2 , and for two summer seasons that ranged between 5.51 and 6.24 km 2 . Mule deer selected areas closer to forest and alfalfa for most periods during 2012, but selected areas closer to sunflower in a majority of periods during 2013. Considerable annual variation in climate patterns and precipitation levels appeared to influence selection by mule deer because of variability in crop rotation and success of germination of specific crops.

Maximum soil organic carbon storage in Midwest U.S. cropping systems when crops are optimally nitrogen-fertilized

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Nitrogen fertilizer is critical to optimize short-term crop yield, but its long-term effect on soil organic C (SOC) is actively debated. Using 60 site-years of maize (Zea mays L.) yield response to a wide range of N fertilizer rates in continuous maize and annually rotated maize-soybean [Glycine max...

Enhancing Soil Productivity Using a Multi-Crop Rotation and Beef Cattle Grazing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Şentürklü, Songül; Landblom, Douglas; Cihacek, Larry; Brevik, Eric

2016-04-01

Agricultural production systems that include complimentary plant, soil and animal interaction contribute to sustainability. In sustainable livestock systems integrated with crop production, the soil resource is impacted positively. The goal of this research was to maximize beef cattle and crop economic yield, while improving the soil resource by increasing soil organic matter (SOM) and subsequently seasonal soil nitrogen fertility over a 5-year period (2011-2015). Each experimental crop field used in the study was 1.74 ha. Small-seeded crops were planted using a JD 1590 No-Till drill. Corn (C) and sunflowers (SF) were planted using a JD 7000 No-Till planter. The cropping sequence used in the study was SF, hard red spring wheat (HRSW), fall seeded winter triticale-hairy vetch (T-HV), spring harvested for hay/mid-June seeded 7-species cover crop (CC; SF, Everleaf Oat, Flex Winter Pea, HV, Winfred Forage Rape, Ethiopian Cabbage, Hunter Leaf Turnip), C (85-day var.), and field pea-barley intercrop (PBY). The HRSW and SF were harvested as cash crops and the PBY, C, and CC were harvested by grazing cattle. In the system, yearling beef steers grazed PBY and unharvested C before feedlot entry, and after weaning, gestating cows grazed CC. Seasonal soil nitrogen fertility was measured at 0-15, 15-30, and 30-61 cm depths approximately every two weeks from June to October, 2014. The regression illustrating the relationship between SOM and average seasonal available mineral nitrogen shows that for each percentage increase in SOM there is a corresponding N increase of 1.47 kg/ha. Nitrogen fertilizer applications for the 5-year period of the study were variable; however, the overall trend was for reduced fertilizer requirement as SOM increased. At the same time, grain, oilseed, and annual forage crop yields increased year over year (2011-2015) except for the 2014 crop year, when above average precipitation delayed seeding and early frost killed the C and SF crops prematurely. Crop yields were as follows for the 5 crop years in the study (2011-2015): (1) CC was 0.25, 10.5, 8.03, 1.53, and 7.22t/ha, (2) C silage was 4.08, 9.04, 9.91, 8.65, and 14.4 t/ha, (3) C grain was 1.04, 3.81, 6.09, 3.11, and 5.1 t/ha, (4) SF was 1.10, 1.96, 2.42, 1.31, and 2.29 t/ha, (5) PBY forage was 0.0, 7.68, 11.2, 9.3, and 8.72 t/ha. When cattle grazed annual forage crops (C, PBY, and CC), animal manure and trampling contributed to the overall improvement of soil fertility. These data suggest that the combined effect of a multi-crop rotation that includes animal grazing enhances soil fertility and subsequently crop yields, and animal production for a sustainable integrated agricultural system.

Driving factors of soil carbon accumulation in Oxisols in long-term no-till systems of South Brazil.

PubMed

de Oliveira Ferreira, Ademir; Amado, Telmo Jorge Carneiro; Rice, Charles W; Ruiz Diaz, Dorivar A; Briedis, Clever; Inagaki, Thiago Massao; Gonçalves, Daniel Ruiz Potma

2018-05-01

In a climate change scenario, it is important to understand the factors that lead to changes in a soil carbon (C) sink. It is recognized that such process is highly dependent on climate, soil properties, topography, and vegetation. However, few studies demonstrate how these mechanisms operate in highly weathered Oxisols. Therefore, this study evaluated the driving factors for C recovery and accumulation and its relations with fertility attributes in the soil profile (0 to 1m depth) in no-till (NT) croplands of south Brazil. The adoption of NT in the studied fields started between 1978 (pioneer areas) and 1990 and represent a range of textural and mineralogical characteristics South Brazil main croplands. Soil samples were collected in paired fields of native vegetation and NT (NV vs. long-term NT) to a depth of 1m. The studied NT areas of Rio Grande do Sul State were managed according to the principles of conservation agriculture (minimum soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and diverse crop rotation). The processes that drove SOC recovery in the studied sites were soil fertility management allied with high C input through intense crop rotation. The C recovery was were for areas with the predominance of soybean in the cropping system, higher levels of Al 3+ and lower levels of Mg 2+ and P. Sites with medium/high cropping intensity, lower levels of Al 3+ and higher levels of P, Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , and K + resulted in higher C recovery. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Net carbon balance of three full crop rotations at an agricultural site near Gebesee, Germany

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hurkuck, M.; Brümmer, C.; Kolle, O.; Kutsch, W. L.; Moffat, A. M.; Mukwashi, K.; Truckenbrodt, S. C.; Herbst, M.

2015-12-01

Continuous eddy-covariance (EC) measurements of biosphere-atmosphere CO2 and H2O exchange have been conducted since 2001 at an agricultural site near Gebesee, Germany, thus providing one of the longest EC time series of European croplands. During the experimental period, winter wheat and winter barley were alternately planted with potatoes, sugar beet, rape, and peppermint covering three full crop rotations (2001-2004, 2005-2009, and 2010-2014). In this study, data of 14 years of net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE) and evapotranspiration (E) were re-calculated. Based on these data, we present the net carbon (C) balance (net biome production, NBP) accounting for any additional C input by fertilization and C output by harvest. Further emphasis was placed on the sensitivity of water use efficiency (WUE) and E to climate and crop type. The main aim was to investigate the interannual variability in both NBP and WUE, thus disentangling the impacts of climatic conditions and land management on the net C balance as well as on WUE and E.

Soil degradation: Will humankind ever learn?

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Soil degradation is a global problem caused by many factors including excessive tillage, inappropriate crop rotations, excessive grazing or crop residue removal, deforestation, mining, construction and urban sprawl. To meet the needs of an expanding global population, it is essential for humankind t...

Climate Impacts of Cover Crops

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lombardozzi, D.; Wieder, W. R.; Bonan, G. B.; Morris, C. K.; Grandy, S.

2016-12-01

Cover crops are planted in agricultural rotation with the intention of protecting soil rather than harvest. Cover crops have numerous environmental benefits that include preventing soil erosion, increasing soil fertility, and providing weed and pest control- among others. In addition to localized environmental benefits, cover crops can have important regional or global biogeochemical impacts by increasing soil organic carbon, changing emissions of greenhouse trace gases like nitrous oxide and methane, and reducing hydrologic nitrogen losses. Cover crops may additionally affect climate by changing biogeophysical processes, like albedo and latent heat flux, though these potential changes have not yet been evaluated. Here we use the coupled Community Atmosphere Model (CAM5) - Community Land Model (CLM4.5) to test how planting cover crops in the United States may change biogeophysical fluxes and climate. We present seasonal changes in albedo, heat fluxes, evaporative partitioning, radiation, and the resulting changes in temperature. Preliminary analyses show that during seasons when cover crops are planted, latent heat flux increases and albedo decreases, changing the evaporative fraction and surface temperatures. Understanding both the biogeophysical changes caused by planting cover crops in this study and the biogeochemical changes found in other studies will give a clearer picture of the overall impacts of cover crops on climate and atmospheric chemistry, informing how this land use strategy will impact climate in the future.

A systems approach to identify adaptation strategies for Midwest US cropping systems under increased climate variability and change.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basso, B.; Dumont, B.

2015-12-01

A systems approach was implemented to assess the impact of management strategies and climate variability on crop yield, nitrate leaching and soil organic carbon across the the Midwest US at a fine scale spatial resolution. We used the SALUS model which designed to simulated yield and environmental outcomes of continous crop rotations under different agronomic management, soil, weather. We extracted soil parameters from the SSURGO (Soil Survey Geographic) data of nine Midwest states (IA, IL, IN, MI, MN, MO, OH, SD, WI) and weather from NARR (North American Regional Reanalysis). State specific management itineraries were extracted from USDA-NAS. We present the results different cropping systems (continuous corn, corn-soybean and extended rotations) under different management practices (no-tillage, cover crops and residue management). Simulations were conducted under both the baseline (1979-2014) and projected climatic projections (RCP2.5, 6). Results indicated that climate change would likely have a negative impact on corn yields in some areas and positive in others. Soil N, and C losses can be reduced with the adoption of conservation practices.

Assessing the impacts of crop-rotation and tillage on crop yields and sediment yield using a modeling approach

Treesearch

B.P. Parajuli; P. Jayakody; G.F. Sassenrath; Y. Ouyang; J.W. Pote

2013-01-01

This study was conducted in the Big Sunflower River Watershed (BSRW), north-west, Mississippi. The watershed has been identified as “impaired waters” under Section 303(d) of the Federal Clean Water Act due to high levels of sediment and total phosphorus. This excess is then transported to the Gulf of Mexico via the Yazoo River, further damaging the nation’s water...

Projective analysis of staple food crop productivity in adaptation to future climate change in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Qing; Zhang, Wen; Li, Tingting; Sun, Wenjuan; Yu, Yongqiang; Wang, Guocheng

2017-08-01

Climate change continually affects our capabilities to feed the increasing population. Rising temperatures have the potential to shorten the crop growth duration and therefore reduce crop yields. In the past decades, China has successfully improved crop cultivars to stabilize, and even lengthen, the crop growth duration to make use of increasing heat resources. However, because of the complex cropping systems in the different regions of China, the possibility and the effectiveness of regulating crop growth duration to reduce the negative impacts of future climate change remain questionable. Here, we performed a projective analysis of the staple food crop productivity in double-rice, wheat-rice, wheat-maize, single-rice, and single-maize cropping systems in China using modeling approaches. The results indicated that from the present to the 2040s, the warming climate would shorten the growth duration of the current rice, wheat, and maize cultivars by 2-24, 11-13, and 9-29 days, respectively. The most significant shortening of the crop growth duration would be in Northeast China, where single-rice and single-maize cropping dominates the croplands. The shortened crop growth duration would consequently reduce crop productivity. The most significant decreases would be 27-31, 6-20, and 7-22% for the late crop in the double-rice rotation, wheat in the winter wheat-rice rotation, and single maize, respectively. However, our projection analysis also showed that the negative effects of the warming climate could be compensated for by stabilizing the growth duration of the crops via improvement in crop cultivars. In this case, the productivity of rice, wheat, and maize in the 2040s would increase by 4-16, 31-38, and 11-12%, respectively. Our modeling results implied that the possibility of securing future food production exists by adopting proper adaptation options in China.

Projective analysis of staple food crop productivity in adaptation to future climate change in China.

PubMed

Zhang, Qing; Zhang, Wen; Li, Tingting; Sun, Wenjuan; Yu, Yongqiang; Wang, Guocheng

2017-08-01

Climate change continually affects our capabilities to feed the increasing population. Rising temperatures have the potential to shorten the crop growth duration and therefore reduce crop yields. In the past decades, China has successfully improved crop cultivars to stabilize, and even lengthen, the crop growth duration to make use of increasing heat resources. However, because of the complex cropping systems in the different regions of China, the possibility and the effectiveness of regulating crop growth duration to reduce the negative impacts of future climate change remain questionable. Here, we performed a projective analysis of the staple food crop productivity in double-rice, wheat-rice, wheat-maize, single-rice, and single-maize cropping systems in China using modeling approaches. The results indicated that from the present to the 2040s, the warming climate would shorten the growth duration of the current rice, wheat, and maize cultivars by 2-24, 11-13, and 9-29 days, respectively. The most significant shortening of the crop growth duration would be in Northeast China, where single-rice and single-maize cropping dominates the croplands. The shortened crop growth duration would consequently reduce crop productivity. The most significant decreases would be 27-31, 6-20, and 7-22% for the late crop in the double-rice rotation, wheat in the winter wheat-rice rotation, and single maize, respectively. However, our projection analysis also showed that the negative effects of the warming climate could be compensated for by stabilizing the growth duration of the crops via improvement in crop cultivars. In this case, the productivity of rice, wheat, and maize in the 2040s would increase by 4-16, 31-38, and 11-12%, respectively. Our modeling results implied that the possibility of securing future food production exists by adopting proper adaptation options in China.

Rotations

Treesearch

John R. Jones; Wayne D. Shepperd

1985-01-01

The rotation, in forestry, is the planned number of years between formation of a crop or stand and its final harvest at a specified stage of maturity (Ford-Robertson 1971). The rotation used for many species is the age of culmination of mean usable volume growth [net mean annual increment (MAI)]. At that age, usable volume divided by age reaches its highest level. That...

Sustainable intensification by managing microbial communities and processes in agroecosystems

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

By focusing on soil biology and biochemistry, agroecosystem management strategies are implemented which include reduced soil disturbance, diverse and adaptable crop rotations, retention of residue, and incorporation of livestock, cover crops, or both This systems approach is required to sustainably ...

7 CFR 1469.3 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... grasses and legumes; summer fallow; typically cropped wet areas, such as rice fields, rotated to wildlife... machine harvested. The crop may be grasses, legumes, or a combination of both. Incidental forest land... mixture, or a grass-legume mixture. Management usually consists of cultural treatments: fertilization...

Sustainable Agriculture: Cover Cropping

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Webster, Megan

2018-01-01

Sustainable agriculture practices are increasingly being used by farmers to maintain soil quality, increase biodiversity, and promote production of food that is environmentally safe. There are several types of sustainable agriculture practices such as organic farming, crop rotation, and aquaculture. This lesson plan focuses on the sustainable…

Perennial crop phase effects on soil fertility

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

There is a need to develop agricultural management systems that enhance soil fertility and reduce reliance on external inputs. Perennial phases in crop rotations are effective at restoring soil fertility, though little information exists in the northern Great Plains regarding soil-based outcomes re...

Ascochyta blight of chickpeas

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Chickpea is becoming increasingly important as a rotational crop in cereal production systems. Ascochyta blight is the most devastating disease of chickpea and must be appropriately managed to minimize its damage to crops and increase chickpea yield. The disease is caused by the fungus Ascochyta r...

Quantifying the linkages among soil health, organic farming, and food

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Organic farming systems utilize organic amendments, diverse crop rotations and cover crops to promote soil fertility and enhance soil health. These practices increase biologically available forms of soil organic matter, and increase the activities of beneficial soil microbes and invertebrates. Physi...

Influence of farm management upon arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Good farming practices are conducted for a variety of reasons. Farmers now include management practices such as over wintering cover crops, reduced tillage, and crop rotation with the goals of reducing soil erosion, managing nutrient availability, building soil organic matter, controlling weeds, an...

Comparative study of irrigation water use and groundwater recharge under various irrigation schemes in an agricultural region, central Taiwan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Shih-Kai; Jang, Cheng-Shin; Tsai, Cheng-Bin

2016-04-01

The risk of rice production has increased notably due to climate change in Taiwan. To respond to growing agricultural water shortage without affecting normal food production in the future, the application of water-saving irrigation will be a substantial resolution. However, the adoption of water-saving irrigation may result in the reducing of groundwater recharge because continuous flooding in the paddy fields could be regarded as an important source for groundwater recharge. The aim of this study was to evaluate the irrigation water-saving benefit and groundwater recharge deficit when adopting the System of Rice Intensification, known as SRI methodology, in the Choushui River alluvial fan (the largest groundwater pumping and the most important rice-cropping region in central Taiwan). The three-dimensional finite element groundwater model, FEMWATER, was applied to simulate the infiltration process and groundwater recharge under SRI methodology and traditional irrigation schemes including continuous irrigation, and rotational irrigation in two rice-crop periods with hydro-climatic data of 2013. The irrigation water use was then calculated by water balance. The results showed that groundwater recharge amount of SRI methodology was slightly lower than those of traditional irrigation schemes, reduced 3.6% and 1.6% in the first crop period, and reduced 3.2% and 1.6% in the second crop period, compared with continuous irrigation and rotational irrigation, respectively. However, the SRI methodology achieved notably water-saving benefit compared to the disadvantage of reducing the groundwater recharge amount. The field irrigation requirement amount of SRI methodology was significantly lower than those of traditional irrigation schemes, saving 37% and 20% of irrigation water in the first crop period, and saving 53% and 35% in the second crop period, compared with continuous irrigation and rotational irrigation, respectively. Therefore, the amount of groundwater pumping for irrigation water use can be reduced when adopting the SRI methodology in the future. The reducing of groundwater recharge could be supplemented by using 1,500 hectares of fallow paddy fields, located at proximal-fan region, as recharge pools in the wet season. The adoption of water-saving irrigation would be helpful for the relevant government agency to formulate the integral water resource management strategies in this region. Keywords:Groundwater recharge, SRI, FEMWATER, Field irrigation requirement

Carbon sequestration in dryland soils and plant residue as influenced by tillage and crop rotation.

PubMed

Sainju, Upendra M; Lenssen, Andrew; Caesar-Thonthat, Thecan; Waddell, Jed

2006-01-01

Long-term use of conventional tillage and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)-fallow systems in the northern Great Plains have resulted in low soil organic carbon (SOC) levels. We examined the effects of two tillage practices [conventional till (CT) and no-till (NT)], five crop rotations [continuous spring wheat (CW), spring wheat-fallow (W-F), spring wheat-lentil (Lens culinaris Medic.) (W-L), spring wheat-spring wheat-fallow (W-W-F), and spring wheat-pea (Pisum sativum L.)-fallow (W-P-F)], and Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) planting on plant C input, SOC, and particulate organic carbon (POC). A field experiment was conducted in a mixture of Scobey clay loam (fine-loamy, mixed, Aridic Argiborolls) and Kevin clay loam (fine, montmorillonitic, Aridic Argiborolls) from 1998 to 2003 in Havre, MT. Total plant biomass returned to the soil from 1998 to 2003 was greater in CW (15.5 Mg ha(-1)) than in other rotations. Residue cover, amount, and C content in 2004 were 33 to 86% greater in NT than in CT and greater in CRP than in crop rotations. Residue amount (2.47 Mg ha(-1)) and C content (0.96 Mg ha(-1)) were greater in NT with CW than in other treatments, except in CT with CRP and W-F and in NT with CRP and W-W-F. The SOC at the 0- to 5-cm depth was 23% greater in NT (6.4 Mg ha(-1)) than in CT. The POC was not influenced by tillage and crop rotation, but POC to SOC ratio at the 0- to 20-cm depth was greater in NT with W-L (369 g kg(-1) SOC) than in CT with CW, W-F, and W-L. From 1998 to 2003, SOC at the 0- to 20-cm depth decreased by 4% in CT but increased by 3% in NT. Carbon can be sequestered in dryland soils and plant residue in areas previously under CRP using reduced tillage and increased cropping intensity, such as NT with CW, compared with traditional practice, such as CT with W-F system, and the content can be similar to that in CRP planting.

Spider assemblages associated with different crop stages of irrigated rice agroecosystems from eastern Uruguay

PubMed Central

Ginella, Juaquín; Cadenazzi, Mónica; Castiglioni, Enrique A.; Martínez, Sebastián; Casales, Luis; Caraballo, María P.; Laborda, Álvaro; Simo, Miguel

2018-01-01

Abstract The rice crop and associated ecosystems constitute a rich mosaic of habitats that preserve a rich biological diversity. Spiders are an abundant and successful group of natural predators that are considered efficient in the biocontrol of the major insect pests in agroecosystems. Spider diversity in different stages of the rice crop growth from eastern Uruguay was analysed. Field study was developed on six rice farms with rotation system with pasture, installed during intercropping stage as cover crop. Six rice crops distributed in three locations were sampled with pitfall and entomological vaccum suction machine. Sixteen families, representing six guilds, were collected. Lycosidae, Linyphiidae, Anyphaenidae and Tetragnathidae were the most abundant families (26%, 25%, 20% and 12%, respectively) and comprised more than 80% of total abundance. Other hunters (29%), sheet web weavers (25%) and ground hunters (24%) were the most abundant guilds. Species composition along different crop stages was significantly different according to the ANOSIM test. The results showed higher spider abundance and diversity along the crop and intercrop stages. This study represents the first contribution to the knowledge of spider diversity associated with rice agroecosystem in the country. PMID:29755261

Spider assemblages associated with different crop stages of irrigated rice agroecosystems from eastern Uruguay.

PubMed

Bao, Leticia; Ginella, Juaquín; Cadenazzi, Mónica; Castiglioni, Enrique A; Martínez, Sebastián; Casales, Luis; Caraballo, María P; Laborda, Álvaro; Simo, Miguel

2018-01-01

The rice crop and associated ecosystems constitute a rich mosaic of habitats that preserve a rich biological diversity. Spiders are an abundant and successful group of natural predators that are considered efficient in the biocontrol of the major insect pests in agroecosystems. Spider diversity in different stages of the rice crop growth from eastern Uruguay was analysed. Field study was developed on six rice farms with rotation system with pasture, installed during intercropping stage as cover crop. Six rice crops distributed in three locations were sampled with pitfall and entomological vaccum suction machine. Sixteen families, representing six guilds, were collected. Lycosidae, Linyphiidae, Anyphaenidae and Tetragnathidae were the most abundant families (26%, 25%, 20% and 12%, respectively) and comprised more than 80% of total abundance. Other hunters (29%), sheet web weavers (25%) and ground hunters (24%) were the most abundant guilds. Species composition along different crop stages was significantly different according to the ANOSIM test. The results showed higher spider abundance and diversity along the crop and intercrop stages. This study represents the first contribution to the knowledge of spider diversity associated with rice agroecosystem in the country.

Predicting Nitrogen Availability to Rice: II. Assessing Available Nitrogen in Silt Loams With Different Previous Year Crop History

Treesearch

J. L. Sims; B. G. Blackmon

1967-01-01

Soil test method s that measure NH4+-N in silt 100ms before and after incubation under waterlogged conditions were evaluated as predictors of N availability to 'Nato' rice (Oriza sativa L.) frown in the greenhouse. Eighteen soils for each of five previous year crop histories were utilized. An soils were from crop rotations containing rice....

Eastern cottonwood and black willow biomass crop production in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley under four planting densities

Treesearch

Ray A. Souter; Emile S Gardiner; Theodor D. Leininger; Dana Mitchell; Robert B. Rummer

2015-01-01

"Wood is an obvious alternative energy source": Johnson and others (2007) declare the potential of short-rotation intensively-managed woody crop systems to produce biomass for energy. While obvious as an energy source, costs of production need to be measured to assess the economic viability of selected tree species as woody perennial energy crops

Simulating long-term impacts of cover crops and climate change on crop production and environmental outcomes in the midwestern United States

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

It is critical to evaluate conservation practices that protect soil and water resources from climate change in the Midwestern United States, a region that produces one-quarter of the world’s soybeans and one-third of the world’s maize. An over-winter cover crop in a maize-soybean rotation offers mul...

Effect of diversified crop rotations on groundwater levels and crop water productivity in the North China Plain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Xiaolin; Chen, Yuanquan; Pacenka, Steven; Gao, Wangsheng; Ma, Li; Wang, Guangya; Yan, Peng; Sui, Peng; Steenhuis, Tammo S.

2015-03-01

Water shortage is the major bottleneck that limits sustainable yield of agriculture in the North China Plain. Due to the over-exploitation of groundwater for irrigating the winter wheat-summer maize double cropping systems, a groundwater crisis is becoming increasingly serious. To help identify more efficient and sustainable utilization of the limited water resources, the water consumption and water use efficiency of five irrigated cropping systems were calculated and the effect of cropping systems on groundwater table changes was estimated based on a long term field experiment from 2003 to 2013 in the North China Plain interpreted using a soil-water-balance model. The five cropping systems included sweet potato → cotton → sweet potato → winter wheat-summer maize (SpCSpWS, 4-year cycle), ryegrass-cotton → peanuts → winter wheat-summer maize (RCPWS, 3-year cycle), peanuts → winter wheat-summer maize (PWS, 2-year cycle), winter wheat-summer maize (WS, 1-year cycle), and continuous cotton (Cont C). The five cropping systems had a wide range of annual average actual evapotranspiration (ETa): Cont C (533 mm/year) < SpCSpWS (556 mm/year) < PWS (615 mm/year) < RCPWS (650 mm/year) < WS rotation (734 mm/year). The sequence of the simulated annual average groundwater decline due to the five cropping systems was WS (1.1 m/year) > RCPWS (0.7 m/year) > PWS (0.6 m/year) > SPCSPWS and Cont C (0.4 m/year). The annual average economic output water use efficiency (WUEe) increased in the order SpCSpWS (11.6 yuan ¥ m-3) > RCPWS (9.0 ¥ m-3) > PWS (7.3 ¥ m-3) > WS (6.8 ¥ m-3) > Cont C (5.6 ¥ m-3) from 2003 to 2013. Results strongly suggest that diversifying crop rotations could play a critically important role in mitigating the over-exploitation of the groundwater, while ensuring the food security or boosting the income of farmers in the North China Plain.

Growing cottonwoods for biomass: results of a ten-year irrigation study

Treesearch

H. Christoph Stuhlinger; Paul F. Doruska; Jeffery A. Earl; Matthew H. Pelkki

2010-01-01

Eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides Bartr.) has potential as a short rotation alternate crop on marginal farmlands in the South to meet increasing biomass demands for pulp and bioenergy applications. Potlatch Corporation supported this study to investigate the effect of irrigation on the growth of cottonwood trees. The study was installed in the...

Maximizing the potential of cropping systems for nematode management.

PubMed

Noe, J P; Sasser, J N; Imbriani, J L

1991-07-01

Quantitative techniques were used to analyze and determine optimal potential profitability of 3-year rotations of cotton, Gossypium hirsutum cv. Coker 315, and soybean, Glycine max cv. Centennial, with increasing population densities of Hoplolaimus columbus. Data collected from naturally infested on-farm research plots were combined with economic information to construct a microcomputer spreadsheet analysis of the cropping system. Nonlinear mathematical functions were fitted to field data to represent damage functions and population dynamic curves. Maximum yield losses due to H. columbus were estimated to be 20% on cotton and 42% on soybean. Maximum at-harvest population densities were calculated to be 182/100 cm(3) soil for cotton and 149/100 cm(3) soil for soybean. Projected net incomes ranged from a $17.74/ha net loss for the soybean-cotton-soybean sequence to a net profit of $46.80/ha for the cotton-soybean-cotton sequence. The relative profitability of various rotations changed as nematode densities increased, indicating economic thresholds for recommending alternative crop sequences. The utility and power of quantitative optimization was demonstrated for comparisons of rotations under different economic assumptions and with other management alternatives.

Industrial oilseeds bolster "hub" crop yields when used in rotation

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Lack of agroecosystem diversity across the U.S. agricultural landscape is linked to several environmental issues associated with air, water, and soil quality and biodiversity. Several new industrial oilseed crops with commercial potential, offer farmers new economic opportunities and a portfolio of ...

Effect of Conservation Systems and Irrigation on Potential Bioenergy Crops

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Renewable energy production in the United States should increase due to economic, environmental, and national security concerns. In the Southeastern US, annual cellulosic crops could be integrated in rotation systems to produce biofuels. An experiment conducted in South Central Alabama evaluated thr...

Evaluating the economics of biomass energy production in the Watts Bar region

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Alexander, R.R.; English, B.C.; Bhat, M.G.

1993-12-31

While the commercial potential of biofuel technology is becoming more feasible, it is not clear whether the supply of biomass feedstock will be available in competitive markets. In order to exploit the potential of biomass crops as a reliable source of biofuels, a significant commitment on the part of farmers to convert large amounts of cropland would be required. Dedicated energy crops have to compete with conventional crops which could result in significant interregional shifts in crop production. Those changes could further affect overall agricultural production, food prices, consumer spending, and government spending on farm programs. Evaluating these economic impactsmore » provides important information for the ongoing debate. This research is a case study incorporating an existing power plant. The objective of this project is to evaluate the potential of short rotation woody crops as a fuel source in the Watts Bar facility located in eastern Tennessee. The appraisal includes estimates of environmental impacts as well as of economic feasibility. This is achieved by estimating the amounts of biomass that would be supplied at a predetermined price. By changing prices of biomass at the plant in an incremental fashion, a regional supply curve for biomass is estimated. The model incorporates current agricultural production possibilities in the region along with the proposed short rotation woody crop production activities. In order to adequately model the landscape, several variables are considered. These variables include soil type, crop production, government policy, land use conversion to crop land, and distance from the plant. Environmental issues including erosion, chemical usage, and potential leaching are also incorporated within the modeling framework; however, only estimates on erosion are available in this analysis. Output from the model provides insight on where and what types of land should shift from current land use to biomass production.« less

Farm cooperation to improve sustainability.

PubMed

Andersson, Hans; Larsén, Karin; Lagerkvist, Carl-Johan; Andersson, Chrisitian; Blad, Fredrik; Samuelsson, Johan; Skargren, Per

2005-06-01

In this paper, it is demonstrated that partnership arrangements between farmers might be a way to secure the economic viability of their farms as well as to increase profitability. The article discusses empirical analyses of three different forms of collaboration, with an emphasis on the environmental improvements associated with collaboration. Collaboration between a dairy farm and a crop farm is analyzed in the first case. The results show that potential gains from improved diversification and crop rotation are substantial, and even larger when the collaboration also involves machinery. The second analysis considers external integration between farrowing and finishing-pig operations. Gains from collaboration originate from biological and technical factors, such as improved growth rate of the pigs and better utilization of buildings. Finally, an evaluation of a group of collaborating crop farmers is performed. In this case, the benefits that arise are mainly due to reduced machinery costs and/or gains due to other factors, such as improved crop rotation and managerial/marketing strategies.

Residual soil nitrate content and profitability of five cropping systems in northwest Iowa

PubMed Central

Schuiteman, Matthew A.; Vos, Ronald J.

2017-01-01

Many communities in the Midwestern United States obtain their drinking water from shallow alluvial wells that are vulnerable to contamination by NO3-N from the surrounding agricultural landscape. The objective of this research was to assess cropping systems with the potential to produce a reasonable return for farmers while simultaneously reducing the risk of NO3-N movement into these shallow aquifers. From 2009 to 2013 we conducted a field experiment in northwest Iowa in which we evaluated five cropping systems for residual (late fall) soil NO3-N content and profitability. Soil samples were taken annually from the top 30 cm of the soil profile in June and August, and from the top 180 cm in November (late fall). The November samples were divided into 30 cm increments for analysis. Average residual NO3-N content in the top 180 cm of the soil profile following the 2010 to 2013 cropping years was 134 kg ha-1 for continuous maize (Zea mays L.) with a cereal rye (Secale cereale L.) cover crop, 18 kg ha-1 for perennial grass, 60 kg ha-1 for a three year oat (Avena sativa L.)-alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)-maize rotation, 85 kg ha-1 for a two year oat/red clover (Trifolium pratense L.)-maize rotation, and 90 kg ha-1 for a three year soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.)-winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)-maize rotation. However, residual NO3-N in the 90 to 180 cm increment of the soil profile was not significantly higher in the oat-alfalfa-maize cropping system than the perennial grass system. For 2010 to 2013, average profit ($ ha-1 yr-1) was 531 for continuous corn, 347 for soybean-winter wheat-maize, 264 for oat-alfalfa-maize, 140 for oat/red clover-maize, and -384 (loss) for perennial grass. Considering both residual soil NO3-N and profitability data, the oat-alfalfa-maize rotation performed the best in this setting. However, given current economic pressures widespread adoption is likely to require changes in public policy. PMID:28248976

Residual soil nitrate content and profitability of five cropping systems in northwest Iowa.

PubMed

De Haan, Robert L; Schuiteman, Matthew A; Vos, Ronald J

2017-01-01

Many communities in the Midwestern United States obtain their drinking water from shallow alluvial wells that are vulnerable to contamination by NO3-N from the surrounding agricultural landscape. The objective of this research was to assess cropping systems with the potential to produce a reasonable return for farmers while simultaneously reducing the risk of NO3-N movement into these shallow aquifers. From 2009 to 2013 we conducted a field experiment in northwest Iowa in which we evaluated five cropping systems for residual (late fall) soil NO3-N content and profitability. Soil samples were taken annually from the top 30 cm of the soil profile in June and August, and from the top 180 cm in November (late fall). The November samples were divided into 30 cm increments for analysis. Average residual NO3-N content in the top 180 cm of the soil profile following the 2010 to 2013 cropping years was 134 kg ha-1 for continuous maize (Zea mays L.) with a cereal rye (Secale cereale L.) cover crop, 18 kg ha-1 for perennial grass, 60 kg ha-1 for a three year oat (Avena sativa L.)-alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)-maize rotation, 85 kg ha-1 for a two year oat/red clover (Trifolium pratense L.)-maize rotation, and 90 kg ha-1 for a three year soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.)-winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)-maize rotation. However, residual NO3-N in the 90 to 180 cm increment of the soil profile was not significantly higher in the oat-alfalfa-maize cropping system than the perennial grass system. For 2010 to 2013, average profit ($ ha-1 yr-1) was 531 for continuous corn, 347 for soybean-winter wheat-maize, 264 for oat-alfalfa-maize, 140 for oat/red clover-maize, and -384 (loss) for perennial grass. Considering both residual soil NO3-N and profitability data, the oat-alfalfa-maize rotation performed the best in this setting. However, given current economic pressures widespread adoption is likely to require changes in public policy.

Tile Drainage Nitrate Losses and Corn Yield Response to Fall and Spring Nitrogen Management.

PubMed

Pittelkow, Cameron M; Clover, Matthew W; Hoeft, Robert G; Nafziger, Emerson D; Warren, Jeffery J; Gonzini, Lisa C; Greer, Kristin D

2017-09-01

Nitrogen (N) management strategies that maintain high crop productivity with reduced water quality impacts are needed for tile-drained landscapes of the US Midwest. The objectives of this study were to determine the effect of N application rate, timing, and fall nitrapyrin addition on tile drainage nitrate losses, corn ( L.) yield, N recovery efficiency, and postharvest soil nitrate content over 3 yr in a corn-soybean [ (L.) Merr.] rotation. In addition to an unfertilized control, the following eight N treatments were applied as anhydrous ammonia in a replicated, field-scale experiment with both corn and soybean phases present each year in Illinois: fall and spring applications of 78, 156, and 234 kg N ha, fall application of 156 kg N ha + nitrapyrin, and sidedress (V5-V6) application of 156 kg N ha. Across the 3-yr study period, increases in flow-weighted NO concentrations were found with increasing N rate for fall and spring N applications, whereas N load results were variable. At the same N rate, spring vs. fall N applications reduced flow-weighted NO concentrations only in the corn-soybean-corn rotation. Fall nitrapyrin and sidedress N treatments did not decrease flo8w-weighted NO concentrations in either rotation compared with fall and spring N applications, respectively, or increase corn yield, crop N uptake, or N recovery efficiency in any year. This study indicates that compared with fall N application, spring and sidedress N applications (for corn-soybean-corn) and sidedress N applications (for soybean-corn-soybean) reduced 3-yr mean flow-weighted NO concentrations while maintaining yields. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

Crop rotations in the sea: Increasing returns and reducing risk of collapse in sea cucumber fisheries

PubMed Central

Skewes, Timothy; Murphy, Nicole; Pascual, Ricardo; Fischer, Mibu

2015-01-01

Rotational harvesting is one of the oldest management strategies applied to terrestrial and marine natural resources, with crop rotations dating back to the time of the Roman Empire. The efficacy of this strategy for sessile marine species is of considerable interest given that these resources are vital to underpin food security and maintain the social and economic wellbeing of small-scale and commercial fishers globally. We modeled the rotational zone strategy applied to the multispecies sea cucumber fishery in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and show a substantial reduction in the risk of localized depletion, higher long-term yields, and improved economic performance. We evaluated the performance of rotation cycles of different length and show an improvement in biological and economic performance with increasing time between harvests up to 6 y. As sea cucumber fisheries throughout the world succumb to overexploitation driven by rising demand, there has been an increasing demand for robust assessments of fishery sustainability and a need to address local depletion concerns. Our results provide motivation for increased use of relatively low-information, low-cost, comanagement rotational harvest approaches in coastal and reef systems globally. PMID:25964357

A multiple soil ecosystem services approach to evaluate the sustainability of reduced tillage systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pérès, Guénola; Menasseri, Safya; Hallaire, Vincent; Cluzeau, Daniel; Heddadj, Djilali; Cotinet, Patrice; Manceau, Olivier; Pulleman, Mirjam

2017-04-01

In the current context of soil degradation, reduced tillage systems (including reduced soil disturbance, use of cover crops and crop rotation, and improved organic matter management) are expected to be good alternatives to conventional system which have led to a decrease of soil multi-functionality. Many studies worldwide have analysed the impact of tillage systems on different soil functions, but overran integrated view of the impact of these systems is still lacking. The SUSTAIN project (European SNOWMAN programme), performed in France and the Netherlands, proposes an interdisciplinary collaboration. The goals of SUSTAIN are to assess the multi-functionality of soil and to study how reduced-tillage systems impact on multiple ecosystem services such as soil biodiversity regulation (earthworms, nematodes, microorganisms), soil structure maintenance (aggregate stability, compaction, soil erosion), water regulation (run-off, transfer of pesticides) and food production. Moreover, a socio-economic study on farmer networks has been carried out to identify the drivers of adoption of reduced-tillage systems. Data have been collected in long-term experimental fields (5 - 13 years), representing conventional and organic farming strategies, and were complemented with data from farmer networks. The impact of different reduced tillage systems (direct seeding, minimum tillage, non-inverse tillage, superficial ploughing) were analysed and compared to conventional ploughing. Measurements (biological, chemical, physical, agronomical, water and element transfer) have been done at several dates which allow an overview of the evolution of the soil properties according to climate variation and crop rotation. A sociological approach was performed on several farms covering different production types, different courses (engagement in reduced tillage systems) and different geographical locations. Focusing on French trials, this multiple ecosystem services approach clearly showed that reduced tillage systems improved soil ecosystem services such as soil biodiversity, water regulation (quantity, quality), carbon storage and soil stability; however, the effects on crop production were more variable (-10% to +7 % range), strongly depending on crop type and agricultural practices (fertilisation, rotation, cover crop). Sociological approach showed that saving labour time and fuel costs were the main motivations for change. Agronomic and environmental benefits are not the trigger but are increasingly recognized and contribute to the maintenance of the practice. Farmers also expressed a need for stronger networking and technical advice, which plays a crucial role. Scientists and experts raise awareness, support collective learning and provide instrumental. Recommendations were provided for sustainable soil management aiming at ecological intensification of agricultural land.

Can reducing tillage and increasing crop diversity benefit grain and forage production?

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Benefits of reduced tillage and diverse rotation cropping systems include reversing soil C loss, mitigating greenhouse gas production, and improving soil health. However, adoption of these strategies is lagging, particularly in the upper Midwest, due to a perception that reduced tillage reduces cro...

Legacy effects of individual crops affect N2O emissions accounting within crop rotations

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Uruguay is pursuing renewable energy production pathways using feedstocks from its agricultural sector to supply transportation fuels, among them ethanol produced from commercial technologies that use sweet and grain sorghum. We investigate the life cycle environmental and cost performance of these ...

Remote Sensing Classification of Grass Seed Cropping Practices in Western Oregon

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Multiband Landsat images and multi-temporal MODIS 16-day composite NDVI were classified into 16 categories representing the primary crop rotation options and stand establishment conditions present in western Oregon grass seed fields. Mismatch in resolution between MODIS and Landsat data was resolved...

Productivity of clay tailings from phosphate mining: 3. Grain crops. [Zea mays; Helianthus annuus; Sorghum bicolor; Glycine max

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mislevy, P.; Blue, W.G.; Roessler, C.E.

A split-fold field experiment was conducted to study forage and grain yield, forage quality, plant nutrient concentrations, changes in soil nutrients, and {sup 226}Ra contents of four grain crops in various rotations. The crop rotations (1) corn (Zea mays L. Jacques 247)-sunflower (Helianthus annuus L. Cargil 205), (2) sunflower-grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L, Moench Northrup King Savanna 5), (3) soybean (Glycine max L. Merr. Williams 80)-grain sorghum, and (4) grain sorghum-soybean (University of Florida V-1) were grown on a dry phosphatic clay with and without a 50-mm surface layer of quartz-sand tailings. Results show that corn and grain sorghum producedmore » highest forage yields and highest grain yields per harvest, respectively. Soybean harvested for forage (Crop 1) contained the highest crude protein and in vitro organic matter digestibility. Concentrations of P, K, Ca, Mg, and Fe in most of the forages were adequate for the diets of beef cattle, while those of Mn, Cu and Zn were low. Mehlich I-extractable soil, Ca, and Mg were considered very high and changed little over the 4-yr production period. Application of 50 mm of sand tailings tended to increase Mehlich I-extractable P, Ca, Mn, Cu, Zn, and Fe. Radium-226 concentration in the forage of all grain crops averaged 8.5 Bq kg{sup {minus}1}, which was about 17 times higher than that in the grain of the same crops. Concentrations of {sup 226}Ra in the forage and grain were 1.1% and 0.09% of the concentration in clay respectively. These data indicate that phosphatic clays can be a valuable resource for the production of corn and sorghum grain that contain low concentrations of {sup 226}Ra.« less

Nitrogen Fertilizer Management for Enhancing Crop Productivity and Nitrogen Use Efficiency in a Rice-Oilseed Rape Rotation System in China

PubMed Central

Yousaf, Muhammad; Li, Xiaokun; Zhang, Zhi; Ren, Tao; Cong, Rihuan; Ata-Ul-Karim, Syed Tahir; Fahad, Shah; Shah, Adnan N.; Lu, Jianwei

2016-01-01

The use of efficient rates of nitrogen (N) fertilizer application is important with regard to increasing crop productivity and maintaining environmental sustainability. Rice-oilseed rape rotations are a mainstay of the economy and food security of China. Therefore, a field experiment was carried out during 2011–2013 in Honghu to identify the most appropriate N application rates for enhancing crop productivity and N use efficiency for rice (Oryza sativa L.)-oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) rotations. Six N fertilizer treatments (RO1, RO2, RO3, RO4, RO5, and RO6) were laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. ROx represented the N fertilizer application rates (kg ha−1) for rice and oilseed rape, respectively. Grain yields from plots receiving N fertilizer were significantly increased by 59–71% (rice) and 109–160% (oilseed rape) during the total rotation (2011–2013), as compared to RO1 (control; no application). Furthermore, a similar trend was observed for N accumulation, ranging from 88 to 125% and 134 to 200% in aerial parts of rice and oilseed rape, respectively. Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) was significantly higher (38.5%) under RO2 and lower (34.2%) under RO6 while apparent N balance (ANB) was positively lowest under R05 (183.4 kg ha−1) followed by R02 (234.2 kg ha−1) and highest under R06 (344.5 kg ha−1) during the total rotation. The results of grain yield, NUE, and ANB indicated that the R02 rate of N application was superior. This information should help to develop a cost-effective and environment-friendly N management strategy for rice-oilseed rape rotation systems of central China. PMID:27746809

Nitrogen Fertilizer Management for Enhancing Crop Productivity and Nitrogen Use Efficiency in a Rice-Oilseed Rape Rotation System in China.

PubMed

Yousaf, Muhammad; Li, Xiaokun; Zhang, Zhi; Ren, Tao; Cong, Rihuan; Ata-Ul-Karim, Syed Tahir; Fahad, Shah; Shah, Adnan N; Lu, Jianwei

2016-01-01

The use of efficient rates of nitrogen (N) fertilizer application is important with regard to increasing crop productivity and maintaining environmental sustainability. Rice-oilseed rape rotations are a mainstay of the economy and food security of China. Therefore, a field experiment was carried out during 2011-2013 in Honghu to identify the most appropriate N application rates for enhancing crop productivity and N use efficiency for rice ( Oryza sativa L.)-oilseed rape ( Brassica napus L.) rotations. Six N fertilizer treatments (RO1, RO2, RO3, RO4, RO5, and RO6) were laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. RO x represented the N fertilizer application rates (kg ha -1 ) for rice and oilseed rape, respectively. Grain yields from plots receiving N fertilizer were significantly increased by 59-71% (rice) and 109-160% (oilseed rape) during the total rotation (2011-2013), as compared to RO1 (control; no application). Furthermore, a similar trend was observed for N accumulation, ranging from 88 to 125% and 134 to 200% in aerial parts of rice and oilseed rape, respectively. Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) was significantly higher (38.5%) under RO2 and lower (34.2%) under RO6 while apparent N balance (ANB) was positively lowest under R05 (183.4 kg ha -1 ) followed by R02 (234.2 kg ha -1 ) and highest under R06 (344.5 kg ha -1 ) during the total rotation. The results of grain yield, NUE, and ANB indicated that the R02 rate of N application was superior. This information should help to develop a cost-effective and environment-friendly N management strategy for rice-oilseed rape rotation systems of central China.

Closed Loop Short Rotation Woody Biomass Energy Crops

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brower, Michael

CRC Development LLC is pursuing commercialization of shrub willow crops to evaluate and confirm estimates of yield, harvesting, transportation and renewable energy conversion costs and to provide a diverse resource in its supply portfolio.The goal of Closed Loop Short Rotation Woody Biomass Energy Crops is supply expansion in Central New York to facilitate the commercialization of willow biomass crops as part of the mix of woody biomass feedstocks for bioenergy and bioproducts. CRC Development LLC established the first commercial willow biomass plantation acreage in North America was established on the Tug Hill in the spring of 2006 and expanded inmore » 2007. This was the first 230- acres toward the goal of 10,000 regional acres. This project replaces some 2007-drought damaged acreage and installs a total of 630-acre new planting acres in order to demonstrate to regional agricultural producers and rural land-owners the economic vitality of closed loop short rotation woody biomass energy crops when deployed commercially in order to motivate new grower entry into the market-place. The willow biomass will directly help stabilize the fuel supply for the Lyonsdale Biomass facility, which produces 19 MWe of power and exports 15,000 pph of process steam to Burrows Paper. This project will also provide feedstock to The Biorefinery in New York for the manufacture of renewable, CO2-neutral liquid transportation fuels, chemicals and polymers. This project helps end dependency on imported fossil fuels, adds to region economic and environmental vitality and contributes to national security through improved energy independence.« less

Relationships among bulk soil physicochemical, biochemical, and microbiological parameters in an organic alfalfa-rice rotation system.

PubMed

Lopes, Ana R; Bello, Diana; Prieto-Fernández, Ángeles; Trasar-Cepeda, Carmen; Manaia, Célia M; Nunes, Olga C

2015-08-01

The microbial communities of bulk soil of rice paddy fields under an ancient organic agriculture regimen, consisting on an alfalfa-rice rotation system, were characterized. The drained soil of two adjacent paddies at different stages of the rotation was compared before rice seeding and after harvesting. The relationships among the soil microbial, physicochemical, and biochemical parameters were investigated using multivariate analyses. In the first year of rice cropping, aerobic cultivable heterotrophic populations correlated with lineages of presumably aerobic bacteria (e.g., Sphingobacteriales, Sphingomonadales). In the second year of rice cropping, the total C content correlated with presumable anaerobic bacteria (e.g., Anaerolineae). Independently of the year of rice cropping, before rice seeding, proteolytic activity correlated positively with the cultivable aerobic heterotrophic and ammonifier populations, the soil catabolic profile and with presumable aerobes (e.g., Sphingobacteriales, Rhizobiales) and anaerobes (e.g., Bacteroidales, Anaerolineae). After harvesting, strongest correlations were observed between cultivable diazotrophic populations and bacterial groups described as comprising N2 fixing members (e.g., Chloroflexi-Ellin6529, Betaproteobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria). It was demonstrated that chemical parameters and microbial functions were correlated with variations on the total bacterial community composition and structure occurring during rice cropping. A better understanding of these correlations and of their implications on soil productivity may be valid contributors for sustainable agriculture practices, based on ancient processes.

Effect of crop residue harvest on long-term crop yield, soil erosion, and carbon balance: tradeoffs for a sustainable bioenergy feedstock

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gregg, Jay S.; Izaurralde, Roberto C.

2010-08-26

Agricultural residues are a potential feedstock for bioenergy production, if residue harvest can be done sustainably. The relationship between crop residue harvest, soil erosion, crop yield and carbon balance was modeled with the Erosion Productivity Impact Calculator/ Environment Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) using a factorial design. Four crop rotations (winter wheat [Triticum aestivum (L.)] – sunflower [Helianthus annuus]; spring wheat [Triticum aestivum (L.)] – canola [Brassica napus]; corn [Zea mays L.] – soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.]; and cotton [Gossypium hirsutum] – peanut [Arachis hypogaea]) were simulated at four US locations each, under different topographies (0-10% slope), and management practicesmore » [crop residue removal rates (0-75%), conservation practices (no till, contour cropping, strip cropping, terracing)].« less

Evidence for Reciprocal Selection between Populations of Meloidogyne arenaria and Pasteuria penetrans in a Field Study

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Beginning in 1998, a bioassay using second-stage juveniles (J2) from a greenhouse (GH) population of Meloidogyne arenaria (Ma) was used to monitor endospore densities of the bacterium Pasteuria penetrans, which was parasitizing Ma in a crop rotation study. Spore densities of the bacterium were very...

Impact of agronomic practices on soil biological properties on the Texas High Plains

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Semiarid environments of the Texas High Plains decrease soil organic carbon and soil residue building resulting in difficult conditions for soil microbes. Current conservation practices such as conservation tillage, crop rotation, and cover cropping have not been quickly adopted in the area. In or...

Forages and pastures symposium: Animal performance and environmental efficiency of cool-and warm-season annual grazing systems

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Annual forage crops can provide short-term grazing between crop rotations or can be interseeded into perennial pastures to increase forage quality and productivity. They also provide an opportunity to increase the economic and environmental sustainability of traditional grazing systems. Cool-season ...

Increases of soil phosphatase and urease activities in potato fields by cropping rotation practices

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Potato yield in Maine has remained relatively constant for over 50 years. To identify and quantify constraints to potato productivity, we established Status Quo (SQ), Soil Conserving (SC), Soil Improving (SI), Disease Suppressive (DS), and Continuous Potato (PP) cropping systems under both rainfed ...

Soil characteristics and wind erosion potential of wheat-oilseed-fallow cropping systems

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Oilseeds are integral to the production of biofuels and diversifying rainfed cropping systems in the Pacific Northwest United States (PNW). However, there is evidence to suggest greater potential for wind erosion when growing oilseeds in wheat rotations. Little is known concerning the impact of grow...

Economic assessments of potato production systems in Maine

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Using an integrated enterprise and whole-farm budget model for a 324-ha medium-sized potato farm, the profitability of potatoes grown in combination with fifteen common potato rotation crops in Maine are evaluated. Enterprise budgets for all sixteen crops are calculated while a whole-farm budget syn...

Developing woody crops for the enhancement of ecosystem services under changing climates in the north central United States

Treesearch

Ronald S. Zalesny; William L. Headlee

2015-01-01

Short rotation woody crops belonging to the genera Populus L., Salix L., Pinus L., and Eucalyptus LHer. have provided broad economic and ecological benefits throughout the world, including afforestation and reforestation along urban to rural gradients. Within the genus Populus...

Integrated biological and cultural practices can reduce crop rotation period of organic strawberries

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Approached by an organic grower and the land owner, a team of researchers conducted a replicated on-farm experiment with the break period between strawberry crops (continuous strawberries with broccoli residue incorporation, one year break, two year break, three year break, and seven year break) as ...

The contribution of arbusclar mycorrhizal fungi to the success or failure of agricultural practices

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Good farming practices are conducted for a variety of reasons. Farmers now include management practices such as over wintering cover crops, reduced tillage, and crop rotation with the goals of reducing soil erosion, managing nutrient availability, building soil organic matter, controlling weeds, an...

Intensifying production in the northern Corn Belt by incorporating cash cover crops

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Relay cropping soybean with winter camelina (Camelina sativa L. Crantz) and pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.) in corn and soybean rotations in the northern Corn Belt, USA provides ecosystem services and is economically viable. However, questions remain regarding the optimum time to interseed these cov...

Long-term productivity in traditional, organic and low-input management systems of the Upper Midwest

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Traditional cropping practices in the Upper Midwest are marked by low-diversity and high tillage disturbance. Eight years of production were evaluated to determine potential benefits of adopting low-input and organic management practices on system productivity. Increased crop rotation diversity, red...

Characterization of some useful traits in sweet sorghum for bioenergy production

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Multiple yearly harvests can increase crop productivity but the crop may encounter different environmental challenges (such as early-spring cold or late-fall frost) depending on cultivation zones. Sweet sorghum as a feedstock may be planted early to get a double harvest or be rotated with sugarcane ...

Alfalfa stand length and subsequent crop patterns in the upper Midwestern United States

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

To gain perspective on alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), annual crop rotations in the upper midwestern United States, USDA-National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) cropland data layers (CDLs) and USDA-NRCS soil survey layers were combined for six states (North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minn...

Stream Health Sensitivity to Landscape Changes due to Bioenergy Crops Expansion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nejadhashemi, A.; Einheuser, M. D.; Woznicki, S. A.

2012-12-01

Global demand for bioenergy has increased due to uncertainty in oil markets, environmental concerns, and expected increases in energy consumption worldwide. To develop a sustainable biofuel production strategy, the adverse environmental impacts of bioenergy crops expansion should be understood. To study the impact of bioenergy crops expansion on stream health, the adaptive neural-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) was used to predict macroinvertebrate and fish stream health measures. The Hilsenhoff Biotic Index (HBI), Family Index of Biological Integrity (Family IBI), and Number of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera taxa (EPT taxa) were used as macroinvertebrate measures, while the Index of Biological Integrity (IBI) was used for fish. A high-resolution biophysical model built using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool was used to obtain water quantity and quality variables for input into the ANFIS stream health predictive models. Twenty unique crop rotations were developed to examine impacts of bioenergy crops expansion on stream health in the Saginaw Bay basin. Traditional intensive row crops generated more pollution than current landuse conditions, while second-generation biofuel crops associated with less intensive agricultural activities resulted in water quality improvement. All three macroinvertebrate measures were negatively impacted during intensive row crop productions but improvement was predicted when producing perennial crops. However, the expansion of native grass, switchgrass, and miscanthus production resulted in reduced IBI relative to first generation row crops. This study demonstrates that ecosystem complexity requires examination of multiple stream health measures to avoid potential adverse impacts of landuse change on stream health.

Development of a non-dormant germplasm from Thlaspi Arvense (Pennycress)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Pennycress is being developed as an off-season rotation crop between annual corn and soybean production. This rotation scheme may offer distinct advantages to farmers by providing additional farm income from an otherwise fallow season with little impact on the subsequent soybean production. The seed...

Space/age forestry: Implications of planting density and rotation age in SRIC management decisions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Merriam, R.A.; Phillips, V.D.; Liu, W.

1993-12-31

Short-rotation intensive-culture (SRIC) of promising tree crops is being evaluated worldwide for the production of methanol, ethanol, and electricity from renewable biomass resources. Planting density and rotation age are fundamental management decisions associated with SRIC energy plantations. Most studies of these variables have been conducted without the benefit of a unifying theory of the effects of growing space and rotation age on individual tree growth and stand level productivity. A modeling procedure based on field trials of Eucalyptus spp. is presented that evaluates the growth potential of a tree in the absence and presence of competition of neighboring trees inmore » a stand. The results of this analysis are useful in clarifying economic implications of different growing space and rotation age decisions that tree plantation managers must make. The procedure is readily applicable to other species under consideration for SRIC plantations at any location.« less

Perennial Forages as Second Generation Bioenergy Crops

PubMed Central

Sanderson, Matt A.; Adler, Paul R.

2008-01-01

The lignocellulose in forage crops represents a second generation of biomass feedstock for conversion into energy-related end products. Some of the most extensively studied species for cellulosic feedstock production include forages such as switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.), and alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.). An advantage of using forages as bioenergy crops is that farmers are familiar with their management and already have the capacity to grow, harvest, store, and transport them. Forage crops offer additional flexibility in management because they can be used for biomass or forage and the land can be returned to other uses or put into crop rotation. Estimates indicate about 22.3 million ha of cropland, idle cropland, and cropland pasture will be needed for biomass production in 2030. Converting these lands to large scale cellulosic energy farming could push the traditional forage-livestock industry to ever more marginal lands. Furthermore, encouraging bioenergy production from marginal lands could directly compete with forage-livestock production. PMID:19325783

Short Rotation Woody Crops Program. Quarterly progress report, March 1-May 31, 1985. [Sycamore, alders, black locust, larch, poplars, saltbush

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wright, L.L.; Perlack, R.D.; Wenzel, C.R.

1985-08-01

This report covers the progress of the Short Rotation Woody Crops Program (SRWCP) during the third quarter of fiscal year 1985. This report summarizes ORNL management activities, technical activities at ORNL and subcontract institutions, and the technology transfer that is occurring as a result of subcontractor and ORNL activities. Third-year results of a nutrient utilization study confirmed that there were no benefits to quarterly fertilization with urea nitrogen. Testing of one prototype short-rotation intensive culture harvester was conducted on a sycamore plantation on Scott Paper Company land in southern Alabama. Coppice yields of European black alder reported by Iowa Statemore » University indicate potential productivity of about 7.2 dry Mg . ha/sup -1/ . year/sup -1/ if the best trees are selected. Coppice yields were more than double first-rotation yields. About 31,000 black locust and larch trees were established in 12 genetic tests at 4 sites in Michigan. Seedling rotation productivity rates of 4-year-old hybrid poplar, based on harvest data, were reported by Pennsylvania State University. Rates varied from 4.8 dry Mg . ha/sup -1/ . year/sup -1/ to 10.7 dry Mg . ha/sup -1/ . year/sup -1/, depending on site, management strategy, and planting year. An efficient method for in vitro micropropagation of elite genotypes of fourwing saltbush was developed by Plant Resources Institute. A new study to evaluate yield/density relationships was established by the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. Dissertation research on the crown geometry of plantation-grown American sycamore was completed.« less

Integrated Systems Mitigate Land Degradation and Improve Agricultural System Sustainability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Landblom, Douglas; Senturklu, Songul; Cihacek, Larry; Brevik, Eric

2017-04-01

Rain-fed agricultural production supported by exogenous inputs is not sustainable because a continuous influx of expensive inputs (fertilizer, chemicals, fossil fuel, labor, tillage, and other) is required. Alternatives to traditional management allow natural occurring dynamic soil processes to provide the necessary microbial activity that supports nutrient cycling in balance with nature. Research designed to investigate the potential for integrated systems to replace expensive inputs has shown that healthy soils rich in soil organic matter (SOM) are the foundation upon which microbial nutrient cycling can reduce and eventually replace expensive fertilizer. No-till seed placement technology effectively replaces multiple-pass cultivation conserving stored soil water in semi-arid farming systems. In multi-crop rotations, cool- and warm-season crops are grown in sequence to meet goals of the integrated farming and ranching system, and each crop in the rotation complements the subsequent crop by supplying a continuous flow of essential SOM for soil nutrient cycling. Grazing animals serve an essential role in the system's sustainability as non-mechanized animal harvesters that reduce fossil fuel consumption and labor, and animal waste contributes soil nutrients to the system. Integrated systems' complementarity has contributed to greater soil nutrient cycling and crop yields, fertilizer reduction or elimination, greater yearling steer grazing net return, reduced cow wintering costs grazing crop residues, increased wildlife sightings, and reduced environmental footprint. Therefore, integrating crop and animal systems can reverse soil quality decline and adopting non-traditional procedures has resulted in a wider array of opportunities for sustainable agriculture and profitability.

Analysis of returns above variable costs for management of Verticillium wilt in cotton

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A large plot study located in Halfway, TX, was conducted from 2007 to 2013 in an irrigated field infested with Verticillium wilt. Management options (crop rotation, irrigation amount, variety election) and combinations of options that can reduce this disease were compared using returns above variabl...

Sunflower response to irrigation from limited water supplies with no-till management

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Limited irrigation necessitates maximizing economic returns by rotating crops, so we conducted a field study during 2005-2009 in southwest Kansas to determine the yield response of sunflower to irrigation and evapotranspiration (ETc) and to measure plant growth parameters and soil water use. Sunflow...

Initial response of loblolly pine and competition to mid rotation fertilization and herbicide application in the gulf coastal plain

Treesearch

Hal O. Liechty; Conner Fristoe

2010-01-01

Application of N and P to mid-rotation loblolly pines (Pinus taeda L.) stands is a common silvicultural practice used to increase crop tree production in the Gulf Coastal Plain. Mid-rotation applications of herbicides or combined applications of herbicide and fertilizer are a less common practice. We applied herbicide (1.17 l imazapyr and 0.23 l...

Rapeseed rotation, compost and biocontrol amendments reduce soilborne diseases and increase tuber yield in conventional and organic potato production systems

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Three different potential disease-suppressive management practices, including a Brassica napus (rapeseed) green manure rotation crop, a conifer-based compost amendment, and three biological control organisms (Trichoderma virens, Bacillus subtilis, and Rhizoctonia solani hypovirulent isolate Rhs1A1)...

Advancements of pennycress as a biofuel and the synthesis of estolides thereof

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.) is being developed as an off-season rotation crop between annual corn and soybean production. This rotation scheme may offer distinct advantages to farmers by providing additional farm income from an otherwise fallow season with little impact on the subsequent soybean...

20 CFR 220.144 - Evaluation guides for a self-employed claimant.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... farm. (B) The claimant will have presented strong evidence that he or she is materially participating... land. (iii) Production. The term “production” refers to the physical work performed and the expenses... on matters, such as rotation of crops, the type of crops to be grown, the type of livestock to be...

Enhancing biomass utilization for bioenergy-crop rotation systems and alternative conversion processes

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Biomass for bioenergy has a great deal of potential for decreasing our dependence upon fossil fuels and decreasing the net CO2 accumulation in the atmosphere. Crop residues are often promoted as a means of meeting the total biomass goals to provide sufficient amounts of materials for liquid fuel pro...

Resistant Citrullus lanatus var. citroides Rootstocks for Managing Root-knot Nematodes in Grafted Watermelon

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Southern root-knot nematode (RKN), Meloidogyne incognita, is an important re-emerging pest of watermelon. Several factors have contributed to re-emergence of RKN including: 1) ban of methyl bromide for soil fumigation; 2) reduced land area for crop rotation; and 3) continuous cropping of cucurbits u...

Evaluation of tillage, cover crop, & herbicide effects on weed control, yield and grade in peanut?

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Peanut production continues to play a large role in agriculture in the Southeastern United States and weed challenges persist. Therefore, it is important to reduce weed competition in peanut to protect yield and grade. With traditional use of herbicides for weed control in peanut and rotational crop...

First report of dodder (Cuscuta pentagona) on chickpea (Cicer arietinum) in the United States

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is an important rotational and an emerging specialty crop in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, in California, and in the Northern Great Plains of the USA and Canada. Dodders (Cuscuta spp.) are widespread parasitic weeds on many crops worldwide. Several Cusc...

Managing Cover Crops, Crop Rotation, and Poultry Manure to Increase Soil Health

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Public interest has been stimulated by increasing awareness that soil is a critically important component of the earth’s biosphere, functioning not only in the production of food and fiber but also in the maintenance of local, regional, and global environmental quality. A healthy soil is also the ba...

Soil characteristics and associated wind erosion potential altered by oilseeds in wheat-based cropping systems

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Oilseeds are integral to the production of biofuels and diversifying rainfed cropping systems in the Pacific Northwest. However, there is evidence to suggest greater potential for wind erosion when growing oilseeds in wheat-based rotations when tillage is used during fallow. Little is known concerni...

Yield tradeoffs and nitrogen between pennycress, camelina, and soybean in relay- and double-crop systems

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

To gain additional value from land during winter fallow periods, growers in the Upper Midwest are considering winter annual oilseed crops such as field pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.) and winter camelina (Camelina sativa L.) as value-added additions to the corn-soybean rotation. The objective of thi...

Genome Sequence of the Paleopolyploid Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

We report the genome sequence for soybean (Glycine max var. Williams 82), one of the most important crop plants worldwide because of its ability to produce both protein and oil. Soybean is a recently domesticated legume that plays a vital role in crop rotation as it fixes atmospheric nitrogen via s...

Hairy vetch seedbank persistence and implications for cover crop management

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) is a fast growing, winter hardy annual legume that can produce shoot biomass levels upwards of 6500 kg ha-1. This cover crop is well suited for summer annual grain rotations, as it fixes considerable amounts of nitrogen, reduces erosion through rapid ground cover, an...

First report of bacterial blight of sugar beet caused by Pseudomonas syringae pv. aptata in Georgia, USA

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Sugarbeet [Beta vulgaris L.] is not currently a commercial crop in Georgia, but experimental plantings as a winter rotational crop are promising in terms of yield and industrial sugar production. A disease outbreak of suspected bacterial origin occurred in some plots of sugarbeet [experimental lin...

The C-simulator as a tool to investigate the potential of household waste compost to increase soil organic matter in Flanders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tits, Mia; Hermans, Inge; Elsen, Annemie; Vandendriessche, Hilde

2010-05-01

Soil organic matter (SOM) is an important parameter of the quality of arable land. At the global scale, agricultural soils are considered to be a major sink of carbon dioxide. Results of thousands of soil analyses carried out annually by the Soil Service of Belgium have shown that carbon stocks in Flemish agricultural land have dwindled in the past decades, and this in spite of the increased use of animal manure from intensive livestock holdings. In the framework of the improvement of the SOM content and at the same time the idea of organic waste recycling ("cradle to cradle"-principle), a long-term field experiment with household waste compost (HWC) was set up in 1997 by the Soil Service of Belgium. In this trial different HWC application rates and timings were realized yearly, in order to investigate its nutritive value for arable crops, its effect on crop yield and its long-term effect on soil fertility, pH and soil organic matter content. Yearly data on crop rotation, crop development and yield as well as soil and HWC analyses were obtained for each trial treatment. Climatic data were obtained from nearby weather stations. Also in the context of the SOM-problem, the Soil Service of Belgium and the University of Ghent have developed, at the request of the Flemish government, the C-simulator, a simple but efficient interactive tool to assist farmers with the carbon stock management on their arable land. By providing input on the current carbon status of a particular field, the crop rotation and the (organic) fertiliser plan, the program calculates the expected evolution of the soil organic carbon over a thirty year period. By consulting comparative lists of characteristics of different crops and organic manures the farmer can adjust his strategy for a more efficient organic matter management. The calculations of the C-simulator are based on the RothC model, which was calibrated for Flemish conditions through an extensive literature study. Specific data on the characteristics of plant residues of most common arable crops and organic fertilisers used in Flanders were obtained from the Soil Service of Belgium database and from literature. Based on a series of test runs, four initial RothC carbon pool distributions were developed for relevant soil-rotation combinations in Flanders. The objective of our study was twofold: firstly, both the calibrated RothC-model and the C-simulator were validated using the data of the long-term HWC-trial. Secondly, the C-simulator was used to simulate future carbon evolution in the different HWC-trial treatments, in order to obtain a deeper insight in the built-up of soil carbon by the use of HWC.

Responses of Nitrogen Utilization and Apparent Nitrogen Loss to Different Control Measures in the Wheat and Maize Rotation System

PubMed Central

Peng, Zhengping; Liu, Yanan; Li, Yingchun; Abawi, Yahya; Wang, Yanqun; Men, Mingxin; An-Vo, Duc-Anh

2017-01-01

Nitrogen (N) is an essential macronutrient for plant growth and excessive application rates can decrease crop yield and increase N loss into the environment. Field experiments were carried out to understand the effects of N fertilizers on N utilization, crop yield and net income in wheat and maize rotation system of the North China Plain (NCP). Compared to farmers’ N rate (FN), the yield of wheat and maize in reduction N rate by 21–24% based on FN (RN) was improved by 451 kg ha-1, N uptakes improved by 17 kg ha-1 and net income increased by 1671 CNY ha-1, while apparent N loss was reduced by 156 kg ha-1. The controlled-release fertilizer with a 20% reduction of RN (CRF80%), a 20% reduction of RN together with dicyandiamide (RN80%+DCD) and a 20% reduction of RN added with nano-carbon (RN80%+NC) all resulted in an improvement in crop yield and decreased the apparent N losses compared to RN. Contrasted with RN80%+NC, the total crop yield in RN80%+DCD improved by 1185 kg ha-1, N uptake enhanced by 9 kg ha-1 and net income increased by 3929 CNY ha-1, while apparent N loss was similar. Therefore, a 37–39% overall decrease in N rate compared to farmers plus the nitrification inhibitor, DCD, was effective N control measure that increased crop yields, enhanced N efficiencies, and improved economic benefits, while mitigating apparent N loss. There is considerable scope for improved N use effieincy in the intensive wheat -maize rotation of the NCP. PMID:28228772

Broad spectrum pesticide application alters natural enemy communities and may facilitate secondary pest outbreaks

PubMed Central

Macfadyen, Sarina; Nash, Michael A.

2017-01-01

Background Pesticide application is the dominant control method for arthropod pests in broad-acre arable systems. In Australia, organophosphate pesticides are often applied either prophylactically, or reactively, including at higher concentrations, to control crop establishment pests such as false wireworms and earth mite species. Organophosphates are reported to be disruptive to beneficial species, such as natural enemies, but this has not been widely assessed in Australian systems. Neither has the risk that secondary outbreaks may occur if the natural enemy community composition or function is altered. Methods We examine the abundance of ground-dwelling invertebrate communities in an arable field over successive seasons under rotation; barley, two years of wheat, then canola. Two organophosphates (chlorpyrifos and methidathion) were initially applied at recommended rates. After no discernible impact on target pest species, the rate for chlorpyrifos was doubled to elicit a definitive response to a level used at establishment when seedling damage is observed. Invertebrates were sampled using pitfalls and refuge traps throughout the experiments. We applied measures of community diversity, principal response curves and multiple generalised linear modelling techniques to understand the changes in pest and natural enemy communities. Results There was large variability due to seasonality and crop type. Nevertheless, both pest (e.g., mites and aphids) and natural enemy (e.g., predatory beetles) invertebrate communities were significantly affected by application of organophosphates. When the rate of chlorpyrifos was increased there was a reduction in the number of beetles that predate on slug populations. Slugs displayed opposite trends to many of the other target pests, and actually increased in numbers under the higher rates of chlorpyrifos in comparison to the other treatments. Slug numbers in the final rotation of canola resulted in significant yield loss regardless of pesticide application. Discussion Organophosphates are a cost-effective tool to control emergent pests in broad-acre arable systems in Australia. We found risks associated with prophylactic application in fields under rotation between different crop types and significant changes to the community of pests and natural enemy. Disrupting key predators reduced effective suppression of other pests, such as slugs, and may lead to secondary outbreaks when rotating with susceptible crops such as canola. Such non-target impacts are rarely documented when studies focus on single-species, rather than community assessments. This study represents a single demonstration of how pesticide application can lead to secondary outbreaks and reinforces the need for studies that include a longer temporal component to understand this process further. PMID:29302395

Model-based coefficient method for calculation of N leaching from agricultural fields applied to small catchments and the effects of leaching reducing measures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kyllmar, K.; Mårtensson, K.; Johnsson, H.

2005-03-01

A method to calculate N leaching from arable fields using model-calculated N leaching coefficients (NLCs) was developed. Using the process-based modelling system SOILNDB, leaching of N was simulated for four leaching regions in southern Sweden with 20-year climate series and a large number of randomised crop sequences based on regional agricultural statistics. To obtain N leaching coefficients, mean values of annual N leaching were calculated for each combination of main crop, following crop and fertilisation regime for each leaching region and soil type. The field-NLC method developed could be useful for following up water quality goals in e.g. small monitoring catchments, since it allows normal leaching from actual crop rotations and fertilisation to be determined regardless of the weather. The method was tested using field data from nine small intensively monitored agricultural catchments. The agreement between calculated field N leaching and measured N transport in catchment stream outlets, 19-47 and 8-38 kg ha -1 yr -1, respectively, was satisfactory in most catchments when contributions from land uses other than arable land and uncertainties in groundwater flows were considered. The possibility of calculating effects of crop combinations (crop and following crop) is of considerable value since changes in crop rotation constitute a large potential for reducing N leaching. When the effect of a number of potential measures to reduce N leaching (i.e. applying manure in spring instead of autumn; postponing ploughing-in of ley and green fallow in autumn; undersowing a catch crop in cereals and oilseeds; and increasing the area of catch crops by substituting winter cereals and winter oilseeds with corresponding spring crops) was calculated for the arable fields in the catchments using field-NLCs, N leaching was reduced by between 34 and 54% for the separate catchments when the best possible effect on the entire potential area was assumed.

[Effects of intercropping Sedum plumbizincicola in wheat growth season under wheat-rice rotation on the crops growth and their heavy metals uptake from different soil types].

PubMed

Zhao, Bing; Shen, Li-bo; Cheng, Miao-miao; Wang, Song-feng; Wu, Long-hua; Zhou, Shou-biao; Luo, Yong-ming

2011-10-01

A pot experiment with heavy metals- contaminated black soil from Heilongjiang Province, alluvial soil from Henan Province, and paddy soil from Zhejiang Province was conducted to study the effects of intercropping Sedum plumbizincicola in wheat growth season under wheat (Triticum aestivum) - rice (Oryza sativa) rotation on the growth of the crops and their heavy metals uptake, aimed to explore the feasibility of simultaneous grain production and heavy metals-contaminated soil phytoremediation in main food crop production areas of this country. Comparing with monoculture T. aestivum, intercropping S. plumbizincicola increased the soil NaNO3 -extractable Zn and Cd significantly, with the increment of extractable Zn in test paddy soil, alluvial soil, and black soil being 55%, 32% and 110%, and that of extractable Cd in test paddy soil and black soil being 38% and 110%, respectively. The heavy metals concentration in T. aestivum shoots under intercropping S. plumbizincicola was 0.1-0.9 times higher than that under monoculture T. aestivum, but the intercropping had little effects on the rice growth and its heavy metals uptake. Though the Cd concentration in rice grain after S. plumbizincicola planting was still higher than 0.2 mg kg(-1) (the limit of Cd in food standard), it presented a decreasing trend, as compared with that after monoculture T. aestivum. Therefore, intercropping S. plumbizincicola in wheat growth season under wheat-rice rota- tion could benefit the phytoremediation of heavy metals-contaminated soil, and decrease the food-chain risk of rotated rice.

Acute toxicity of chlorantraniliprole to non-target crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) associated with rice-crayfish cropping systems.

PubMed

Barbee, Gary C; McClain, W Ray; Lanka, Srinivas K; Stout, Michael J

2010-09-01

Chlorantraniliprole, a novel anthranilic diamide insecticide, was recently introduced into the United States where rice-crayfish crop rotations are practiced to control rice water weevil (Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus Kuschel) infestations. Chlorantraniliprole has high margins of mammalian safety and excellent insecticidal efficacy, but its toxicity to non-target crayfish is uncertain. In this study, the acute toxicity of chlorantraniliprole to the red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii Girard was determined using aquatic and feeding assays. The aquatic 96 h median lethal toxicity (LC(50)) data indicate that technical-grade chlorantraniliprole is highly toxic (US EPA category) to crayfish with an LC(50) of 951 microg L(-1) (95% CL = 741-1118 microg L(-1)). A no observed effect concentration (NOEC) of 480 microg L(-1) was recorded. Neither the 36 day chronic feeding study, where crayfish fed on chlorantraniliprole-treated rice seed in aquaria, nor the 144 h acute feeding test, where crayfish fed on rice seeds treated with chlorantraniliprole, produced mortality or abnormal behavior. Chlorantraniliprole is three orders of magnitude less acutely toxic to P. clarkii than lambda-cyhalothrin and etofenprox, two pyrethroid insecticides also used in rice, and is less likely to cause acute crayfish toxicity in rice pond ecosystems. Based on acute toxicity data, the use of chlorantraniliprole should be more compatible with rice-crayfish crop rotations than pyrethroids. (c) 2010 Society of Chemical Industry.

Biological responses of wheat (Triticum aestivum) plants to the herbicide simetryne in soils.

PubMed

Jiang, Lei; Yang, Yi; Jia, Lin Xian; Lin, Jing Ling; Liu, Ying; Pan, Bo; Lin, Yong

2016-05-01

The rotation of rice and wheat is widely used and highly endorsed, and simetryne (s-triazine herbicide) is one of the principal herbicides widely used in this rotation for weed and grass control. However, little is known regarding the mechanism of the ecological and physiological effects of simetryne on wheat crops. In this study, we performed a comprehensive investigation of crop response to simetryne to elucidate the accumulation and phytotoxicity of the herbicide in wheat crops. Wheat plants exposed to 0.8 to 8.0mgkg(-1) simetryne for 7 d exhibited suppressed growth and decreased chlorophyll content. With simetryne concentration in the soil varied from 0.8mgkg(-1) to 8.0mgkg(-1), simetryne was progressively accumulated by the wheat plants. The accumulation of simetryne in the wheat plants not only induced the over production of ROS and injured the membrane lipids but also stimulated the production of antioxidant enzymes, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), glutathione reductase (GR) and glutathione S-transferase (GST). A test of enzymatic activity and gene expression illustrated that the wheat plants were wise enough to motivate the antioxidant enzymes through both molecular and physiological mechanisms to alleviate the simetryne-induced stress. This study offers an illuminating insight into the effective adaptive response of the wheat plants to the simetryne stress. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Water footprint of crop production for different crop structures in the Hebei southern plain, North China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chu, Yingmin; Shen, Yanjun; Yuan, Zaijian

2017-06-01

The North China Plain (NCP) has a serious shortage of freshwater resources, and crop production consumes approximately 75 % of the region's water. To estimate water consumption of different crops and crop structures in the NCP, the Hebei southern plain (HSP) was selected as a study area, as it is a typical region of groundwater overdraft in the NCP. In this study, the water footprint (WF) of crop production, comprised of green, blue and grey water footprints, and its annual variation were analyzed. The results demonstrated the following: (1) the WF from the production of main crops was 41.8 km3 in 2012. Winter wheat, summer maize and vegetables were the top water-consuming crops in the HSP. The water footprint intensity (WFI) of cotton was the largest, and for vegetables, it was the smallest; (2) the total WF, WFblue, WFgreen and WFgrey for 13 years (2000-2012) of crop production were 604.8, 288.5, 141.3 and 175.0 km3, respectively, with an annual downtrend from 2000 to 2012; (3) winter wheat, summer maize and vegetables consumed the most groundwater, and their blue water footprint (WFblue) accounted for 74.2 % of the total WFblue in the HSP; (4) the crop structure scenarios analysis indicated that, with approximately 20 % of arable land cultivated with winter wheat-summer maize in rotation, 38.99 % spring maize, 10 % vegetables and 10 % fruiters, a sustainable utilization of groundwater resources can be promoted, and a sufficient supply of food, including vegetables and fruits, can be ensured in the HSP.

Diversified cropping systems support greater microbial cycling and retention of carbon and nitrogen

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

King, Alison E.; Hofmockel, Kirsten S.

2017-03-01

Diversifying biologically simple cropping systems often entails altering other management practices, such as tillage regime or nitrogen (N) source. We hypothesized that the interaction of crop rotation, N source, and tillage in diversified cropping systems would promote microbially-mediated soil C and N cycling while attenuating inorganic N pools. We studied a cropping systems trial in its 10th year in Iowa, USA, which tested a 2-yr cropping system of corn (Zea mays L.)/soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] managed with conventional fertilizer N inputs and conservation tillage, a 3-yr cropping system of corn/soybean/small grain + red clover (Trifolium pratense L.), and amore » 4-yr cropping system of corn/soybean/small grain + alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)/alfalfa. Three year and 4-yr cropping systems were managed with composted manure, reduced N fertilizer inputs, and periodic moldboard ploughing. We assayed soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and N (MBN), soil extractable NH4 and NO3, gross proteolytic activity of native soil, and potential activity of six hydrolytic enzymes eight times during the growing season. At the 0-20cm depth, native protease activity in the 4-yr cropping system was greater than in the 2-yr cropping system by a factor of 7.9, whereas dissolved inorganic N pools did not differ between cropping systems (P = 0.292). At the 0-20cm depth, MBC and MBN the 4-yr cropping system exceeded those in the 2-yr cropping system by factors of 1.51 and 1.57. Our findings suggest that diversified crop cropping systems, even when periodically moldboard ploughed, support higher levels of microbial biomass, greater production of bioavailable N from SOM, and a deeper microbially active layer than less diverse cropping systems.« less

Sustainability of High Intensity Forest Management with Respect to Water QuaIity and Site Nutrient Reserves

Treesearch

Virginia R. Tolbert; Carl C. Trettin; Dale W. Johnson; John W. Parsons; Allan E. Houston; David A. Mays

2001-01-01

Ensuring sustainability of intensively managed woody crops requires determining soil and water quality effects using a combination of field data and modeling projections. Plot- and catchrnent-scale research, models, and meta-analyses are addressing nutrient availability, site quality, and measures to increase short-rotation woody crop (SRWC) productivity and site...

Rye cover crop increases earthworm populations and reduces losses of broadcast, fall-applied, fertilizers in surface runoff

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Corn (Zea mays L.) silage and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] rotations in the US Upper Midwest leave minimal amounts of surface residues, which can contribute to soil degradation and a reduction in water quality. Planting cover crops after harvest can reduce these concerns, but their effectiveness...

Comparing second year growth of American sycamore, black willow, and eastern cottonwood with and without fertilization

Treesearch

Jamie L. Schuler

2012-01-01

Interest in developing domestically produced bio-based fuel systems has been responsible for a large increase in short rotation woody crop (SRWC) research. Much of this work has been used in developing regional production estimates for woody crops like cottonwood (Populus deltoides Bartr. ex Marsh.) and eucalyptus (Eucalyptus spp...

Determining the effects of felling method and season of year on the regeneration of short rotation coppice

Treesearch

Daniel P.L. de Souza; Tom Gallagher; Dana Mitchell; Tim McDonald; Mathew Smidt

2016-01-01

There is increasing interest in plantations with the objective of producing biomass for energy and fuel. These types of plantations are called Short Rotation Woody Crops (SRWC). Popular SRWC species are Eucalypt (Eucalyptus spp.), Cottonwood (Populus deltoides) and Willow (Salix spp.). These species have in...

Soil and water conservation in the Pacific Northwest through no-tillage and intensified crop rotations

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) summer fallow rotation typically practiced in the intermediate precipitation zone [300-450 mm (12-18 in)] of the inland Pacific Northwest has proven to be economically stable for producers in this region. However multiple tillage operations are used to control...

Modeling the impact of crop rotation with legume on nitrous oxide emissions from rain-fed agricultural systems in Australia under alternative future climate scenarios.

PubMed

Ma, Yuchun; Schwenke, Graeme; Sun, Liying; Liu, De Li; Wang, Bin; Yang, Bo

2018-07-15

Limited information exists on potential impacts of climate change on nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions by including N 2 -fixing legumes in crop rotations from rain-fed cropping systems. Data from two 3-yr crop rotations in northern NSW, Australia, viz. chickpea-wheat-barley (CpWB) and canola-wheat-barley (CaWB), were used to gain an insight on the role of legumes in mitigation of N 2 O emissions. High-frequency N 2 O fluxes measured with an automated system of static chambers were utilized to test the applicability of Denitrification and Decomposition model. The DNDC model was run using the on-site observed weather, soil and farming management conditions as well as the representative concentration pathways adopted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its Fifth Assessment Report. The DNDC model captured the cumulative N 2 O emissions with variations falling within the deviation ranges of observations (0.88±0.31kgNha -1 rotation -1 for CpWB, 1.44±0.02kgNha -1 rotation -1 for CaWB). The DNDC model can be used to predict between modeled and measured N 2 O flux values for CpWB (n=390, RSR=0.45) and CaWB (n=390, RSR=0.51). Long-term (80-yr) simulations were conducted with RCP 4.5 representing a global greenhouse gas stabilization scenario, as well RCP 8.5 representing a very high greenhouse gas emission scenario based on RCP scenarios. Compared with the baseline scenarios for CpWB and CaWB, the long-term simulation results under RCP scenarios showed that, (1) N 2 O emissions would increase by 35-44% for CpWB and 72-76% for CaWB under two climate scenarios; (2) grain yields would increase by 9% and 18% under RCP 4.5, and 2% and 14% under RCP 8.5 for CpWB and CaWB, respectively; and (3) yield-scaled N 2 O-N emission would increase by 24-42% for CpWB and 46-54% for CaWB under climate scenarios, respectively. Our results suggest that 25% of the yield-scaled N 2 O-N emission would be saved by switching to a legume rotation under climate change conditions. Crown Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Summer legume 'green' nitrogen crops affect winter wheat forage in continuous rotations

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Costs for inorganic nitrogen (N) fertilizers in the southern Great Plains (SGP) have increased in recent years with the rise in oil prices. In response, producers have become interested in the potential merits of using annual legumes as N sources. This study described the influence of two summer for...

Pathogenicity of three isolates of Rhizoctonia sp. from wheat and peanut on hard red winter wheat

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Rhizoctonia-induced root diseases can significantly affect wheat and peanut production where these two field crops are grown in rotation. Hence, this study characterized two isolates of Rhizoctonia spp. from wheat [R. cerealis (RC) and R. solani (RSW)] and one from peanut [R. solani (RSP) ] for cul...

Nitrogen balance in response to dryland crop rotations and cultural practices

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Nitrogen balance provides a measure of agroecosystem performance and environmental sustainability by taking into accounts of N inputs and outputs and N retention in the soil. The objective of this study was to evaluate N balance based on N inputs and outputs and soil N sequestration after 7 yr in re...

Continued support of long-term research - the old rotation

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The “Old Rotation” experiment (circa 1896) is the oldest continuous cotton study in the world and the third oldest field crops experiment in the U.S. on the same site. The complete history of this experiment was published in 2008 in the centennial issue of Agronomy Journal (C.C. Mitchell, D.P. Delan...

A Global Meta-Analysis on the Impact of Management Practices on Net Global Warming Potential and Greenhouse Gas Intensity from Cropland Soils.

PubMed

Sainju, Upendra M

2016-01-01

Management practices, such as tillage, crop rotation, and N fertilization, may affect net global warming potential (GWP) and greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI), but their global impact on cropland soils under different soil and climatic conditions need further evaluation. Available global data from 57 experiments and 225 treatments were evaluated for individual and combined effects of tillage, cropping systems, and N fertilization rates on GWP and GHGI which accounted for CO2 equivalents from N2O and CH4 emissions with or without equivalents from soil C sequestration rate (ΔSOC), farm operations, and N fertilization. The GWP and GHGI were 66 to 71% lower with no-till than conventional till and 168 to 215% lower with perennial than annual cropping systems, but 41 to 46% greater with crop rotation than monocroppping. With no-till vs. conventional till, GWP and GHGI were 2.6- to 7.4-fold lower when partial than full accounting of all sources and sinks of greenhouse gases (GHGs) were considered. With 100 kg N ha-1, GWP and GHGI were 3.2 to 11.4 times greater with partial than full accounting. Both GWP and GHGI increased curvilinearly with increased N fertilization rate. Net GWP and GHGI were 70 to 87% lower in the improved combined management that included no-till, crop rotation/perennial crop, and reduced N rate than the traditional combined management that included conventional till, monocopping/annual crop, and recommended N rate. An alternative soil respiration method, which replaces ΔSOC by soil respiration and crop residue returned to soil in the previous year, similarly reduced GWP and GHGI by 133 to 158% in the improved vs. the traditional combined management. Changes in GWP and GHGI due to improved vs. traditional management varied with the duration of the experiment and inclusion of soil and climatic factors in multiple linear regressions improved their relationships. Improved management practices reduced GWP and GHGI compared with traditional management practices and combined management practices were even more effective than individual management practices in reducing net GHG emissions from cropland soils. Partial accounting overestimated GWP and GHGI values as sinks or sources of net GHGs compared with full accounting when evaluating the effect of management practices.

A Global Meta-Analysis on the Impact of Management Practices on Net Global Warming Potential and Greenhouse Gas Intensity from Cropland Soils

PubMed Central

Sainju, Upendra M.

2016-01-01

Management practices, such as tillage, crop rotation, and N fertilization, may affect net global warming potential (GWP) and greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI), but their global impact on cropland soils under different soil and climatic conditions need further evaluation. Available global data from 57 experiments and 225 treatments were evaluated for individual and combined effects of tillage, cropping systems, and N fertilization rates on GWP and GHGI which accounted for CO2 equivalents from N2O and CH4 emissions with or without equivalents from soil C sequestration rate (ΔSOC), farm operations, and N fertilization. The GWP and GHGI were 66 to 71% lower with no-till than conventional till and 168 to 215% lower with perennial than annual cropping systems, but 41 to 46% greater with crop rotation than monocroppping. With no-till vs. conventional till, GWP and GHGI were 2.6- to 7.4-fold lower when partial than full accounting of all sources and sinks of greenhouse gases (GHGs) were considered. With 100 kg N ha-1, GWP and GHGI were 3.2 to 11.4 times greater with partial than full accounting. Both GWP and GHGI increased curvilinearly with increased N fertilization rate. Net GWP and GHGI were 70 to 87% lower in the improved combined management that included no-till, crop rotation/perennial crop, and reduced N rate than the traditional combined management that included conventional till, monocopping/annual crop, and recommended N rate. An alternative soil respiration method, which replaces ΔSOC by soil respiration and crop residue returned to soil in the previous year, similarly reduced GWP and GHGI by 133 to 158% in the improved vs. the traditional combined management. Changes in GWP and GHGI due to improved vs. traditional management varied with the duration of the experiment and inclusion of soil and climatic factors in multiple linear regressions improved their relationships. Improved management practices reduced GWP and GHGI compared with traditional management practices and combined management practices were even more effective than individual management practices in reducing net GHG emissions from cropland soils. Partial accounting overestimated GWP and GHGI values as sinks or sources of net GHGs compared with full accounting when evaluating the effect of management practices. PMID:26901827

Harvesting short rotation woody crops with a shear

Treesearch

Wellington Cardoso; Dana Mitchell; Tom Gallagher; Daniel and de Souza

2014-01-01

A time and motion study was performed on a skid steer equipped with a 14-inch tree shear attachment. The machine was used to install initial coppice harvesting treatments on three stands across the south. The study included one willow and two cottonwood sites. The stands averaged from 2 to 4 years old. Approximately 200 trees were shear harvested from each of the...

[Dynamics of soil P pool in a long-term fertilizing experiment of wheat-maize rotation. I. Crop yield effect of fertilizer P and dynamics of soil total P and inorganic P].

PubMed

Liu, J; Zhang, F

2000-06-01

The effects of long-term applying fertilizer P and manure on the pools of soil total P and inorganic P and the crop yield in rotation of winter wheat-summer maize-->spring maize were studied. The results showed that the pool of soil total P and inorganic P were increased by applying fertilizer P and manure, and the phosphorus mostly accumulated in soil was inorganic P. The critical amounts of fertilizer P (P2O5) for balancing soil P were 94.7 kg.hm-2 to winter wheat-summer maize and 51.5 kg.hm-2 to spring maize. Based on regression equations, the application rates of fertilizer P (P2O5) for economic optimum and highest yields were 135.8 and 149.8 kg.hm-2 to winter wheat-summer maize, and 88.6 and 95.9 kg.hm-2 to spring maize, respectively.

Enzyme dynamics in paddy soils of the rice district (NE Italy) under different cropping patterns

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bini, Claudio; Nadimi-Goki, Mandana; Kato, Yoichi; Fornasier, Flavio; Wahsha, Mohammad; Spiandorello, Massimo

2014-05-01

The recent widespread interest on soil enzymes is due to the need to develop sensitive indicators of soil quality that reflect the effects of land management on soil and assist land managers in promoting long-term sustainability of terrestrial ecosystems. The activities of six important enzymes involved in C, N, P, and S cycling were investigated in a paddy soil from the Veneto region, Italy, in four different rotation systems (rice-rice-rice: R-R-R; soya-rice-rice: S-R-R; fallow-rice: F-R; pea-soya-rice: P-S-R) with three replications in April (after field preparation, field moist condition), June (after seedling, waterlogged soil condition), August (after tillering stage of rice, waterlogged soil condition) and October (after rice harvesting, drained soil condition) over the 2012 growing season. Our results demonstrated that enzyme activities varied with rotation systems and growth stages in paddy soil. Compared with field moist soil, drained soil condition resulted in a significant increase (P < 0.05) of β-glucosidase, arylsulfatase, alkaline and acid phosphatases, leucine aminopeptidase (except of fallow-rice), and chitinase activities in all rotations, while compared with drained soil, early waterlogging (in month of June) significantly decreased (P moist soil> late waterlogged>early waterlogged. There was an inhibitory effect of waterlogging (except P-S-R rotation) for both alkaline and acid phosphatases due to high pH and redox conditions. However, the response of enzymes to waterlogging differed with the chemical species and the cropping pattern. The best rotation system for chitinase, leucine aminopeptidase and β-glucosidase activity (C and N cycles) proved R-R-R, while for arylsulfatase, alkaline and acid phosphatases (P and S cycles) it was the S-R-R. Key Words: enzyme activity, paddy soil, Crop Rotation System, Italy __ Corresponding Author: Mandana Nadimi-Goki, Tel.: +39 3891356251 E-mail address: mandy.nadimi@gmail.com

Linking field observations, Landsat and MODIS data to estimate agricultural change in European Russia.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Beurs, K. M.; Ioffe, G.

2011-12-01

Agricultural reform has been one of the most important anthropogenic change processes in European Russia that has been unfolding since the formal collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991. Widespread land abandonment is perhaps the most vivid side effect of the reform, even visible in synoptic imagery. Currently, Russia is transitioning into a country with an internal "archipelago" of islands of productive agriculture around cities embedded in a matrix of unproductive, abandoned lands. This heterogeneous spatial pattern is mainly driven by depopulation of the least favorable parts of the countryside, where "least favorable" is a function of fertility, remoteness, and their interaction. In this work we provide a satellite, GIS and field based overview of the current agricultural developments in Russia and look beyond the unstable period immediately following the collapse of the Soviet Union. We apply Landsat images in one of Russia's oblasts to create a detailed land cover map. We then use a logistic model to link the Landsat land cover map with the inter-annual variability in key phenological parameters calculated from MODIS to derive the percent of cropland per 500m MODIS pixel. By evaluating the phenological characteristics of the MODIS curves for each year we determine whether a pixel was actually cropped or left fallow. A comparison of satellite-estimated cropped areas with regional statistics (by rayon) revealed that the satellite estimates are highly correlated with the regional statistics for both arable lands and successfully cropped areas. We use the crop maps to determine the number of times a particular area was cropped between 2002 and 2009 by summing all the years with crops per pixel. This variable provides a good indication about the intensification and de-intensification of the Russian croplands over the last decade. We have visited several rural areas in Russia and we link the satellite data with information acquired through field interviews and photographs. Russian farmers employ a variety of crop-rotation schemes. In the Russian grain belt, the farmers used to be on a seven-year rotation, which typically included only one year of fallow and a variety of grain crops in the remaining six years. Through field interviews and satellite observations we learned that the crop rotation schedules are changing from a seven year crop cycle focused on grain production to a three year crop cycle focused on the production of sunflower which is currently most profitable. In addition, a switch is underway from the dominant growth of spring wheat to stronger reliance on winter wheat which has better growth potential in the area. The number of cropped years, or the complementary number of fallow years, gives an indication of the type of crop cycle that is applied. In addition, drier areas are predicted to reveal more fallow years due to decisions by farm administrators. We will discuss how the ongoing changes represent adaptations to changing climatological and social circumstances.

Trade-Offs between Economic and Environmental Impacts of Introducing Legumes into Cropping Systems

PubMed Central

Reckling, Moritz; Bergkvist, Göran; Watson, Christine A.; Stoddard, Frederick L.; Zander, Peter M.; Walker, Robin L.; Pristeri, Aurelio; Toncea, Ion; Bachinger, Johann

2016-01-01

Europe's agriculture is highly specialized, dependent on external inputs and responsible for negative environmental impacts. Legume crops are grown on less than 2% of the arable land and more than 70% of the demand for protein feed supplement is imported from overseas. The integration of legumes into cropping systems has the potential to contribute to the transition to a more resource-efficient agriculture and reduce the current protein deficit. Legume crops influence the production of other crops in the rotation making it difficult to evaluate the overall agronomic effects of legumes in cropping systems. A novel assessment framework was developed and applied in five case study regions across Europe with the objective of evaluating trade-offs between economic and environmental effects of integrating legumes into cropping systems. Legumes resulted in positive and negative impacts when integrated into various cropping systems across the case studies. On average, cropping systems with legumes reduced nitrous oxide emissions by 18 and 33% and N fertilizer use by 24 and 38% in arable and forage systems, respectively, compared to systems without legumes. Nitrate leaching was similar with and without legumes in arable systems and reduced by 22% in forage systems. However, grain legumes reduced gross margins in 3 of 5 regions. Forage legumes increased gross margins in 3 of 3 regions. Among the cropping systems with legumes, systems could be identified that had both relatively high economic returns and positive environmental impacts. Thus, increasing the cultivation of legumes could lead to economic competitive cropping systems and positive environmental impacts, but achieving this aim requires the development of novel management strategies informed by the involvement of advisors and farmers. PMID:27242870

Trade-Offs between Economic and Environmental Impacts of Introducing Legumes into Cropping Systems.

PubMed

Reckling, Moritz; Bergkvist, Göran; Watson, Christine A; Stoddard, Frederick L; Zander, Peter M; Walker, Robin L; Pristeri, Aurelio; Toncea, Ion; Bachinger, Johann

2016-01-01

Europe's agriculture is highly specialized, dependent on external inputs and responsible for negative environmental impacts. Legume crops are grown on less than 2% of the arable land and more than 70% of the demand for protein feed supplement is imported from overseas. The integration of legumes into cropping systems has the potential to contribute to the transition to a more resource-efficient agriculture and reduce the current protein deficit. Legume crops influence the production of other crops in the rotation making it difficult to evaluate the overall agronomic effects of legumes in cropping systems. A novel assessment framework was developed and applied in five case study regions across Europe with the objective of evaluating trade-offs between economic and environmental effects of integrating legumes into cropping systems. Legumes resulted in positive and negative impacts when integrated into various cropping systems across the case studies. On average, cropping systems with legumes reduced nitrous oxide emissions by 18 and 33% and N fertilizer use by 24 and 38% in arable and forage systems, respectively, compared to systems without legumes. Nitrate leaching was similar with and without legumes in arable systems and reduced by 22% in forage systems. However, grain legumes reduced gross margins in 3 of 5 regions. Forage legumes increased gross margins in 3 of 3 regions. Among the cropping systems with legumes, systems could be identified that had both relatively high economic returns and positive environmental impacts. Thus, increasing the cultivation of legumes could lead to economic competitive cropping systems and positive environmental impacts, but achieving this aim requires the development of novel management strategies informed by the involvement of advisors and farmers.

Effects of Different Tillage and Straw Return on Soil Organic Carbon in a Rice-Wheat Rotation System

PubMed Central

Zhu, Liqun; Hu, Naijuan; Yang, Minfang; Zhan, Xinhua; Zhang, Zhengwen

2014-01-01

Soil management practices, such as tillage method or straw return, could alter soil organic carbon (C) contents. However, the effects of tillage method or straw return on soil organic C (SOC) have showed inconsistent results in different soil/climate/cropping systems. The Yangtze River Delta of China is the main production region of rice and wheat, and rice-wheat rotation is the most important cropping system in this region. However, few studies in this region have been conducted to assess the effects of different tillage methods combined with straw return on soil labile C fractions in the rice-wheat rotation system. In this study, a field experiment was used to evaluate the effects of different tillage methods, straw return and their interaction on soil total organic C (TOC) and labile organic C fractions at three soil depths (0–7, 7–14 and 14–21 cm) for a rice-wheat rotation in Yangzhong of the Yangtze River Delta of China. Soil TOC, easily oxidizable C (EOC), dissolved organic C (DOC) and microbial biomass C (MBC) contents were measured in this study. Soil TOC and labile organic C fractions contents were significantly affected by straw returns, and were higher under straw return treatments than non-straw return at three depths. At 0–7 cm depth, soil MBC was significantly higher under plowing tillage than rotary tillage, but EOC was just opposite. Rotary tillage had significantly higher soil TOC than plowing tillage at 7–14 cm depth. However, at 14–21 cm depth, TOC, DOC and MBC were significantly higher under plowing tillage than rotary tillage except for EOC. Consequently, under short-term condition, rice and wheat straw both return in rice-wheat rotation system could increase SOC content and improve soil quality in the Yangtze River Delta. PMID:24586434

Potential impacts of climate change on carbon dynamics in a rain-fed agro-ecosystem on the Loess Plateau of China.

PubMed

Qiu, Linjing; Hao, Mingde; Wu, Yiping

2017-01-15

Although many studies have been conducted on crop yield in rain-fed agriculture, the possible impacts of climate change on the carbon (C) dynamics of rain-fed rotation systems, particularly their direction and magnitude at the long-term scale, are still poorly understood. In this study, the sensitivity of C dynamics of a typical rotation system to elevated CO 2 and changed temperature and precipitation were first tested using the CENTURY model, based on data collected from a 30-year field experiment of a corn-wheat-wheat-millet (CWWM) rotation system in the tableland of the Loess Plateau. The possible responses of crop biomass C and soil organic C (SOC) accumulation were then evaluated under scenarios representing the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5. The results indicated that elevated CO 2 and increased precipitation exerted positive effect on biomass C in CWWM rotation system, while increasing the temperature by 1°C, 2°C and 4°C had negative effects on biomass C due to opposite responses of corn and winter wheat to warming. SOC accumulation was enhanced by increased CO 2 concentration and precipitation but impaired by increased temperature. Under future RCP scenarios with dynamic CO 2 , the biomass C of corn exhibited decrease during the period of 2046-2075 under RCP4.5 and the period of 2016-2075 under RCP8.5 due to reduced precipitation and a warmer climate. In contrast, winter wheat would benefit from increased CO 2 and temperature and was projected to have larger biomass C under both RCP scenarios. Although the climate condition had large differences between RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, the projected SOC had similar trends under two scenarios due to CO 2 fertilizer effect and precipitation fluctuation. These results implied that crop biomass C and SOC accumulation in a warmer environment are strongly related to precipitation, and increase in field water storage should be emphasized in coping with future climate. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Introducing non-flooded crops in rice-dominated landscapes: Impact on carbon, nitrogen and water budgets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jauker, Frank; Wassmann, Reiner; Amelung, Wulf; Breuer, Lutz; Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus; Conrad, Ralf; Ekschmitt, Klemens; Goldbach, Heiner; He, Yao; John, Katharina; Kiese, Ralf; Kraus, David; Reinhold-Hurek, Barbara; Siemens, Jan; Weller, Sebastian; Wolters, Volkmar

2013-04-01

Rice production consumes about 30% of all freshwater used worldwide and 45% in Asia. Turning away from permanently flooded rice cropping systems for mitigating future water scarcity and reducing methane emissions, however, will alter a variety of ecosystem services with potential adverse effects to both the environment and agricultural production. Moreover, implementing systems that alternate between flooded and non-flooded crops increases the risk of disruptive effects. The multi-disciplinary DFG research unit ICON aims at exploring and quantifying the ecological consequences of altered water regimes (flooded vs. non-flooded), crop diversification (irrigated rice vs. aerobic rice vs. maize), and different fertilization strategies (conventional, site-specific, and zero N fertilization). ICON particularly focuses on the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and nitrogen, green-house gas (GHG) emissions, water balance, soil biotic processes and other important ecosystem services. The overarching goal is to provide the basic process understanding that is necessary for balancing the revenues and environmental impacts of high-yield rice cropping systems while maintaining their vital ecosystem services. To this aim, a large-scale field experiment has been established at the experimental farm of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI, Philippines). Ultimately, the experimental results are analyzed in the context of management scenarios by an integrated modeling of crop development (ORYZA), carbon and nitrogen cycling (MoBiLE-DNDC), and water fluxes (CMF), providing the basis for developing pathways to a conversion of rice-based systems towards higher yield potentials under minimized environmental impacts. In our presentation, we demonstrate the set-up of the controlled large-scale field experiment for simultaneous assessment of carbon and nitrogen fluxes and water budgets. We show and discuss first results for: - Quantification and assessment of the net-fluxes of CH4, N2O and CO2 from rice-rice and rice-maize rotations. The conversion of flooded to non-flooded cropping systems resulted in pollution swapping of greenhouse gas emissions, shifting from CH4 under wet conditions to N2O under dry conditions. - Quantification and assessment of water budgets and nutrient loss in rice-rice and rice-maize rotations. Switching from rice-rice dominated growing systems to upland rice or maize-rice cropping systems resulted in reduced water use efficiency and increased nitrogen loss. - Quantification and assessment of soil functions affected by soil fauna community structure in flooded and non-flooded cropping rotations. In contrast to temperate soils, earthworms reduced the peaks of microbial C and N decomposition depending on soil water content.

Greenhouse gas flux and crop productivity after 10 years of reduced and no tillage in a wheat-maize cropping system.

PubMed

Tian, Shenzhong; Wang, Yu; Ning, Tangyuan; Zhao, Hongxiang; Wang, Bingwen; Li, Na; Li, Zengjia; Chi, Shuyun

2013-01-01

Appropriate tillage plays an important role in mitigating the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) in regions with higher crop yields, but the emission situations of some reduced tillage systems such as subsoiling, harrow tillage and rotary tillage are not comprehensively studied. The objective of this study was to evaluate the emission characteristics of GHG (CH4 and N2O) under four reduced tillage systems from October 2007 to August 2009 based on a 10-yr tillage experiment in the North China Plain, which included no-tillage (NT) and three reduced tillage systems of subsoil tillage (ST), harrow tillage (HT) and rotary tillage (RT), with the conventional tillage (CT) as the control. The soil under the five tillage systems was an absorption sink for CH4 and an emission source for N2O. The soil temperature positive impacted on the CH4 absorption by the soils of different tillage systems, while a significant negative correlation was observed between the absorption and soil moisture. The main driving factor for increased N2O emission was not the soil temperature but the soil moisture and the content of nitrate. In the two rotation cycle of wheat-maize system (10/2007-10/2008 and 10/2008-10/2009), averaged cumulative uptake fluxes of CH4 under CT, ST, HT, RT and NT systems were approximately 1.67, 1.72, 1.63, 1.77 and 1.17 t ha(-1) year(-1), respectively, and meanwhile, approximately 4.43, 4.38, 4.47, 4.30 and 4.61 t ha(-1) year(-1) of N2O were emitted from soil of these systems, respectively. Moreover, they also gained 33.73, 34.63, 32.62, 34.56 and 27.54 t ha(-1) yields during two crop-rotation periods, respectively. Based on these comparisons, the rotary tillage and subsoiling mitigated the emissions of CH4 and N2O as well as improving crop productivity of a wheat-maize cropping system.

Greenhouse Gas Flux and Crop Productivity after 10 Years of Reduced and No Tillage in a Wheat-Maize Cropping System

PubMed Central

Tian, Shenzhong; Wang, Yu; Ning, Tangyuan; Zhao, Hongxiang; Wang, Bingwen; Li, Na; Li, Zengjia; Chi, Shuyun

2013-01-01

Appropriate tillage plays an important role in mitigating the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) in regions with higher crop yields, but the emission situations of some reduced tillage systems such as subsoiling, harrow tillage and rotary tillage are not comprehensively studied. The objective of this study was to evaluate the emission characteristics of GHG (CH4 and N2O) under four reduced tillage systems from October 2007 to August 2009 based on a 10-yr tillage experiment in the North China Plain, which included no-tillage (NT) and three reduced tillage systems of subsoil tillage (ST), harrow tillage (HT) and rotary tillage (RT), with the conventional tillage (CT) as the control. The soil under the five tillage systems was an absorption sink for CH4 and an emission source for N2O. The soil temperature positive impacted on the CH4 absorption by the soils of different tillage systems, while a significant negative correlation was observed between the absorption and soil moisture. The main driving factor for increased N2O emission was not the soil temperature but the soil moisture and the content of nitrate. In the two rotation cycle of wheat-maize system (10/2007–10/2008 and 10/2008–10/2009), averaged cumulative uptake fluxes of CH4 under CT, ST, HT, RT and NT systems were approximately 1.67, 1.72, 1.63, 1.77 and 1.17 t ha−1 year−1, respectively, and meanwhile, approximately 4.43, 4.38, 4.47, 4.30 and 4.61 t ha−1 year−1 of N2O were emitted from soil of these systems, respectively. Moreover, they also gained 33.73, 34.63, 32.62, 34.56 and 27.54 t ha−1 yields during two crop-rotation periods, respectively. Based on these comparisons, the rotary tillage and subsoiling mitigated the emissions of CH4 and N2O as well as improving crop productivity of a wheat-maize cropping system. PMID:24019923

Inheritance and identification of a major quantitative trait locus (QTL) that confers resistance to Meloidogyne incognita and a novel QTL for plant height in sweet sorghum

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Southern root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne incognita) are a pest on many economically important row crop and vegetable species and management relies on chemicals, plant resistance, and cultural practices such as crop rotation. Little is known about the inheritance of resistance to M. incognita or the...

An approach for siting poplar energy production systems to increase productivity and associated ecosystem services

Treesearch

Ronald S. Zalesny; Deahn M. Donner; David R. Coyle; William L. Headlee

2012-01-01

Short rotation woody crops such as Populus spp. and their hybrids (i.e., poplars) are a significant component of the total biofuels and bioenergy feedstock resource in the USA. Production of these dedicated energy crops may result in large-scale land conversion, which leads to questions about their economic, logistic, and ecologic feasibility. To...

Liberation: Acceptable production of tropical forest timber.

Treesearch

Frank H. Wadsworth; Johan Zweede

2006-01-01

Reduced impact logging in an eastern Amazonian terra firme forest left more than half of the next crop trees growing at a rate corresponding to a rotation of more than a century to attain 60-cm dbh. Two years after the logging, in 20 ha of the logged forest, tree competitors around crop trees were eliminated. Competitors were defined as trees whose crowns overtopped...

Impact of broadcasting a cereal rye or oat cover crop before corn and soybean harvest on nitrate leaching

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The corn and soybean rotation in Iowa has no living plants taking up water and nutrients from crop maturity until planting, a period of over six months in most years. In many fields, this results in losses of nitrate in effluent from artificial drainage systems during this time. In a long-term fiel...

Soil management practices under organic farming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aly, Adel; Chami Ziad, Al; Hamdy, Atef

2015-04-01

Organic farming methods combine scientific knowledge of ecology and modern technology with traditional farming practices based on naturally occurring biological processes. Soil building practices such as crop rotations, intercropping, symbiotic associations, cover crops, organic fertilizers and minimum tillage are central to organic practices. Those practices encourage soil formation and structure and creating more stable systems. In farm nutrient and energy cycling is increased and the retentive abilities of the soil for nutrients and water are enhanced. Such management techniques also play an important role in soil erosion control. The length of time that the soil is exposed to erosive forces is decreased, soil biodiversity is increased, and nutrient losses are reduced, helping to maintain and enhance soil productivity. Organic farming as systematized and certifiable approach for agriculture, there is no surprise that it faces some challenges among both farmers and public sector. This can be clearly demonstrated particularly in the absence of the essential conditions needed to implement successfully the soil management practices like green manure and composting to improve soil fertility including crop rotation, cover cropping and reduced tillage. Those issues beside others will be fully discussed highlighting their beneficial impact on the environmental soil characteristics. Keywords: soil fertility, organic matter, plant nutrition

Modeling the cadmium balance in Australian agricultural systems in view of potential impacts on food and water quality.

PubMed

de Vries, W; McLaughlin, M J

2013-09-01

The historical build up and future cadmium (Cd) concentrations in top soils and in crops of four Australian agricultural systems are predicted with a mass balance model, focusing on the period 1900-2100. The systems include a rotation of dryland cereals, a rotation of sugarcane and peanuts/soybean, intensive dairy production and intensive horticulture. The input of Cd to soil is calculated from fertilizer application and atmospheric deposition and also examines options including biosolid and animal manure application in the sugarcane rotation and dryland cereal production systems. Cadmium output from the soil is calculated from leaching to deeper horizons and removal with the harvested crop or with livestock products. Parameter values for all Cd fluxes were based on a number of measurements on Australian soil-plant systems. In the period 1900-2000, soil Cd concentrations were predicted to increase on average between 0.21 mg kg(-1) in dryland cereals, 0.42 mg kg(-1) in intensive agriculture and 0.68 mg kg(-1) in dairy production, which are within the range of measured increases in soils in these systems. Predicted soil concentrations exceed critical soil Cd concentrations, based on food quality criteria for Cd in crops during the simulation period in clay-rich soils under dairy production and intensive horticulture. Predicted dissolved Cd concentrations in soil pore water exceed a ground water quality criterion of 2 μg l(-1) in light textured soils, except for the sugarcane rotation due to large water leaching fluxes. Results suggest that the present fertilizer Cd inputs in Australia are in excess of the long-term critical loads in heavy-textured soils for dryland cereals and that all other systems are at low risk. Calculated critical Cd/P ratios in P fertilizers vary from <50 to >1000 mg Cd kg P(-1) for the different soil, crop and environmental conditions applied. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Managing for Multifunctionality in Perennial Grain Crops

PubMed Central

Ryan, Matthew R; Crews, Timothy E; Culman, Steven W; DeHaan, Lee R; Hayes, Richard C; Jungers, Jacob M; Bakker, Matthew G

2018-01-01

Abstract Plant breeders are increasing yields and improving agronomic traits in several perennial grain crops, the first of which is now being incorporated into commercial food products. Integration strategies and management guidelines are needed to optimize production of these new crops, which differ substantially from both annual grain crops and perennial forages. To offset relatively low grain yields, perennial grain cropping systems should be multifunctional. Growing perennial grains for several years to regenerate soil health before rotating to annual crops and growing perennial grains on sloped land and ecologically sensitive areas to reduce soil erosion and nutrient losses are two strategies that can provide ecosystem services and support multifunctionality. Several perennial cereals can be used to produce both grain and forage, and these dual-purpose crops can be intercropped with legumes for additional benefits. Highly diverse perennial grain polycultures can further enhance ecosystem services, but increased management complexity might limit their adoption. PMID:29662249

Wildlife-friendly farming increases crop yield: evidence for ecological intensification.

PubMed

Pywell, Richard F; Heard, Matthew S; Woodcock, Ben A; Hinsley, Shelley; Ridding, Lucy; Nowakowski, Marek; Bullock, James M

2015-10-07

Ecological intensification has been promoted as a means to achieve environmentally sustainable increases in crop yields by enhancing ecosystem functions that regulate and support production. There is, however, little direct evidence of yield benefits from ecological intensification on commercial farms growing globally important foodstuffs (grains, oilseeds and pulses). We replicated two treatments removing 3 or 8% of land at the field edge from production to create wildlife habitat in 50-60 ha patches over a 900 ha commercial arable farm in central England, and compared these to a business as usual control (no land removed). In the control fields, crop yields were reduced by as much as 38% at the field edge. Habitat creation in these lower yielding areas led to increased yield in the cropped areas of the fields, and this positive effect became more pronounced over 6 years. As a consequence, yields at the field scale were maintained--and, indeed, enhanced for some crops--despite the loss of cropland for habitat creation. These results suggested that over a 5-year crop rotation, there would be no adverse impact on overall yield in terms of monetary value or nutritional energy. This study provides a clear demonstration that wildlife-friendly management which supports ecosystem services is compatible with, and can even increase, crop yields. © 2015 The Authors.

Diversifying crop rotations with pulses enhances system productivity

PubMed Central

Gan, Yantai; Hamel, Chantal; O’Donovan, John T.; Cutforth, Herb; Zentner, Robert P.; Campbell, Con A.; Niu, Yining; Poppy, Lee

2015-01-01

Agriculture in rainfed dry areas is often challenged by inadequate water and nutrient supplies. Summerfallowing has been used to conserve rainwater and promote the release of nitrogen via the N mineralization of soil organic matter. However, summerfallowing leaves land without any crops planted for one entire growing season, creating lost production opportunity. Additionally, summerfallowing has serious environmental consequences. It is unknown whether alternative systems can be developed to retain the beneficial features of summerfallowing with little or no environmental impact. Here, we show that diversifying cropping systems with pulse crops can enhance soil water conservation, improve soil N availability, and increase system productivity. A 3-yr cropping sequence study, repeated for five cycles in Saskatchewan from 2005 to 2011, shows that both pulse- and summerfallow-based systems enhances soil N availability, but the pulse system employs biological fixation of atmospheric N2, whereas the summerfallow-system relies on ‘mining’ soil N with depleting soil organic matter. In a 3-yr cropping cycle, the pulse system increased total grain production by 35.5%, improved protein yield by 50.9%, and enhanced fertilizer-N use efficiency by 33.0% over the summerfallow system. Diversifying cropping systems with pulses can serve as an effective alternative to summerfallowing in rainfed dry areas. PMID:26424172

Responses of Crop Water Use Efficiency to Climate Change and Agronomic Measures in the Semiarid Area of Northern China

PubMed Central

Zhang, Jingting; Ren, Wei; An, Pingli; Pan, Zhihua; Wang, Liwei; Dong, Zhiqiang; He, Di; Yang, Jia; Pan, Shufen; Tian, Hanqin

2015-01-01

It has long been concerned how crop water use efficiency (WUE) responds to climate change. Most of existing researches have emphasized the impact of single climate factor but have paid less attention to the effect of developed agronomic measures on crop WUE. Based on the long-term field observations/experiments data, we investigated the changing responses of crop WUE to climate variables (temperature and precipitation) and agronomic practices (fertilization and cropping patterns) in the semi-arid area of northern China (SAC) during two periods, 1983–1999 and 2000–2010 (drier and warmer). Our results suggest that crop WUE was an intrinsical system sensitive to climate change and agronomic measures. Crops tend to reach the maximum WUE (WUEmax) in warm-dry environment while reach the stable minimum WUE (WUEmin) in warm-wet environment, with a difference between WUEmax and WUEmin ranging from 29.0%-55.5%. Changes in temperature and precipitation in the past three decades jointly enhanced crop WUE by 8.1%-30.6%. Elevated fertilizer and rotation cropping would increase crop WUE by 5.6–11.0% and 19.5–92.9%, respectively. These results indicate crop has the resilience by adjusting WUE, which is not only able to respond to subsequent periods of favorable water balance but also to tolerate the drought stress, and reasonable agronomic practices could enhance this resilience. However, this capacity would break down under impact of climate changes and unconscionable agronomic practices (e.g. excessive N/P/K fertilizer or traditional continuous cropping). Based on the findings in this study, a conceptual crop WUE model is constructed to indicate the threshold of crop resilience, which could help the farmer develop appropriate strategies in adapting the adverse impacts of climate warming. PMID:26336098

Responses of Crop Water Use Efficiency to Climate Change and Agronomic Measures in the Semiarid Area of Northern China.

PubMed

Zhang, Jingting; Ren, Wei; An, Pingli; Pan, Zhihua; Wang, Liwei; Dong, Zhiqiang; He, Di; Yang, Jia; Pan, Shufen; Tian, Hanqin

2015-01-01

It has long been concerned how crop water use efficiency (WUE) responds to climate change. Most of existing researches have emphasized the impact of single climate factor but have paid less attention to the effect of developed agronomic measures on crop WUE. Based on the long-term field observations/experiments data, we investigated the changing responses of crop WUE to climate variables (temperature and precipitation) and agronomic practices (fertilization and cropping patterns) in the semi-arid area of northern China (SAC) during two periods, 1983-1999 and 2000-2010 (drier and warmer). Our results suggest that crop WUE was an intrinsical system sensitive to climate change and agronomic measures. Crops tend to reach the maximum WUE (WUEmax) in warm-dry environment while reach the stable minimum WUE (WUEmin) in warm-wet environment, with a difference between WUEmax and WUEmin ranging from 29.0%-55.5%. Changes in temperature and precipitation in the past three decades jointly enhanced crop WUE by 8.1%-30.6%. Elevated fertilizer and rotation cropping would increase crop WUE by 5.6-11.0% and 19.5-92.9%, respectively. These results indicate crop has the resilience by adjusting WUE, which is not only able to respond to subsequent periods of favorable water balance but also to tolerate the drought stress, and reasonable agronomic practices could enhance this resilience. However, this capacity would break down under impact of climate changes and unconscionable agronomic practices (e.g. excessive N/P/K fertilizer or traditional continuous cropping). Based on the findings in this study, a conceptual crop WUE model is constructed to indicate the threshold of crop resilience, which could help the farmer develop appropriate strategies in adapting the adverse impacts of climate warming.

Comparisons of weed community, soil health and economic performance between wheat-maize and garlic-soybean rotation systems under different weed managements

PubMed Central

Muminov, Mahmud A.; Guo, Liyue; Song, Yanjie; Gu, Xian; Cen, Yu; Meng, Jie

2018-01-01

This study compared the impacts of different weed managements on weed community, soil health and economic performance between the wheat–maize (WM) and garlic–soybean (GS) rotations. A total of four treatments (H0T, tillage without herbicide; H0T0, without both herbicide and tillage; HT, both herbicide and tillage; HT0, herbicide without tillage) were designed for both rotations. A total of 16 weed species were recorded in the WM rotation, with life forms of 62% for annuals, 12% for annual + perennial and 20% for perennials. While in the GS rotation, there were 17 weed species, with 71% being annuals. When crop rotation changed from WM to GS, the topsoil layer seed bank (0–5 cm) decreased by 137%. GS rotation always had higher earthworm densities than that of WM under the same condition. Organic weed control (H0T, H0T0) from both WM and GS added more soil organic matters than the chemical methods (HT and HT0). Economically, up to 69% higher net profit had been achieved in the GS than WM for their organic products. This study provides an ecological basis to guide organic farming practices, especially for weed management in the future. PMID:29868258

Wind erosion potential influenced by tillage in an irrigated potato-sweet corn rotation in the Columbia Basin

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Wind erosion is a concern within the Columbia Basin of the Inland Pacific Northwest (PNW) United States due to the sandy texture of soils and small amount of residue retained on the soil surface after harvest of vegetable crops like potato. This study assessed potential wind erosion of an irrigated ...

Microbial communities in soil profile are more responsive to legacy effects of wheat-cover crop rotations than tillage systems

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Declining trends in soil health under continuous monoculture systems of winter wheat are a concern for sustainable production in the Southern Great Plains of the US. This study was conducted to evaluate the long-term implementation of conservation tillage in combination with nitrogen treatments and ...

Water deficit stress effects on corn (Zea mays, L.) root: shoot ratio

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A study was conducted at Akron, CO, USA, on a Weld silt loam in 2004 to quantify the effects of water deficit stress on corn (Zea mays, L.) root and shoot biomass. Corn plants were grown under a range of soil bulk density and water conditions caused by previous tillage, crop rotation, and irrigation...

Algal derivatives may protect crops from residual soil salinity: a case study on a tomato-wheat rotation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Di Stasio, Emilio; Raimondi, Giampaolo; Van Oosten, Michael; Maggio, Albino

2017-04-01

In coastal areas, summer crops are frequently irrigated with saline water. As a consequence, salts may accumulate in the root zone with detrimental effects on the following winter crops if the rainfall is insufficient to leach them. Two field experiments were performed in 2015-2016 on a field used for tomato (summer) wheat (winter) rotation cropping. The spring-summer experiment was carried in order to evaluate the effect of two algal derivatives (Ascophyllum nodosum), Rygex and Super Fifty, on a tomato crop exposed to increasing salinity and reduced nutrient availability. In the autumn-winter experiment we investigated the effect of residual salts from the previous summer irrigations on plant growth and yield of wheat treated with the same two algal extracts. The salt treatment for the irrigated summer crop was 80 mM NaCl plus a non-salinized control. The nutrient regimes were 100% and 50% of the tomato nutritional requirements. With both the seaweeds applications the salt stressed plants were demonstrated improved Relative Water Content and water potential. Nevertheless the total fresh biomass and the fruit fresh weight were enhanced only in the non salinized controls. Application of algal derivatives increased the total fresh weight over controls in the non salinized plants. The seaweed treatments enhanced the fruit fresh weight with an increase of 30% and 46% for Rygex and Super Fifty, respectively. Preliminary analysis of the ion profile in roots, shoots and leaves, indicates that the seaweed extracts may enhance the assimilation of ions in fruits affecting their nutritional value. The residual salinity of the summer experiment reduced the wheat biomass production. However, the seaweed extracts treatments improved growth under salinity. In the salt stressed plants the Super Fifty application increased shoots and ears by 34% and 23% respectively, compared to the non treated plants. Plant height was increased by application of seaweeds extracts for both the species under residual salinity. Our results indicate that the application of seaweed extracts could be considered as a good production strategy for obtaining good growth and yields of valuable crops in resource-limited environments. Keywords: algal derivatives, residual salinity, wheat, tomato.

Simulating nitrogen budgets in complex farming systems using INCA: calibration and scenario analyses for the Kervidy catchment (W. France)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Durand, P.

The integrated nitrogen model INCA (Integrated Nitrogen in Catchments) was used to analyse the nitrogen dynamics in a small rural catchment in Western France. The agrosystem studied is very complex, with: extensive use of different organic fertilisers, a variety of crop rotations, a structural excess of nitrogen (i.e. more animal N produced by the intensive farming than the N requirements of the crops and pastures), and nitrate retention in both hydrological stores and riparian zones. The original model features were adapted here to describe this complexity. The calibration results are satisfactory, although the daily variations in stream nitrate are not simulated in detail. Different climate scenarios, based on observed climate records, were tested; all produced a worsening of the pollution in the short term. Scenarios of alternative agricultural practices (reduced fertilisation and catch crops) were also analysed, suggesting that a reduction by 40% of the fertilisation combined with the introduction of catch crops would be necessary to stop the degradation of water quality.

A specialist-generalist classification of the arable flora and its response to changes in agricultural practices

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Theory in ecology points out the potential link between the degree of specialisation of organisms and their responses to disturbances and suggests that this could be a key element for understanding the assembly of communities. We evaluated this question for the arable weed flora as this group has scarcely been the focus of ecological studies so far and because weeds are restricted to habitats characterised by very high degrees of disturbance. As such, weeds offer a case study to ask how specialization relates to abundance and distribution of species in relation to the varying disturbance regimes occurring in arable crops. Results We used data derived from an extensive national monitoring network of approximately 700 arable fields scattered across France to quantify the degree of specialisation of 152 weed species using six different ecological methods. We then explored the impact of the level of disturbance occurring in arable fields by comparing the degree of specialisation of weed communities in contrasting field situations. The classification of species as specialist or generalist was consistent between different ecological indices. When applied on a large-scale data set across France, this classification highlighted that monoculture harbour significantly more specialists than crop rotations, suggesting that crop rotation increases abundance of generalist species rather than sets of species that are each specialised to the individual crop types grown in the rotation. Applied to a diachronic dataset, the classification also shows that the proportion of specialist weed species has significantly decreased in cultivated fields over the last 30 years which suggests a biotic homogenization of agricultural landscapes. Conclusions This study shows that the concept of generalist/specialist species is particularly relevant to understand the effect of anthropogenic disturbances on the evolution of plant community composition and that ecological theories developed in stable environments are valid in highly disturbed environments such as agro-ecosystems. The approach developed here to classify arable weeds according to the breadth of their ecological niche is robust and applicable to a wide range of organisms. It is also sensitive to disturbance regime and we show here that recent changes in agricultural practices, i.e. increased levels of disturbance have favoured the most generalist species, hence leading to biotic homogenisation in arable landscapes. PMID:20809982

Allelopathy in agroecosystems: Wheat phytotoxicity and its possible roles in crop rotation.

PubMed

Lodhi, M A; Bilal, R; Malik, K A

1987-08-01

The germination rates of cotton and wheat seeds were significantly affected by various extracts of wheat mulch and soils collected from the wheat field. This toxicity was even more pronounced against seedling growth. Five allelochemics: ferulic,p-coumaric,p-OH benzoic, syringic, and vanillic acids, were identified from the wheat mulch and its associated soil. Quantitatively, ferulic acid was found at higher concentrations thanp-coumaric acid in the soil. Various concentrations of ferulic andp-coumaric acids were toxic to the growth of radish in a bioassay. The functional aspects of allelochemic transfer from decaying residue to soil and the subsequent microbial degradation within agroecosystems are discussed, particularly as they relate to wheat crop rotation, with wheat and cotton, in Pakistan.

Net global warming potential and greenhouse gas intensity influenced by irrigation, tillage, crop rotation, and nitrogen fertilization.

PubMed

Sainju, Upendra M; Stevens, William B; Caesar-TonThat, Thecan; Liebig, Mark A; Wang, Jun

2014-05-01

Little information exists about how global warming potential (GWP) is affected by management practices in agroecosystems. We evaluated the effects of irrigation, tillage, crop rotation, and N fertilization on net GWP and greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI or GWP per unit crop yield) calculated by soil respiration (GWP and GHGI) and organic C (SOC) (GWP and GHGI) methods after accounting for CO emissions from all sources (irrigation, farm operations, N fertilization, and greenhouse gas [GHG] fluxes) and sinks (crop residue and SOC) in a Lihen sandy loam from 2008 to 2011 in western North Dakota. Treatments were two irrigation practices (irrigated vs. nonirrigated) and five cropping systems (conventional-till malt barley [ L.] with N fertilizer [CTBN], conventional-till malt barley with no N fertilizer [CTBO], no-till malt barley-pea [ L.] with N fertilizer [NTB-P], no-till malt barley with N fertilizer, and no-till malt barley with no N fertilizer [NTBO]). While CO equivalents were greater with irrigation, tillage, and N fertilization than without, NO and CH fluxes were 2 to 218 kg CO eq. ha greater in nonirrigated NTBN and irrigated CTBN than in other treatments. Previous year's crop residue and C sequestration rate were 202 to 9316 kg CO eq. ha greater in irrigated NTB-P than in other treatments. Compared with other treatments, GWP and GWP were 160 to 9052 kg CO eq. ha lower in irrigated and nonirrigated NTB-P. Similarly, GHGI and GHGI were lower in nonirrigated NTB-P than in other treatments. Regardless of irrigation practices, NTB-P may lower net GHG emissions more than other treatments in the northern Great Plains. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

Can Multiple Cropping Help to Avoid the Impacts of Heat Extremes? The Case of Winter Wheat/Soybean Double Cropping in the United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seifert, C.; Lobell, D. B.

2014-12-01

In adapting U.S. agriculture to the climate of the 21st century, multiple cropping presents a unique opportunity to help offset projected negative trends in agricultural production while moving critical crop yield formation periods outside of the hottest months of the year. Critical constraints on this practice include moisture availability, and, more importantly, growing season length. We review evidence that this last constraint has decreased in the previous quarter century, allowing for more winter wheat/soybean double cropping in previously phenologically constrained areas. We also carry this pattern forward to 2100, showing a 126% to 211% increase in the area phenologically suitable for double cropping under the RCP45 and RCP85 scenarios respectively. These results suggest that climate change will relieve phenological constraints on wheat-soy double cropping systems over much of the United States, changing production patterns and crop rotations as areas become suitable for the practice.

Yield and Water Quality Impacts of Field-Scale Integration of Willow into a Continuous Corn Rotation System.

PubMed

Zumpf, Colleen; Ssegane, Herbert; Negri, Maria Cristina; Campbell, Patty; Cacho, Julian

2017-07-01

Agricultural landscape design has gained recognition by the international environmental and development community as a strategy to address multiple goals in land, water, and ecosystem service management; however, field research is needed to quantify impacts on specific local environments. The production of bioenergy crops in specific landscape positions within a grain-crop field can serve the dual purpose of producing cellulosic biomass (nutrient recovery) while also providing regulating ecosystem services to improve water quality (nutrient reduction). The effectiveness of such a landscape design was evaluated by the strategic placement of a 0.8-ha short-rotation shrub willow ( Seemen) bioenergy buffer along marginal soils in a 6.5-ha corn ( L.) field in a 6-yr field study in central Illinois. The impact of willow integration on water quality (soil water, shallow groundwater leaching, and crop nutrient uptake) and quantity (soil moisture and transpiration) was monitored in comparison with corn in the willow's first cycle of growth. Willows significantly reduced nitrate leachate in shallow subsurface water by 88% while maintaining adequate nutrient and water usage. Results suggest that willows offer an efficient nutrient-reduction strategy and may provide additional ecosystem services and benefits, including enhanced soil health. However, low values for calculated willow biomass will need to be readdressed in the future as harvest data become available to understand contributing factors that affected productivity beyond nutrient availability. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

RPBS: Rotational Projected Binary Structure for point cloud representation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, Bin; Zhou, Zhiwei; Ma, Tao; Hu, Fangyu; Quan, Siwen; Ma, Jie

2018-03-01

In this paper, we proposed a novel three-dimension local surface descriptor named RPBS for point cloud representation. First, points cropped form the query point within a predefined radius is regard as a local surface patch. Then pose normalization is done to the local surface to equip our descriptor with the invariance to rotation transformation. To obtain more information about the cropped surface, multi-view representation is formed by successively rotating it along the coordinate axis. Further, orthogonal projections to the three coordinate plane are adopted to construct two-dimension distribution matrixes, and binarization is applied to each matrix by following the rule that whether the grid is occupied, if yes, set the grid one, otherwise zero. We calculate the binary maps from all the viewpoints and concatenate them together as the final descriptor. Comparative experiments for evaluating our proposed descriptor is conducted on the standard dataset named Bologna with several state-of-the-art 3D descriptors, and results show that our descriptor achieves the best performance on feature matching experiments.

Chrysomelids American diabroticines Hosts and natural enemies. Biology-feasibility for control of pest species (Crisomelidos Diabroticinos americanos Hospederos y enemigos naturales Biologia y factibili manejo especies plagas

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The chrysomelids in the Diabroticites include some of the most important pest species of the American continent. The chemical and management techniques used to date to control them are: crop rotation to prevent re-infection of host crops, especially in the species that display an egg diapause; insec...

Ecosystem services of woody crop production systems

Treesearch

Ronald S. Zalesny Jr.; John A. Stanturf; Emile S. Gardiner; James H. Perdue; Timothy M. Young; David R. Coyle; William L. Headlee; Gary S. Ba??uelos; Amir Hass

2016-01-01

Short-rotation woody crops are an integral component of regional and national energy portfolios, as well as providing essential ecosystem services such as biomass supplies, carbon sinks, clean water, and healthy soils. We review recent USDA Forest Service Research and Development efforts from the USDA Biomass Research Centers on the provisioning of these ecosystem...

Extreme weather-year sequences have nonadditive effects on environmental nitrogen losses.

PubMed

Iqbal, Javed; Necpalova, Magdalena; Archontoulis, Sotirios V; Anex, Robert P; Bourguignon, Marie; Herzmann, Daryl; Mitchell, David C; Sawyer, John E; Zhu, Qing; Castellano, Michael J

2018-01-01

The frequency and intensity of extreme weather years, characterized by abnormal precipitation and temperature, are increasing. In isolation, these years have disproportionately large effects on environmental N losses. However, the sequence of extreme weather years (e.g., wet-dry vs. dry-wet) may affect cumulative N losses. We calibrated and validated the DAYCENT ecosystem process model with a comprehensive set of biogeophysical measurements from a corn-soybean rotation managed at three N fertilizer inputs with and without a winter cover crop in Iowa, USA. Our objectives were to determine: (i) how 2-year sequences of extreme weather affect 2-year cumulative N losses across the crop rotation, and (ii) if N fertilizer management and the inclusion of a winter cover crop between corn and soybean mitigate the effect of extreme weather on N losses. Using historical weather (1951-2013), we created nine 2-year scenarios with all possible combinations of the driest ("dry"), wettest ("wet"), and average ("normal") weather years. We analyzed the effects of these scenarios following several consecutive years of relatively normal weather. Compared with the normal-normal 2-year weather scenario, 2-year extreme weather scenarios affected 2-year cumulative NO 3 - leaching (range: -93 to +290%) more than N 2 O emissions (range: -49 to +18%). The 2-year weather scenarios had nonadditive effects on N losses: compared with the normal-normal scenario, the dry-wet sequence decreased 2-year cumulative N 2 O emissions while the wet-dry sequence increased 2-year cumulative N 2 O emissions. Although dry weather decreased NO 3 - leaching and N 2 O emissions in isolation, 2-year cumulative N losses from the wet-dry scenario were greater than the dry-wet scenario. Cover crops reduced the effects of extreme weather on NO 3 - leaching but had a lesser effect on N 2 O emissions. As the frequency of extreme weather is expected to increase, these data suggest that the sequence of interannual weather patterns can be used to develop short-term mitigation strategies that manipulate N fertilizer and crop rotation to maximize crop N uptake while reducing environmental N losses. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Influence of agricultural management on chemical quality of a clay soil of semi-arid Morocco

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ibno Namr, Khalid; Mrabet, Rachid

2004-06-01

Morocco's semi-arid lands are characterized by unique challenges. The most important obstacles to the development of durable agriculture are (1) limited and unpredictable supply of soil moisture and (2) low soil quality. Intensive use of soil throughout history has led to depletion in soil quality, leading in return to reduced yields because of the consequent reduced organic matter. Recognizing the need to recover soil quality and production decline, INRA scientists began, in the early 1980s, research on the effects of crop rotations, tillage and residue management on the productivity and quality of cropped soils. The present study concerns the short-term effect of rotation, tillage and residue management on selected quality indices of a calcixeroll (organic matter, nitrogen, particulate organic carbon (Cpom), particulate organic nitrogen (Npom) and pH). Hence, three rotations (wheat-wheat, WW; fallow-wheat, FW; and fallow-wheat-barley, FWB), two tillage systems (conventional offset disking, CT and no-tillage, NT), and three levels of residue in the NT system (NT 0 = no-residue cover, NT 50 = half surface residue cover, NT 100 = full surface residue cover) were selected. Three surface horizons were sampled (0-2.5, 2.5-7 and 7-20 cm). The study results showed an improvement of measured soil chemical properties under NT compared to CT, at the surface layer. No-tillage system helped sequestration of carbon and nitrogen, build-up of particulate organic carbon and nitrogen and sensible reduction of pH only at the surface layer. Continuous wheat permitted a slight improvement of soil quality, mainly at the 0-2.5 cm depth. Effects of rotation, tillage and residue level were reduced with depth of measurements.

NEE and GPP dynamic evolution at two biomes in the upper Spanish plateau

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sánchez, María Luisa; Pardo, Nuria; Pérez, Isidro Alberto; García, Maria de los Angeles

2014-05-01

In order to assess the ability of dominant biomes to act as a CO2 sink, two eddy correlation stations close to each other in central Spain have been concurrently operational since March 2008 until the present. The land use of the first station, AC, is a rapeseed rotating crop consisting of annual rotation of non-irrigated rapeseed, barley, peas, rye, and sunflower, respectively. The land use of the second, CIBA, is a mixture of open shrubs/crops, with open shrubs being markedly dominant. The period of measurements covered variable general meteorological conditions. 2009 and 2012 were dominated by drought, whereas 2010 was the rainiest year. Annual rainfall during 2008 and 2009 was close to the historical averaged annual means. This paper presents the dynamic evolution of NEE-8d and GPP-8d observed at the AC station over five years and compares the results with those concurrently observed at the CIBA station. GGP 8-d estimates at both stations were determined using a Light Use Efficiency Model, LUE. Input data for the LUE model were the FPAR 8-d products supplied by MODIS, PAR in situ measurements, and a scalar f, varying between 0 and 1, to take account of the reduction in maximum PAR conversion efficiency, ɛ0, under limiting environmental conditions. f values were assumed to be dependent on air temperature and evaporative fraction, EF, which was considered a proxy of soil moisture. ɛ0, a key parameter, which depends on land use types, was derived through the results of a linear regression fit between the GPP 8-d eddy covariance composites observed and the LUE concurrent 8-d model estimates. Over the five-year study period, both biomes behaved as CO2 sinks. However, the ratio of the NEE-8d total accumulated at AC and CIBA, respectively, was close to a factor two, revealing the effectiveness of the studied crops as CO2 sinks. On an annual basis, accumulated NEE-8d exhibited major variability in both biomes. At CIBA, the results were largely dominated by the prevailing annual rainfall, whereas at AC results were also strongly dependent on type of crops. Similar results were obtained for GPP 8-d. The LUE model fitted observed GPP 8-d satisfactorily at both biomes (R2 >86%). The ɛ0value in the rotating crop station, AC, was approximately 1.7 higher than at the open shrub station, CIBA. Acknowledgements This paper has been funded by the Spanish MICINN-MINECO and ERDF funds.

Treated wastewater and Nitrate transport beneath irrigated fields near Dodge city, Kansas

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sophocleous, M.; Townsend, M.A.; Vocasek, F.; Ma, Liwang; Ashok, K.C.

2010-01-01

Use of secondary-treated municipal wastewater for crop irrigation south of Dodge City, Kansas, where the soils are mainly of silty clay loam texture, has raised a concern that it has resulted in high nitratenitrogen concentrations (10-50 mg/kg) in the soil and deeper vadose zone, and also in the underlying deep (20-45 m) ground water. The goal of this field-monitoring project was to assess how and under what circumstances nitrogen (N) nutrients under cultivated corn that is irrigated with this treated wastewater can reach the deep ground water of the underlying High Plains aquifer, and what can realistically be done to minimize this problem. We collected 15.2-m-deep cores for physical and chemical properties characterization; installed neutron moisture-probe access tubes and suction lysimeters for periodic measurements; sampled area monitoring, irrigation, and domestic wells; performed dye-tracer experiments to examine soil preferential-flow processes through macropores; and obtained climatic, crop, irrigation, and N-application rate records. These data and additional information were used in the comprehensive Root Zone Water Quality Model (RZWQM2) to identify key parameters and processes that influence N losses in the study area. We demonstrated that nitrate-N transport processes result in significant accumulations of N in the thick vadose zone. We also showed that nitrate-N in the underlying ground water is increasing with time and that the source of the nitrate is from the wastewater applications. RZWQM2 simulations indicated that macropore flow is generated particularly during heavy rainfall events, but during our 2005-06 simulations the total macropore flow was only about 3% of precipitation for one of two investigated sites, whereas it was more than 13% for the other site. Our calibrated model for the two wastewater-irrigated study sites indicated that reducing current levels of corn N fertilization by half or more to the level of 170 kg/ha substantially increases N-use efficiency and achieves near-maximum crop yield. Combining such measures with a crop rotation that includes alfalfa should further reduce the amounts of residual N in the soil, as indicated in one of the study sites that had alfalfa in past crop rotations.

Deforestation impacts on soil organic carbon stocks in the Semiarid Chaco Region, Argentina.

PubMed

Villarino, Sebastián Horacio; Studdert, Guillermo Alberto; Baldassini, Pablo; Cendoya, María Gabriela; Ciuffoli, Lucía; Mastrángelo, Matias; Piñeiro, Gervasio

2017-01-01

Land use change affects soil organic carbon (SOC) and generates CO 2 emissions. Moreover, SOC depletion entails degradation of soil functions that support ecosystem services. Large areas covered by dry forests have been cleared in the Semiarid Chaco Region of Argentina for cropping expansion. However, deforestation impacts on the SOC stock and its distribution in the soil profile have been scarcely reported. We assessed these impacts based on the analysis of field data along a time-since-deforestation-for-cropping chronosequence, and remote sensing indices. Soil organic C was determined up to 100cm depth and physically fractionated into mineral associated organic carbon (MAOC) and particulate organic C (POC). Models describing vertical distribution of SOC were fitted. Total SOC, POC and MAOC stocks decreased markedly with increasing cropping age. Particulate organic C was the most sensitive fraction to cultivation. After 10yr of cropping SOC loss was around 30%, with greater POC loss (near 60%) and smaller MAOC loss (near 15%), at 0-30cm depth. Similar relative SOC losses were observed in deeper soil layers (30-60 and 60-100cm). Deforestation and subsequent cropping also modified SOC vertical distribution. Soil organic C loss was negatively associated with the proportion of maize in the rotation and total crop biomass inputs, but positively associated with the proportion of soybean in the rotation. Without effective land use polices, deforestation and agricultural expansion can lead to rapid soil degradation and reductions in the provision of important ecosystem services. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cover crops and crop residue management under no-till systems improve soils and environmental quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Sandeep; Wegner, Brianna; Vahyala, Ibrahim; Osborne, Shannon; Schumacher, Thomas; Lehman, Michael

2015-04-01

Crop residue harvest is a common practice in the Midwestern USA for the ethanol production. However, excessive removal of crop residues from the soil surface contributes to the degradation of important soil quality indicators such as soil organic carbon (SOC). Addition of a cover crop may help to mitigate these negative effects. The present study was set up to assess the impacts of corn (Zea mays L.) residue removal and cover crops on various soil quality indicators and surface greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes. The study was being conducted on plots located at the North Central Agricultural Research Laboratory (NCARL) in Brookings, South Dakota, USA. Three plots of a corn and soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) rotation under a no-till (NT) system are being monitored for soils and surface gas fluxes. Each plot has three residue removal (high residue removal, HRR; medium residue removal, MRR; and low residue removal, LRR) treatments and two cover crops (cover crops and no cover crops) treatments. Both corn and soybean are represented every year. Gas flux measurements were taken weekly using a closed static chamber method. Data show that residue removal significantly impacted soil quality indicators while more time was needed for an affect from cover crop treatments to be noticed. The LRR treatment resulted in higher SOC concentrations, increased aggregate stability, and increased microbial activity. The LRR treatment also increased soil organic matter (SOM) and particulate organic matter (POM) concentrations. Cover crops used in HRR (high corn residue removal) improved SOC (27 g kg-1) by 6% compared to that without cover crops (25.4 g kg-1). Cover crops significantly impacted POM concentration directly after the residue removal treatments were applied in 2012. CO2 fluxes were observed to increase as temperature increased, while N2O fluxes increased as soil moisture increased. CH4 fluxes were responsive to both increases in temperature and moisture. On average, soils under cover crop management had lower N2O fluxes than soils that did not have a cover crop. Results from this study concluded that it is important to allow crop residues to return to the soil as they help to improve soil quality indicators. The presence of cover crops also will contribute to the improvement of these indicators once established and may help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

Host Status of Selected Crops to Meloidogyne chitwoodi.

PubMed

Ferris, H; Carlson, H L; Viglierchio, D R; Westerdahl, B B; Wu, F W; Anderson, C E; Juurma, A; Kirby, D W

1993-12-01

Various crops were tested in greenhouse and field trials for their potential utility in the rotation sequence in the potato cropping system in Meloidogyne chitwoodi-infested soils of the Klamath Basin in northeastern California and southern Oregon. Two Solarium accessions from the International Potato Center in Peru were potential sources of resistance to M. chitwoodi. Cultivars of barley, oat, rye, wheat, and white lupine were maintenance hosts, supporting the nematode population at its current level without substantial increase or decline. Poor to nonhosts to race 1 of the nematode included cultivars of alfalfa, amaranth, oilseed radish, oilseed rape, and safflower. These crops have potential for inclusion in the cropping system but are subject to various constraints, including frost sensitivity and availability of markets. Sugarbeet, a new crop in the area, is a maintenance or better host of M. chitwoodi. Potato, tomato, and sunflower are excellent hosts.

Neotectonic deformation model of the Northern Algeria from Paleomagnetic data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Derder, M. E. M.; Henry, B.; Maouche, S.; Amenna, M.; Bayou, B.; Djellit, H.; Ymel, H.; Gharbi, S.; Abtout, A.; Ayache, M.

2012-04-01

The seismic activity of the Western Mediterranean area is partly concentrated in northern Africa, particularly in northern Algeria, as it is shown by the strongest recent earthquakes of "Zemmouri" 21 May 2003 Mw=6.9 and the "El Asnam" 10 October 1980 Ms= 7.3. This seismicity is due to the tectonic activity related to the convergence between Africa and Eurasia plates since at least the Oligocene. The deformation is mostly compressional with associated folds, strike-slip faults and thrusts, and a direction of shortening between N-S and NNW-SSE. This convergence involves a tectonic transpression which is expressed by active deformation along the plate boundary. In northern Algeria, the seismicity is concentrated in a coastal E-W thin band zone (the Tell Atlas). Active structures define there NE-SW trending folds and NE-SW sinistral transpressive faults, which affect the intermountain and coastal Neogene to Quaternary sedimentary basins (e.g. " Cheliff "basin, " Mitidja "basin, …). These reverse faults are associated with NW-SE to E-W strike-slips deep faults. The active tectonics could be explained by a simple blocks rotation kinematics model. In order to test the validity of this kinematic model, three different paleomagnetic studies have been conducted. The first one concerned the "Cheliff" basin where sedimentary Neogene formations were extensively sampled (66 sites). The second study was carried out on Miocene andesite and dacite rocks cropping out along the northern coastal zone of the "Cheliff" basin ("Beni Haoua" area, 19 sites). The third study has been carried out on the Miocene magmatic rocks (rhyolites and basalts) cropping out north-eastern part of the "Mitidja" basin ("Cap Djinet" - "Boumerdes" area, 23 sites). The obtained results show existence of paleomagnetic clockwise rotations in all the studied areas and then validates the kinematics block rotation model. Accordingly, the deformation related to the convergence between the Africa and Eurasia plates, is partly accommodated in northern Algeria by blocks rotation movements. It seems that the Tellian Atlas (northern Algeria) domain is organized as tectonic blocks with relative clockwise blocks rotation movement as in a "bookshelf" model.

Contributions of wheat and maize residues to soil organic carbon under long-term rotation in north China.

PubMed

Wang, Jinzhou; Wang, Xiujun; Xu, Minggang; Feng, Gu; Zhang, Wenju; Yang, Xueyun; Huang, Shaomin

2015-06-23

Soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics in agro-ecosystem is largely influenced by cropping. However, quantifying the contributions of various crops has been lacking. Here we employed a stable isotopic approach to evaluate the contributions of wheat and maize residues to SOC at three long-term experimental sites in north China. Soil samples were collected from 0-20, 20-40, 40-60, 60-80 and 80-100 cm after 13 and 20 years of wheat-maize rotation, and SOC and its stable (13)C composition were determined. Our data showed that the δ(13)C value of SOC varied, on average, from -22.1‰ in the 0-20 cm to -21.5‰ in the 80-100 cm. Carbon input through maize residues ranged from 35% to 68% whereas the contribution of maize residues to SOC (0-40 cm) ranged from 28% to 40%. Our analyses suggested that the retention coefficient was in the range of 8.0-13.6% for maize residues and 16.5-28.5% for wheat residues. The two-fold higher retention coefficient of wheat versus maize residues was due to the differences in the quality of residues and probably also in the temperature during the growing season. Our study highlighted the importance of crop management on carbon sequestration in agricultural lands.

Evaluating the impacts of crop rotations on groundwater storage and recharge in an agricultural watershed

Treesearch

Abdullah O. Dakhlalla; Prem B. Parajuli; Ying Ouyang; Darrel W. Schmitz

2016-01-01

The Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer, which underlies the Big Sunflower River Watershed (BSRW),is the most heavily used aquifer in Mississippi. Because the aquifer is primarily used for irrigating cropssuch as corn, cotton, soybean, and rice, the water levels have been declining rapidly over the past fewdecades. The objectives of this study are to...

Phyto-recurrent selection: a method for selecting Populus and Salix genotypes for environmental applications

Treesearch

Ronald S. Jr. Zalesny; Jill A. Zalesny

2010-01-01

Short rotation woody crops (SRWCs) research began in 1968 at the U.S. Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Institute for Applied Ecosystem Studies (IAES) in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, USA. Genetics, physiology, and silviculture were at the forefront of research priorities, and the IAES became a national and global leader in SRWCs research and development. Given the...

USE OF TRACER INJECTION EXPERIMENTS TO QUANTIFY NITRATE LOSS IN TWO ADJACENT WETLAND STREAMS DRAINING AN AGRICULTURAL FIELD IN THE GEORGIA PIEDMONT

EPA Science Inventory

This study investigated the extent to which nitrate was removed from and/or stored in a small wetland depression downgradient of a 10-ha cattle rotational grazing pasture and a 2.5-ha cropped catchment at the USDA-ARS J. Phil Campbell Sr. Natural Resource Conservation Center in W...

Production of Short-Rotation Woody Crops Grown with a Range of Nutrient and Water Availability: Establishment Report and First-Year Responses

Treesearch

Mark D. Coleman; David R. Coyle; J. Blake; M. Buford; R.G. Campbell; J. Cox; B. Cregg; D. Daniels; M. Jacobson; Kurt Johnsen; Timothy McDonald; K. McLeod; E. Nelson; D. Robison; R. Rummer; F. Sanchez; John A. Stanturf; B. Stokes; Carl Trettin; J. Tuskan; L. Wright; S. Wullschleger

2004-01-01

Many researchers have studied the productivity potential of intensively managed forest plantations. However, we need to learn more about the effects of fundamental growth processes on forest productivity; especially the influence of above- and belowground resource acquisition and allocation. This report presents installation, establishment, and first-year results of...

[Effects of biochar application three-years ago on global warming potentials of CH4 and N2O in a rice-wheat rotation system.

PubMed

Wu, Zhen; Dong, Yu Bing; Xiong, Zheng Qin

2018-01-01

To evaluate the long-term effects of biochar amendment on greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), a field experiment was conducted to examine the effects of 3-year field-aged biochar (B 3 ) and fresh biochar (B 0 ) on global warming potential (GWP) and greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI) of methane (CH 4 ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) in a typical rice-wheat rotation system. Four treatments were established as control without nitrogen fertilizer (CK), urea without biochar (N), urea with fresh biochar amended in 2015 (NB 0 ), and urea with 3-year field-aged biochar amended in 2012 (NB 3 ). Results showed that both the NB 0 and NB 3 treatments obviously increased soil pH, soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN) and influenced the potential activity of functional microorganisms related to GHGs compared to the N treatment. Relative to the N treatment, the NB 3 treatment significantly improved crop yield by 14.1% while reduced the CH 4 and N 2 O emissions by 9.0% and 34.0%, respectively. In addition, the NB 0 treatment significantly improved crop yield by 9.3%, while reduced the N 2 O emission by 38.6% though increased the CH 4 emissions by 4.7% relative to the N treatment. Moreover, both the NB 0 and NB 3 treatments could significantly reduce both GWP and GHGI, with NB 3 being more effective in simultaneously mitigating the GHGs emissions and enhancing crop yield. Since field-aged biochar showed obvious effects on GHGs mitigation and carbon sequestration after 3 years, biochar incorporations had long-term effect on GHGs mitigation and crop production in the rice-wheat rotation system.

Impacts of Cropping Systems on Aggregates Associated Organic Carbon and Nitrogen in a Semiarid Highland Agroecosystem

PubMed Central

Chu, Jiashu; Zhang, Tianzhe; Chang, Weidong; Zhang, Dan; Zulfiqar, Saman; Fu, Aigen; Hao, Yaqi

2016-01-01

The effect of cropping system on the distribution of organic carbon (OC) and nitrogen (N) in soil aggregates has not been well addressed, which is important for understanding the sequestration of OC and N in agricultural soils. We analyzed the distribution of OC and N associated with soil aggregates in three unfertilized cropping systems in a 27-year field experiment: continuously cropped alfalfa, continuously cropped wheat and a legume-grain rotation. The objectives were to understand the effect of cropping system on the distribution of OC and N in aggregates and to examine the relationships between the changes in OC and N stocks in total soils and in aggregates. The cropping systems increased the stocks of OC and N in total soils (0–40 cm) at mean rates of 15.6 g OC m-2 yr-1 and 1.2 g N m-2 yr-1 relative to a fallow control. The continuous cropping of alfalfa produced the largest increases at the 0–20 cm depth. The OC and N stocks in total soils were significantly correlated with the changes in the >0.053 mm aggregates. 27-year of cropping increased OC stocks in the >0.053 mm size class of aggregates and N stocks in the >0.25 mm size class but decreased OC stocks in the <0.053 mm size class and N stocks in the <0.25 mm size class. The increases in OC and N stocks in these aggregates accounted for 99.5 and 98.7% of the total increases, respectively, in the continuous alfalfa system. The increases in the OC and N stocks associated with the >0.25 mm aggregate size class accounted for more than 97% of the total increases in the continuous wheat and the legume-grain rotation systems. These results suggested that long-term cropping has the potential to sequester OC and N in soils and that the increases in soil OC and N stocks were mainly due to increases associated with aggregates >0.053 mm. PMID:27764209

Effects of agricultural practices of three crops on the soil communities under Mediterranean conditions: field evaluation.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leitão, Sara; José Cerejeira, Maria; Abreu, Manuela; Sousa, José Paulo

2014-05-01

Sustainable agricultural production relies on soil communities as the main actors in key soil processes necessary to maintain sustainable soil functioning. Soil biodiversity influences soil physical and chemical characteristics and thus the sustainability of crop and agro-ecosystems functioning. Agricultural practices (e.g.: soil tillage, pesticides and fertilizer applications, irrigation) may affects negatively or positively soil biodiversity and abundances by modifying the relationships between organisms in the soil ecosystem. The present study aimed to study the influence of agricultural practices of three crops (potato, onion and maize) under Mediterranean climate conditions on soil macro- and mesofauna during their entire crop cycles. Effects on soil communities were assessed at a higher tier of environmental risk assessment comprising field testing of indigenous edaphic communities in a selected study-site located in a major agriculture region of Central Portugal, Ribatejo e Oeste, neighbouring protected wetlands. A reference site near the agricultural field site was selected as a Control site to compare the terrestrial communities' composition and variation along the crop cycle. The field soil and Control site soil are sandy loam soils. Crops irrigation was performed by center-pivot (automated sprinkler that rotates in a half a circle area) and by sprinklers. Soil macro- and mesofauna were collected at both sites (field and Control) using two methodologies through pitfall trapping and soil sampling. The community of soil macro- and mesofauna of the three crops field varied versus control site along the crops cycles. Main differences were due to arachnids, coleopterans, ants and adult Diptera presence and abundance. The feeding activity of soil fauna between control site and crop areas varied only for potato and onion crops vs. control site but not among crops. Concentration of pesticides residues in soil did not cause apparent negative effects on the soil communities. Significant differences of soil communities from potato and onion crops with the one from control site were observed at the beginning and during the crop cycle, but similarities were observed at the last sampling date after harvesting. The same was observed for the maize crop, indicating that soil communities recovered from the agricultural disturbances associated with crops management. An integrated approach such as the one adopted in present study, taking into consideration soil community's abundances, feeding activity and time variations along entire crop cycles of several crops under Mediterranean conditions, as well as soil exposure to pesticides residues, may contribute to decision making towards a sustainability of crop areas, including pesticide use and management practices.

Aspergillus parasiticus communities associated with sugarcane in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas: implications of global transport and host association within Aspergillus section Flavi.

PubMed

Garber, N P; Cotty, P J

2014-05-01

In the Rio Grande Valley of Texas (RGV), values of maize and cottonseed crops are significantly reduced by aflatoxin contamination. Aflatoxin contamination of susceptible crops is the product of communities of aflatoxin producers and the average aflatoxin-producing potentials of these communities influence aflatoxin contamination risk. Cropping pattern influences community composition and, thereby, the epidemiology of aflatoxin contamination. In 2004, Aspergillus parasiticus was isolated from two fields previously cropped to sugarcane but not from 23 fields without recent history of sugarcane cultivation. In 2004 and 2005, A. parasiticus composed 18 to 36% of Aspergillus section Flavi resident in agricultural soils within sugarcane-producing counties. A. parasiticus was not detected in counties that do not produce sugarcane. Aspergillus section Flavi soil communities within sugarcane-producing counties differed significantly dependent on sugarcane cropping history. Fields cropped to sugarcane within the previous 5 years had greater quantities of A. parasiticus (mean = 16 CFU/g) than fields not cropped to sugarcane (mean = 0.1 CFU/g). The percentage of Aspergillus section Flavi composed of A. parasiticus increased to 65% under continuous sugarcane cultivation and remained high the first season of rotation out of sugarcane. Section Flavi communities in fields rotated to non-sugarcane crops for 3 to 5 years were composed of <5% A. parasiticus, and fields with no sugarcane history averaged only 0.2% A. parasiticus. The section Flavi community infecting RGV sugarcane stems ranged from 95% A. parasiticus in billets prepared for commercial planting to 52% A. parasiticus in hand-collected sugarcane stems. Vegetative compatibility assays and multilocus phylogenies verified that aflatoxin contamination of raw sugar was previously attributed to similar A. parasiticus in Japan. Association of closely related A. parasiticus genotypes with sugarcane produced in Japan and RGV, frequent infection of billets by these genotypes, and the ephemeral nature of A. parasiticus in RGV soils suggests global transport with sugarcane planting material.

Long-term soil organic carbon changes in cereal and ley rotations: model testing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kynding Borgen, Signe; Dörsch, Peter; Krogstad, Tore; Azzaroli Bleken, Marina

2015-04-01

Reliable modeling of soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics in agroecosystems is crucial to define mitigation strategies related to crop management on the farm scale as well as the regional scale. International climate agreements and national political decisions rely to a large extent on the National Greenhouse gas Inventory Reports that are submitted annually to the UNFCCC. However, lower tier methods are used to estimate SOC changes on cropland in most country reports. The application of mechanistic models in national greenhouse gas inventory estimation requires proper model testing against measurements in order to verify the estimated emissions. Few long-term field experiments measuring SOC stock changes have been conducted in Norway. We evaluate the performance of the Introductory Carbon Balance Model (ICBM) in simulating SOC changes over 60 years in a field experiment conducted in Ås from 1953-2013. The site is located in south-eastern Norway, on the boarder of the boreal and temperate climate zone, where the majority of the country's grain production occurs. The field trial consisted of four rotations: I) continuous cereal, II) cereal + row crops, III) 2 years of ley + 4 years of cereal, IV) 4 years of ley + 2 years of cereal, and four treatments per rotation: a) low NPK, b) high NPK, c) low NPK + FYM, and d) straw (on rotations I and II) or high NPK + FYM (on rotations III and IV). The annual external modifying factor of the decomposition rate was calculated based on daily minimum and maximum temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, wind speed, and net radiation, and adjusted for soil type and crop management according to default ICBM calibration. We present results of simulated C changes for the long term plots and explore options to improve parameter calibration. Finally, we provide suggestions for how problems regarding model verification can be handled with when applying the model on a national scale for inventory reporting.

The Corps of Engineers and Prairie Restoration: Synopsis of the First Corps Prairie Workshop, Follow-up Actions, and Thoughts on the Future of Prairie Restoration and Management on Operational Projects

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-06-01

Corps super- vision regarding management practices such as cropping systems and cattle grazing. Also, the Corps’ focus at the time was on tree planting...on crop rotation and removal of grazing. Changes included the installation of 100-ft-wide warm-season native grass strips between each agricultural...brood-rearing habitat, but it was not always possible to put that much land aside. Idle fields consisted of 5- to 15-acre blocks centered in row crop

Wildlife-friendly farming increases crop yield: evidence for ecological intensification

PubMed Central

Pywell, Richard F.; Heard, Matthew S.; Woodcock, Ben A.; Hinsley, Shelley; Ridding, Lucy; Nowakowski, Marek; Bullock, James M.

2015-01-01

Ecological intensification has been promoted as a means to achieve environmentally sustainable increases in crop yields by enhancing ecosystem functions that regulate and support production. There is, however, little direct evidence of yield benefits from ecological intensification on commercial farms growing globally important foodstuffs (grains, oilseeds and pulses). We replicated two treatments removing 3 or 8% of land at the field edge from production to create wildlife habitat in 50–60 ha patches over a 900 ha commercial arable farm in central England, and compared these to a business as usual control (no land removed). In the control fields, crop yields were reduced by as much as 38% at the field edge. Habitat creation in these lower yielding areas led to increased yield in the cropped areas of the fields, and this positive effect became more pronounced over 6 years. As a consequence, yields at the field scale were maintained—and, indeed, enhanced for some crops—despite the loss of cropland for habitat creation. These results suggested that over a 5-year crop rotation, there would be no adverse impact on overall yield in terms of monetary value or nutritional energy. This study provides a clear demonstration that wildlife-friendly management which supports ecosystem services is compatible with, and can even increase, crop yields. PMID:26423846

Biomass: An overview in the United States of America

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robertson, T.; Shapouri, H.

1993-12-31

Concerns about the heavy reliance on foreign sources of fossil fuels, environmental impacts of burning fossil fuels, environmental impacts of agricultural activities, the need to find sustainable renewable sources of energy, and the need for a sustainable agricultural resource base have been driving forces for the development of biomass as a source of energy. The development of biomass conversion technologies, of high-yielding herbaceous and short-rotation woody biomass crops, of high-yielding food, feed, and fiber crops, and of livestock with higher levels of feed conversion efficiencies has made the transition from total reliance on fossil fuels to utilization of renewable sourcesmore » of energy from biomass a reality. A variety of biomass conversion technologies have been developed and tested. Public utilities, private power companies, and the paper industry are interested in applying this technology. Direct burning of biomass and/or cofiring in existing facilities will reduce emissions of greenhouse and other undesirable gases. Legislation has been passed to promote biomass production and utilization for liquid fuels and electricity. Land is available. The production of short-rotation woody crops and perennial grasses provides alternatives to commodity crops to stabilize income in the agricultural sector. The production of biomass crops can also reduce soil erosion, sediment loadings to surface water, and agricultural chemical loadings to ground and surface water; provide wildlife habitat; increase income and employment opportunities in rural areas; and provide a more sustainable agricultural resource base.« less

Estimating effectiveness of crop management for reduction of soil erosion and runoff

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hlavcova, K.; Studvova, Z.; Kohnova, S.; Szolgay, J.

2017-10-01

The paper focuses on erosion processes in the Svacenický Creek catchment which is a small sub-catchment of the Myjava River basin. To simulate soil loss and sediment transport the USLE/SDR and WaTEM/SEDEM models were applied. The models were validated by comparing the simulated results with the actual bathymetry of a polder at the catchment outlet. Methods of crop management based on rotation and strip cropping were applied for the reduction of soil loss and sediment transport. The comparison shows that the greatest intensities of soil loss were achieved by the bare soil without vegetation and from the planting of maize for corn. The lowest values were achieved from the planting of winter wheat. At the end the effectiveness of row crops and strip cropping for decreasing design floods from the catchment was estimated.

Using knowledge of agricultural practices to enhance through-the-season interpretation of Landsat data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Malila, W. A.; Pestre, C. R.

1984-01-01

Landsat data contain features that can be interpreted to produce information about crops, in support of crop estimation procedures. This paper considers ways in which detailed knowledge of agricultural practices and events might increase and improve the utilization of Landsat data in both the predictive and observational or measurement components of such procedures. Landsat observables related to agricultural practices and events throughout the cropping season are listed. Agricultural fields are identified as the preferred observational units for incorporating refined agricultural understanding, such as crop rotation patterns, into machine procedures. Uses of Landsat data from both prior seasons and the current season are considered, as is use of predictive models of crop appearance. The investigation of knowledge engineering systems tailored to through-the-season estimation problems is recommended for long range development.

Use of Nitrogen Isotope To Determine Fertilizer- and Soil-Derived Ammonia Volatilization in a Rice/Wheat Rotation System.

PubMed

Zhao, Xu; Yan, Xiaoyuan; Xie, Yingxin; Wang, Shenqiang; Xing, Guangxi; Zhu, Zhaoliang

2016-04-20

The nitrogen (N) isotope method reveals that application of fertilizer N can increase crop uptake or denitrification and leaching losses of native soil N via the "added N interaction". However, there is currently little evidence of the impact of added N on soil N losses through NH3 volatilization using (15)N methodologies. In the present study, a three-year rice/wheat rotated experiment with 30% (15)N-labeled urea applied in the first rice season and unlabeled urea added in the following five crop seasons was performed to investigate volatilization of NH3 from fertilizer and soil N. We found 9.28% of NH3 loss from (15)N urea and 2.88-7.70% declines in (15)N-NH3 abundance occurred during the first rice season, whereas 0.11% of NH3 loss from (15)N urea and 0.02-0.21% enrichments in (15)N-NH3 abundance happened in the subsequent seasons. The contributions of fertilizer- and soil-derived N to NH3 volatilization from a rice/wheat rotation were 75.8-88.4 and 11.6-24.2%, respectively. These distinct variations in (15)N-NH3 and substantial soil-derived NH3 suggest that added N clearly interacts with the soil source contributing to NH3 volatilization.

Combining functional weed ecology and crop stable isotope ratios to identify cultivation intensity: a comparison of cereal production regimes in Haute Provence, France and Asturias, Spain.

PubMed

Bogaard, Amy; Hodgson, John; Nitsch, Erika; Jones, Glynis; Styring, Amy; Diffey, Charlotte; Pouncett, John; Herbig, Christoph; Charles, Michael; Ertuğ, Füsun; Tugay, Osman; Filipovic, Dragana; Fraser, Rebecca

This investigation combines two independent methods of identifying crop growing conditions and husbandry practices-functional weed ecology and crop stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis-in order to assess their potential for inferring the intensity of past cereal production systems using archaeobotanical assemblages. Present-day organic cereal farming in Haute Provence, France features crop varieties adapted to low-nutrient soils managed through crop rotation, with little to no manuring. Weed quadrat survey of 60 crop field transects in this region revealed that floristic variation primarily reflects geographical differences. Functional ecological weed data clearly distinguish the Provence fields from those surveyed in a previous study of intensively managed spelt wheat in Asturias, north-western Spain: as expected, weed ecological data reflect higher soil fertility and disturbance in Asturias. Similarly, crop stable nitrogen isotope values distinguish between intensive manuring in Asturias and long-term cultivation with minimal manuring in Haute Provence. The new model of cereal cultivation intensity based on weed ecology and crop isotope values in Haute Provence and Asturias was tested through application to two other present-day regimes, successfully identifying a high-intensity regime in the Sighisoara region, Romania, and low-intensity production in Kastamonu, Turkey. Application of this new model to Neolithic archaeobotanical assemblages in central Europe suggests that early farming tended to be intensive, and likely incorporated manuring, but also exhibited considerable variation, providing a finer grained understanding of cultivation intensity than previously available.

Soil Carbon Budget During Establishment of Short Rotation Woody Crops

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coleman, M. D.

2003-12-01

Carbon budgets were monitored following forest harvest and during re-establishment of short rotation woody crops. Soil CO2 efflux was monitored using infared gas analyzer methods, fine root production was estimated with minirhizotrons, above ground litter inputs were trapped, coarse root inputs were estimated with developed allometric relationships, and soil carbon pools were measured in loblolly pine and cottonwood plantations. Our carbon budget allows evaluation of errors, as well as quantifying pools and fluxes in developing stands during non-steady-state conditions. Soil CO2 efflux was larger than the combined inputs from aboveground litter fall and root production. Fine-root production increased during stand development; however, mortality was not yet equivalent to production, showing the belowground carbon budget was not yet in equilibrium and root carbon standing crop was accruing. Belowground production was greater in cottonwood than pine, but the level of pine soil CO2 efflux was equal to or greater than that of cottonwood, indicating heterotrophic respiration was higher for pine. Comparison of unaccounted efflux with soil organic carbon changes provides verification of loss or accrual.

Seed bank dynamics govern persistence of Brassica hybrids in crop and natural habitats

PubMed Central

Hooftman, Danny A. P.; Bullock, James M.; Morley, Kathryn; Lamb, Caroline; Hodgson, David J.; Bell, Philippa; Thomas, Jane; Hails, Rosemary S.

2015-01-01

Background and Aims Gene flow from crops to their wild relatives has the potential to alter population growth rates and demography of hybrid populations, especially when a new crop has been genetically modified (GM). This study introduces a comprehensive approach to assess this potential for altered population fitness, and uses a combination of demographic data in two habitat types and mathematical (matrix) models that include crop rotations and outcrossing between parental species. Methods Full life-cycle demographic rates, including seed bank survival, of non-GM Brassica rapa × B. napus F1 hybrids and their parent species were estimated from experiments in both agricultural and semi-natural habitats. Altered fitness potential was modelled using periodic matrices including crop rotations and outcrossing between parent species. Key Results The demographic vital rates (i.e. for major stage transitions) of the hybrid population were intermediate between or lower than both parental species. The population growth rate (λ) of hybrids indicated decreases in both habitat types, and in a semi-natural habitat hybrids became extinct at two sites. Elasticity analyses indicated that seed bank survival was the greatest contributor to λ. In agricultural habitats, hybrid populations were projected to decline, but with persistence times up to 20 years. The seed bank survival rate was the main driver determining persistence. It was found that λ of the hybrids was largely determined by parental seed bank survival and subsequent replenishment of the hybrid population through outcrossing of B. rapa with B. napus. Conclusions Hybrid persistence was found to be highly dependent on the seed bank, suggesting that targeting hybrid seed survival could be an important management option in controlling hybrid persistence. For local risk mitigation, an increased focus on the wild parent is suggested. Management actions, such as control of B. rapa, could indirectly reduce hybrid populations by blocking hybrid replenishment. PMID:25452253

Seed bank dynamics govern persistence of Brassica hybrids in crop and natural habitats.

PubMed

Hooftman, Danny A P; Bullock, James M; Morley, Kathryn; Lamb, Caroline; Hodgson, David J; Bell, Philippa; Thomas, Jane; Hails, Rosemary S

2015-01-01

Gene flow from crops to their wild relatives has the potential to alter population growth rates and demography of hybrid populations, especially when a new crop has been genetically modified (GM). This study introduces a comprehensive approach to assess this potential for altered population fitness, and uses a combination of demographic data in two habitat types and mathematical (matrix) models that include crop rotations and outcrossing between parental species. Full life-cycle demographic rates, including seed bank survival, of non-GM Brassica rapa × B. napus F1 hybrids and their parent species were estimated from experiments in both agricultural and semi-natural habitats. Altered fitness potential was modelled using periodic matrices including crop rotations and outcrossing between parent species. The demographic vital rates (i.e. for major stage transitions) of the hybrid population were intermediate between or lower than both parental species. The population growth rate (λ) of hybrids indicated decreases in both habitat types, and in a semi-natural habitat hybrids became extinct at two sites. Elasticity analyses indicated that seed bank survival was the greatest contributor to λ. In agricultural habitats, hybrid populations were projected to decline, but with persistence times up to 20 years. The seed bank survival rate was the main driver determining persistence. It was found that λ of the hybrids was largely determined by parental seed bank survival and subsequent replenishment of the hybrid population through outcrossing of B. rapa with B. napus. Hybrid persistence was found to be highly dependent on the seed bank, suggesting that targeting hybrid seed survival could be an important management option in controlling hybrid persistence. For local risk mitigation, an increased focus on the wild parent is suggested. Management actions, such as control of B. rapa, could indirectly reduce hybrid populations by blocking hybrid replenishment. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company.

Sustainability versus yield in agricultural soils under various crop production practices - a microbial perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pereg, Lily; Aldorri, Sind; McMillan, Mary

2017-04-01

Wheat and cotton are important food and cash crops often grown in rotation on black, grey and red clay soil, in Australia. The common practice of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers have been solely in the form of agrochemicals, however, a few growers have incorporated manure or composted plant material into the soil before planting. While the cotton yield in studied farms was comparable, we found that the use of such organic amendments significantly enhanced the pool of nitrogen cycling genes, suggesting increased potential of soil microbial function as well as increased microbial metabolic diversity and abundance. Therefore, the regular use of organic amendments contributed to improved soil sustainability.

Pyramiding, alternating or mixing: comparative performances of deployment strategies of nematode resistance genes to promote plant resistance efficiency and durability.

PubMed

Djian-Caporalino, Caroline; Palloix, Alain; Fazari, Ariane; Marteu, Nathalie; Barbary, Arnaud; Abad, Pierre; Sage-Palloix, Anne-Marie; Mateille, Thierry; Risso, Sabine; Lanza, Roger; Taussig, Catherine; Castagnone-Sereno, Philippe

2014-02-22

Resistant cultivars are key elements for pathogen control and pesticide reduction, but their repeated use may lead to the emergence of virulent pathogen populations, able to overcome the resistance. Increased research efforts, mainly based on theoretical studies, explore spatio-temporal deployment strategies of resistance genes in order to maximize their durability. We evaluated experimentally three of these strategies to control root-knot nematodes: cultivar mixtures, alternating and pyramiding resistance genes, under controlled and field conditions over a 3-years period, assessing the efficiency and the durability of resistance in a protected crop rotation system with pepper as summer crop and lettuce as winter crop. The choice of the resistance gene and the genetic background in which it is introgressed, affected the frequency of resistance breakdown. The pyramiding of two different resistance genes in one genotype suppressed the emergence of virulent isolates. Alternating different resistance genes in rotation was also efficient to decrease virulent populations in fields due to the specificity of the virulence and the trapping effect of resistant plants. Mixing resistant cultivars together appeared as a less efficient strategy to control nematodes. This work provides experimental evidence that, in a cropping system with seasonal sequences of vegetable species, pyramiding or alternating resistance genes benefit yields in the long-term by increasing the durability of resistant cultivars and improving the long-term control of a soil-borne pest. To our knowledge, this result is the first one obtained for a plant-nematode interaction, which helps demonstrate the general applicability of such strategies for breeding and sustainable management of resistant cultivars against pathogens.

Pyramiding, alternating or mixing: comparative performances of deployment strategies of nematode resistance genes to promote plant resistance efficiency and durability

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Resistant cultivars are key elements for pathogen control and pesticide reduction, but their repeated use may lead to the emergence of virulent pathogen populations, able to overcome the resistance. Increased research efforts, mainly based on theoretical studies, explore spatio-temporal deployment strategies of resistance genes in order to maximize their durability. We evaluated experimentally three of these strategies to control root-knot nematodes: cultivar mixtures, alternating and pyramiding resistance genes, under controlled and field conditions over a 3-years period, assessing the efficiency and the durability of resistance in a protected crop rotation system with pepper as summer crop and lettuce as winter crop. Results The choice of the resistance gene and the genetic background in which it is introgressed, affected the frequency of resistance breakdown. The pyramiding of two different resistance genes in one genotype suppressed the emergence of virulent isolates. Alternating different resistance genes in rotation was also efficient to decrease virulent populations in fields due to the specificity of the virulence and the trapping effect of resistant plants. Mixing resistant cultivars together appeared as a less efficient strategy to control nematodes. Conclusions This work provides experimental evidence that, in a cropping system with seasonal sequences of vegetable species, pyramiding or alternating resistance genes benefit yields in the long-term by increasing the durability of resistant cultivars and improving the long-term control of a soil-borne pest. To our knowledge, this result is the first one obtained for a plant-nematode interaction, which helps demonstrate the general applicability of such strategies for breeding and sustainable management of resistant cultivars against pathogens. PMID:24559060

Potential of Rice Stubble as a Reservoir of Bradyrhizobial Inoculum in Rice-Legume Crop Rotation

PubMed Central

Piromyou, Pongdet; Greetatorn, Teerana; Teamtisong, Kamonluck; Tittabutr, Panlada; Boonkerd, Nantakorn

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Bradyrhizobium encompasses a variety of bacteria that can live in symbiotic and endophytic associations with leguminous and nonleguminous plants, such as rice. Therefore, it can be expected that rice endophytic bradyrhizobia can be applied in the rice-legume crop rotation system. Some endophytic bradyrhizobial strains were isolated from rice (Oryza sativa L.) tissues. The rice biomass could be enhanced when supplementing bradyrhizobial strain inoculation with KNO3, NH4NO3, or urea, especially in Bradyrhizobium sp. strain SUTN9-2. In contrast, the strains which suppressed rice growth were photosynthetic bradyrhizobia and were found to produce nitric oxide (NO) in the rice root. The expression of genes involved in NO production was conducted using a quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) technique. The nirK gene expression level in Bradyrhizobium sp. strain SUT-PR48 with nitrate was higher than that of the norB gene. In contrast, the inoculation of SUTN9-2 resulted in a lower expression of the nirK gene than that of the norB gene. These results suggest that SUT-PR48 may accumulate NO more than SUTN9-2 does. Furthermore, the nifH expression of SUTN9-2 was induced in treatment without nitrogen supplementation in an endophytic association with rice. The indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and 1-amino-cyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) deaminase produced in planta by SUTN9-2 were also detected. Enumeration of rice endophytic bradyrhizobia from rice tissues revealed that SUTN9-2 persisted in rice tissues until rice-harvesting season. The mung bean (Vigna radiata) can be nodulated after rice stubbles were decomposed. Therefore, it is possible that rice stubbles can be used as an inoculum in the rice-legume crop rotation system under both low- and high-organic-matter soil conditions. IMPORTANCE This study shows that some rice endophytic bradyrhizobia could produce IAA and ACC deaminase and have a nitrogen fixation ability during symbiosis inside rice tissues. These characteristics may play an important role in rice growth promotion by endophytic bradyrhizobia. However, the NO-producing strains should be of concern due to a possible deleterious effect of NO on rice growth. In addition, this study reports the application of endophytic bradyrhizobia in rice stubbles, and the rice stubbles were used directly as an inoculum for a leguminous plant (mung bean). The degradation of rice stubbles leads to an increased number of SUTN9-2 in the soil and may result in increased mung bean nodulation. Therefore, the persistence of endophytic bradyrhizobia in rice tissues can be developed to use rice stubbles as an inoculum for mung bean in a rice-legume crop rotation system. PMID:28916558

Potential of Rice Stubble as a Reservoir of Bradyrhizobial Inoculum in Rice-Legume Crop Rotation.

PubMed

Piromyou, Pongdet; Greetatorn, Teerana; Teamtisong, Kamonluck; Tittabutr, Panlada; Boonkerd, Nantakorn; Teaumroong, Neung

2017-11-15

Bradyrhizobium encompasses a variety of bacteria that can live in symbiotic and endophytic associations with leguminous and nonleguminous plants, such as rice. Therefore, it can be expected that rice endophytic bradyrhizobia can be applied in the rice-legume crop rotation system. Some endophytic bradyrhizobial strains were isolated from rice ( Oryza sativa L.) tissues. The rice biomass could be enhanced when supplementing bradyrhizobial strain inoculation with KNO 3 , NH 4 NO 3 , or urea, especially in Bradyrhizobium sp. strain SUTN9-2. In contrast, the strains which suppressed rice growth were photosynthetic bradyrhizobia and were found to produce nitric oxide (NO) in the rice root. The expression of genes involved in NO production was conducted using a quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) technique. The nirK gene expression level in Bradyrhizobium sp. strain SUT-PR48 with nitrate was higher than that of the norB gene. In contrast, the inoculation of SUTN9-2 resulted in a lower expression of the nirK gene than that of the norB gene. These results suggest that SUT-PR48 may accumulate NO more than SUTN9-2 does. Furthermore, the nifH expression of SUTN9-2 was induced in treatment without nitrogen supplementation in an endophytic association with rice. The indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and 1-amino-cyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) deaminase produced in planta by SUTN9-2 were also detected. Enumeration of rice endophytic bradyrhizobia from rice tissues revealed that SUTN9-2 persisted in rice tissues until rice-harvesting season. The mung bean ( Vigna radiata ) can be nodulated after rice stubbles were decomposed. Therefore, it is possible that rice stubbles can be used as an inoculum in the rice-legume crop rotation system under both low- and high-organic-matter soil conditions. IMPORTANCE This study shows that some rice endophytic bradyrhizobia could produce IAA and ACC deaminase and have a nitrogen fixation ability during symbiosis inside rice tissues. These characteristics may play an important role in rice growth promotion by endophytic bradyrhizobia. However, the NO-producing strains should be of concern due to a possible deleterious effect of NO on rice growth. In addition, this study reports the application of endophytic bradyrhizobia in rice stubbles, and the rice stubbles were used directly as an inoculum for a leguminous plant (mung bean). The degradation of rice stubbles leads to an increased number of SUTN9-2 in the soil and may result in increased mung bean nodulation. Therefore, the persistence of endophytic bradyrhizobia in rice tissues can be developed to use rice stubbles as an inoculum for mung bean in a rice-legume crop rotation system. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Microbiology.

7 CFR 623.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... multiyear grasses and legumes in rotation as approved by the Secretary. For purposes of determining crop... payment made by NRCS to assist program participants in establishing the practices required in a WRPO. (h...

7 CFR 623.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... multiyear grasses and legumes in rotation as approved by the Secretary. For purposes of determining crop... payment made by NRCS to assist program participants in establishing the practices required in a WRPO. (h...

Uncertainty and sensitivity assessments of an agricultural-hydrological model (RZWQM2) using the GLUE method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Mei; Zhang, Xiaolin; Huo, Zailin; Feng, Shaoyuan; Huang, Guanhua; Mao, Xiaomin

2016-03-01

Quantitatively ascertaining and analyzing the effects of model uncertainty on model reliability is a focal point for agricultural-hydrological models due to more uncertainties of inputs and processes. In this study, the generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation (GLUE) method with Latin hypercube sampling (LHS) was used to evaluate the uncertainty of the RZWQM-DSSAT (RZWQM2) model outputs responses and the sensitivity of 25 parameters related to soil properties, nutrient transport and crop genetics. To avoid the one-sided risk of model prediction caused by using a single calibration criterion, the combined likelihood (CL) function integrated information concerning water, nitrogen, and crop production was introduced in GLUE analysis for the predictions of the following four model output responses: the total amount of water content (T-SWC) and the nitrate nitrogen (T-NIT) within the 1-m soil profile, the seed yields of waxy maize (Y-Maize) and winter wheat (Y-Wheat). In the process of evaluating RZWQM2, measurements and meteorological data were obtained from a field experiment that involved a winter wheat and waxy maize crop rotation system conducted from 2003 to 2004 in southern Beijing. The calibration and validation results indicated that RZWQM2 model can be used to simulate the crop growth and water-nitrogen migration and transformation in wheat-maize crop rotation planting system. The results of uncertainty analysis using of GLUE method showed T-NIT was sensitive to parameters relative to nitrification coefficient, maize growth characteristics on seedling period, wheat vernalization period, and wheat photoperiod. Parameters on soil saturated hydraulic conductivity, nitrogen nitrification and denitrification, and urea hydrolysis played an important role in crop yield component. The prediction errors for RZWQM2 outputs with CL function were relatively lower and uniform compared with other likelihood functions composed of individual calibration criterion. This new and successful application of the GLUE method for determining the uncertainty and sensitivity of the RZWQM2 could provide a reference for the optimization of model parameters with different emphases according to research interests.

Development and Deployment of a Short Rotation Woody Crops Harvesting System Based on a Case New Holland Forage Harvester and SRC Woody Crop Header

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Eisenbies, Mark; Volk, Timothy; Abrahamson, Lawrence

Biomass for biofuels, bioproducts and bioenergy can be sourced from forests, agricultural crops, various residue streams, and dedicated woody or herbaceous crops. Short rotation woody crops (SRWC), like willow and hybrid poplar, are perennial cropping systems that produce a number of environmental and economic development benefits in addition to being a renewable source of biomass that can be produced on marginal land. Both hybrid poplar and willow have several characteristics that make them an ideal feedstock for biofuels, bioproducts, and bioenergy; these include high yields that can be obtained in three to four years, ease of cultivar propagation from dormantmore » cuttings, a broad underutilized genetic base, ease of breeding, ability to resprout after multiple harvests, and feedstock composition similar to other sources of woody biomass. Despite the range of benefits associated with SRWC systems, their deployment has been restricted by high costs, low market acceptance associated with inconsistent chip quality (see below for further explanation), and misperceptions about other feedstock characteristics (see below for further explanation). Harvesting of SRWC is the largest single cost factor (~1/3 of the final delivered cost) in the feedstock supply system. Harvesting is also the second largest input of primary fossil energy in the system after commercial N fertilizer, accounting for about one third of the input. Therefore, improving the efficiency of the harvesting system has the potential to reduce both cost and environmental impact. At the start of this project, we projected that improving the overall efficiency of the harvesting system by 25% would reduce the delivered cost of SRWC by approximately $0.50/MMBtu (or about $7.50/dry ton). This goal was exceeded over the duration of this project, as noted below.« less

Allelopathic cover crop prior to seeding is more important than subsequent grazing/mowing in grassland establishment

USGS Publications Warehouse

Milchunas, Daniel G.; Vandever, Mark W.; Ball, Leonard O.; Hyberg, Skip

2011-01-01

The effects of grazing, mowing, and type of cover crop were evaluated in a previous winter wheat–fallow cropland seeded to grassland under the Conservation Reserve Program in eastern Colorado. Prior to seeding, the fallow strips were planted to forage sorghum or wheat in alternating strips (cover crops), with no grazing, moderate to heavy grazing, and mowing (grazing treatments) superimposed 4 yr after planting and studied for 3 yr. Plots previously in wheat had more annual and exotic species than sorghum plots. Concomitantly, there were much greater abundances of perennial native grass and all native species in sorghum than wheat cropped areas. The competitive advantage gained by seeded species in sorghum plots resulted in large increases in rhizomatous western wheatgrass. Sorghum is known to be allelopathic and is used in crop agriculture rotations to suppress weeds and increase crop yields, consistent with the responses of weed and desired native species in this study. Grazing treatment had relatively minor effects on basal and canopy cover composition of annual or exotic species versus perennial native grass or native species. Although grazing treatment never was a significant main effect, it occasionally modified cover crop or year effects. Opportunistic grazing reduced exotic cheatgrass by year 3 but also decreased the native palatable western wheatgrass. Mowing was a less effective weed control practice than grazing. Vegetative basal cover and aboveground primary production varied primarily with year. Common management practices for revegetation/restoration currently use herbicides and mowing as weed control practices and restrict grazing in all stages of development. Results suggest that allelopathic cover crop selection and opportunistic grazing can be effective alternative grass establishment and weed control practices. Susceptibility, resistance, and interactions of weed and seeded species to allelopathic cover species/cultivars may be a fruitful area of research.

Assessment of the Impacts of Rice Cropping through a Soil Quality Index

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sione, S. M.; Wilson, M. G.; Paz González, A.

2012-04-01

In Entre Ríos (Argentina), rice cultivation is carried out mainly in Vertisols. Several factors, such as the use of sodium bicarbonate waters for irrigation, the excessive tillage required, and the lack of proper planning for land use, mainly regarding the crop sequence, cause serious impacts on the soil and have an effect on sustainable agriculture. Thus, the development of methodologies to detect these impacts has become a priority. The aim of this study was to standardize soil quality indicators (SQI) and integrate them into an index to evaluate the impacts of the rice production system on soil, at the farm scale. The study was conducted in farms of the traditional rice cultivation area of Entre Ríos province, Argentina. We evaluated a minimum data set consisting of six indicators: structural stability and percolation, total organic matter content (TOM), exchangeable sodium content (ESC), electrical conductivity of saturation extract (ECe) and reaction of the soil (pH). From a database from 75 production lots, we determined the reference values, i.e. limits to ensure the maintenance of long-term productivity and the allowable thresholds for each indicator. The indicators were standardized and integrated into a soil quality index. Five ranges of soil quality were established: very low, low, moderate, high and very high, depending on the values assigned to each SQI. This index allowed differentiating the impact of different crop sequences and showed that the increased participation of rice crop in the rotation resulted in a deterioration of the soil structure due to the decrease in the TOM and to the cumulative increase in ESC caused by the sodium bicarbonate water used for irrigation. Soil management strategies should aim to increase TOM values and to reduce the input of sodium to the exchange complex. A rotation with 50% to 60% of pasture and 40 to 50% of agriculture with a participation of rice lower than 20 to 25% would allow the sustainability of the production system. The use of the so called SQI, i.e. soil quality index, for rice crop production will allow generating early warning of degradation and thus adopting recovery measures.

China Report, Agriculture, No. 278.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-11-10

Radiation Successfully Used in Agriculture (XINHUA, 18 Oct 83) 2 Recent Agricultural Development Strategies (Zhang Lin; JINGJI YANJIU, No 9, 20...ABSTRACTS SOIL CONSERVATION SHUITU BAOCHI TONGBAO [BULLETIN OF SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION], No 4, Aug 83 28 URBAN STUDIES JINGJI DILI [ECONOMIC...GEOGRAPHY], No 3, Aug 83 31 LAND USE JINGJI DILI [ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY], No 3, Aug 83 33 CROP ROTATION JINGJI DILI fECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY], No

The role of harvest residue in rotation cycle carbon balance in loblolly pine plantations

Treesearch

Asko Noormets; Steve G. Mcnulty; Jean-Christophe Domec; Michael Gavazzi; Ge Sun; John S. King

2012-01-01

Timber harvests remove a significant portion of ecosystem carbon. While some of the wood products moved off-site may last past the harvest cycle of the particular forest crop, the effect of the episodic disturbances on long-term on-site carbon sequestration is unclear. The current study presents a 25 year carbon budget estimate for a typical commercial loblolly pine...

Application of a rotation system to oilseed rape and rice fields in Cd-contaminated agricultural land to ensure food safety.

PubMed

Yu, Lingling; Zhu, Junyan; Huang, Qingqing; Su, Dechun; Jiang, Rongfeng; Li, Huafen

2014-10-01

This field experiment analyzed the phytoremediation effects of oilseed rape in moderately cadmium (Cd)-contaminated farmland and the food safety of successive rice in an oilseed rape-rice rotation system. Two oilseed rape cultivars accumulated Cd at different rates. The rapeseed cultivar Zhucang Huazi exhibited high Cd accumulation rates, higher than the legal limit for human consumption (0.2mgkg(-1)); Cd concentrations in the cultivar Chuanyou II-93 were all below the maximum allowed level. Planting oilseed rape increased the uptake of Cd by the successive rice crop compared with a previous fallow treatment. Most Cd concentrations of brown rice were below the maximum allowed level. The phytoextraction efficiency was lower in the moderately Cd-contaminated soil in field experiments. The results suggest screening rice cultivars with lower Cd accumulation can assure the food safety; the mobilization of heavy metals by roots of different plant species should be considered during crop rotation to assure food safety. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Deep soil layer is fundamental for evaluating carbon accumulation in agroecosystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dal Ferro, Nicola; Morari, Francesco; Simonetti, Gianluca; Polese, Riccardo; Berti, Antonio

2015-04-01

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is essential to secure key ecosystem services such as the provision of food and other biomass production, the filtering, buffering and transformation capacity and the climate regulation. It has been estimated that approximately 57% of the globally emitted C (8.7 Gt y-1) to the atmosphere is adsorbed by biospheric C pools, ascertaining the potential soil C sink capacity of managed ecosystems at 55 to 78 Gt, of which only 50 to 66% attainable. Therefore it is essential the full knowledge of soil management practices that can affect SOC dynamics and, in turn, climate change. Several studies focussed on the evaluation of the best cropping management practices to accumulate C in the soil profile. Nevertheless, in most cases soil analyses were made in the topsoil (generally in the 0-30 cm layer), ignoring the effect of C translocation in the deeper soil profile as a result of tillage practices, crop root deepening etc. In this context, in a long-term experiment established in the early 1960s, we quantified the SOC accumulation within the soil profile (0-90 cm) and evaluate the effects of different cropping system on SOC dynamics. The experiment is located at the experimental farm of the University of Padova, in northeastern Italy. The trial compares four rotations with three levels of mineral fertilisation and with or without organic fertilisation. The rotations considered are: continuous crops (grain maize, forage maize, winter wheat and permanent meadow); two-year (maize-wheat); four-year (sugarbeet, soybean, wheat, maize) and six-year (maize, sugarbeet, maize, wheat, alfalfa, alfalfa) with different levels of mineral, organic and mixed fertilisations. Crops with superficially developed rooting systems (e.g. permanent meadow) highly increased SOC only in the topsoil. This effect was enhanced by the contribution of organic amendment-C. Root-derived carbon played a pivotal role also in the deepest soil profile (60-90 cm) by increasing the SOC translocation. Considering the whole profile, the highest C accumulation was observed in cropping systems with high biomass production and deep rooting systems. Results indicated that for estimating the effects of cropping systems and agricultural practices on C accumulation, analyses in the topsoil can be misleading and it is necessary to consider the whole profile.

Modelling the effect of agricultural management practices on soil organic carbon stocks: does soil erosion matter?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nadeu, Elisabet; Van Wesemael, Bas; Van Oost, Kristof

2014-05-01

Over the last decades, an increasing number of studies have been conducted to assess the effect of soil management practices on soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks. At regional scales, biogeochemical models such as CENTURY or Roth-C have been commonly applied. These models simulate SOC dynamics at the profile level (point basis) over long temporal scales but do not consider the continuous lateral transfer of sediment that takes place along geomorphic toposequences. As a consequence, the impact of soil redistribution on carbon fluxes is very seldom taken into account when evaluating changes in SOC stocks due to agricultural management practices on the short and long-term. To address this gap, we assessed the role of soil erosion by water and tillage on SOC stocks under different agricultural management practices in the Walloon region of Belgium. The SPEROS-C model was run for a 100-year period combining three typical crop rotations (using winter wheat, winter barley, sugar beet and maize) with three tillage scenarios (conventional tillage, reduced tillage and reduced tillage in combination with additional crop residues). The results showed that including soil erosion by water in the simulations led to a general decrease in SOC stocks relative to a baseline scenario (where no erosion took place). The SOC lost from these arable soils was mainly exported to adjacent sites and to the river system by lateral fluxes, with magnitudes differing between crop rotations and in all cases lower under conservation tillage practices than under conventional tillage. Although tillage erosion plays an important role in carbon redistribution within fields, lateral fluxes induced by water erosion led to a higher spatial and in-depth heterogeneity of SOC stocks with potential effects on the soil water holding capacity and crop yields. This indicates that studies assessing the effect of agricultural management practices on SOC stocks and other soil properties over the landscape should account for the impact of soil erosion (both by water and tillage).

7 CFR 1412.48 - Planting Transferability Pilot Project.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... the offers exceed the acreage limitation in the State, CCC will conduct a lottery style selection... a program of crop rotation on the farm to achieve agronomic and pest and disease management benefits...

Shifts in comparative advantages for maize, oat and wheat cropping under climate change in Europe.

PubMed

Elsgaard, L; Børgesen, C D; Olesen, J E; Siebert, S; Ewert, F; Peltonen-Sainio, P; Rötter, R P; Skjelvåg, A O

2012-01-01

Climate change is anticipated to affect European agriculture, including the risk of emerging or re-emerging feed and food hazards. Indirectly, climate change may influence such hazards (e.g. the occurrence of mycotoxins) due to geographic shifts in the distribution of major cereal cropping systems and the consequences this may have for crop rotations. This paper analyses the impact of climate on cropping shares of maize, oat and wheat on a 50-km square grid across Europe (45-65°N) and provides model-based estimates of the changes in cropping shares in response to changes in temperature and precipitation as projected for the time period around 2040 by two regional climate models (RCM) with a moderate and a strong climate change signal, respectively. The projected cropping shares are based on the output from the two RCMs and on algorithms derived for the relation between meteorological data and observed cropping shares of maize, oat and wheat. The observed cropping shares show a south-to-north gradient, where maize had its maximum at 45-55°N, oat had its maximum at 55-65°N, and wheat was more evenly distributed along the latitudes in Europe. Under the projected climate changes, there was a general increase in maize cropping shares, whereas for oat no areas showed distinct increases. For wheat, the projected changes indicated a tendency towards higher cropping shares in the northern parts and lower cropping shares in the southern parts of the study area. The present modelling approach represents a simplification of factors determining the distribution of cereal crops, and also some uncertainties in the data basis were apparent. A promising way of future model improvement could be through a systematic analysis and inclusion of other variables, such as key soil properties and socio-economic conditions, influencing the comparative advantages of specific crops.

Benchmark study on glyphosate-resistant cropping systems in the United States. Part 4: Weed management practices and effects on weed populations and soil seedbanks.

PubMed

Wilson, Robert G; Young, Bryan G; Matthews, Joseph L; Weller, Stephen C; Johnson, William G; Jordan, David L; Owen, Micheal D K; Dixon, Philip M; Shaw, David R

2011-07-01

Weed management in glyphosate-resistant (GR) maize, cotton and soybean in the United States relies almost exclusively on glyphosate, which raises criticism for facilitating shifts in weed populations. In 2006, the benchmark study, a field-scale investigation, was initiated in three different GR cropping systems to characterize academic recommendations for weed management and to determine the level to which these recommendations would reduce weed population shifts. A majority of growers used glyphosate as the only herbicide for weed management, as opposed to 98% of the academic recommendations implementing at least two herbicide active ingredients and modes of action. The additional herbicides were applied with glyphosate and as soil residual treatments. The greater herbicide diversity with academic recommendations reduced weed population densities before and after post-emergence herbicide applications in 2006 and 2007, particularly in continuous GR crops. Diversifying herbicides reduces weed population densities and lowers the risk of weed population shifts and the associated potential for the evolution of glyphosate-resistant weeds in continuous GR crops. Altered weed management practices (e.g. herbicides or tillage) enabled by rotating crops, whether GR or non-GR, improves weed management and thus minimizes the effectiveness of only using chemical tactics to mitigate weed population shifts. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry.

Modelling impacts of second generation bioenergy production on Ecosystem Services in Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henner, Dagmar N.; Smith, Pete; Davies, Christian; McNamara, Niall P.

2015-04-01

Bioenergy crops are an important source of renewable energy and are a possible mechanism to mitigate global climate warming, by replacing fossil fuel energy with higher greenhouse gas emissions. There is, however, uncertainty about the impacts of the growth of bioenergy crops on ecosystem services. This uncertainty is further enhanced by the unpredictable climate change currently going on. The goal of this project is to develop a comprehensive model that covers as many ecosystem services as possible at a Continental level including biodiversity, water, GHG emissions, soil, and cultural services. The distribution and production of second generation energy crops, such as Miscanthus, Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) and Short Rotation Forestry (SRF), is currently being modelled, and ecosystem models will be used to examine the impacts of these crops on ecosystem services. The project builds on models of energy crop production, biodiversity, soil impacts, greenhouse gas emissions and other ecosystem services, and on work undertaken in the UK on the ETI-funded ELUM project (www.elum.ac.uk). In addition, methods like water footprint tools, tourism value maps and ecosystem valuation tools and models (e.g. InVest, TEEB database, GREET LCA Model, World Business Council for Sustainable Development corporate ecosystem valuation, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and the Ecosystem Services Framework) will be utilised. Research will focus on optimisation of land use change feedbacks on ecosystem services and biodiversity, and weighting of the importance of the individual ecosystem services. Energy crops will be modelled using low, medium and high climate change scenarios for the years between 2015 and 2050. We will present first results for GHG emissions and soil organic carbon change after different land use change scenarios (e.g. arable to Miscanthus, forest to SRF), and with different climate warming scenarios. All this will be complemented by the presentation of a matrix including all the factors and ecosystem services influenced by land use change to bioenergy crop production under different climate change scenarios.

Nitrous oxide emissions during establishment of eight alternative cellulosic bioenergy cropping systems in the North Central United States

DOE PAGES

Oates, Lawrence G.; Duncan, David S.; Gelfand, Ilya; ...

2015-05-14

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from soils are a key sustainability metric of cropping systems. During crop establishment, disruptive land-use change is known to be a critical, but under reported period, for determining GHG emissions. We measured soil N 2O emissions and potential environmental drivers of these fluxes from a three-year establishment-phase bioenergy cropping systems experiment replicated in southcentral Wisconsin (ARL) and southwestern Michigan (KBS). Cropping systems treatments were annual monocultures (continuous corn, corn–soybean–canola rotation), perennial monocultures (switchgrass, miscanthus, and poplar), and perennial polycultures (native grass mixture, early successional community, and restored prairie) all grown using best management practices specific tomore » the system. Cumulative three-year N 2O emissions from annuals were 142% higher than from perennials, with fertilized perennials 190% higher than unfertilized perennials. Emissions ranged from 3.1 to 19.1 kg N 2O-N ha -1 yr -1 for the annuals with continuous corn > corn–soybean–canola rotation and 1.1 to 6.3 kg N 2O-N ha -1 yr -1 for perennials. Nitrous oxide peak fluxes typically were associated with precipitation events that closely followed fertilization. Bayesian modeling of N 2O fluxes based on measured environmental factors explained 33% of variability across all systems. Models trained on single systems performed well in most monocultures (e.g., R 2 = 0.52 for poplar) but notably worse in polycultures (e.g., R 2 = 0.17 for early successional, R 2 = 0.06 for restored prairie), indicating that simulation models that include N 2O emissions should be parameterized specific to particular plant communities. These results indicate that perennial bioenergy crops in their establishment phase emit less N 2O than annual crops, especially when not fertilized. These findings should be considered further alongside yield and other metrics contributing to important ecosystem services.« less

From jhum to broom: Agricultural land-use change and food security implications on the Meghalaya Plateau, India.

PubMed

Behera, Rabi Narayan; Nayak, Debendra Kumar; Andersen, Peter; Måren, Inger Elisabeth

2016-02-01

Human population growth in the developing world drives land-use changes, impacting food security. In India, the dramatic change in demographic dynamics over the past century has reduced traditional agricultural land-use through increasing commercialization. Here, we analyze the magnitude and implications for the farming system by the introduction of cash-cropping, replacing the traditional slash and burn rotations (jhum), of the tribal people on the Meghalaya Plateau, northeast India, by means of agricultural census data and field surveys conducted in seven villages. Land-use change has brought major alterations in hill agricultural practices, enhanced cash-cropping, promoted mono-cropping, changed food consumption patterns, underpinned the emergence of a new food system, and exposed farmers and consumers to the precariousness of the market, all of which have both long- and short-term food security implications. We found dietary diversity to be higher under jhum compared to any of the cash-crop systems, and higher under traditional cash-cropping than under modern cash-cropping.

Soil redistribution and nutrient delivery in a Mediterranean rain-fed agro-ecosystem with different crops and management: environmental and economic aspects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

López-Vicente, Manuel; Álvarez, Sara

2017-04-01

Mediterranean agro-ecosystems are characterised by fragmented fields and patched vegetation. This shape governs the spatial patterns of water, soil and nutrient redistribution. Rainfall parameters, human infrastructures, crop management, support practices, and land use changes (set aside crops, land abandonment) control the magnitude of these processes. Under rain-fed water supply conditions, runoff generation and soil water content are two important factors in determining crop yield. Soil erosion and nutrient delivery are two of the factors which limit crop yield and thus, the gross earning of the landowner. In hilly landscapes, farmers usually supply extra soil to fill in the ephemeral gullies, and nutrient replenishment with fertilizers is a common practice. The aim of this study is to evaluate the environmental (runoff yield, soil erosion and nutrient delivery) and economic (replenishment of soil and nutrient losses with new soil and fertilizers) consequences of different conventional and conservative practices (fallow/crop rotation, cover crops, land abandonment, buffer strips) in a Mediterranean rain-fed agro-ecosystem (27 ha) with vineyards, cereal crops, cultivated and abandoned olive orchards, several trails and patches of natural vegetation. The five winter cereal fields (wheat and barley) follow fallow/crop rotation. The four vineyards are devoted to the Garnacha variety: one planted in 2007 with white wine grapes, and three planted in 2008 with red wine grapes. The inter-crop strips are managed with a mixture of plant species as cover crop (CC), including: i) spontaneous vegetation, and ii) plantation of common sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia). The maintenance of the CC includes one mowing pass at the end of spring, between May and June. The appearance and development of ephemeral gullies and the deposition of soil at the bottom of the hillslope are two of the main concerns of the landowners. In some places, the accumulation of soil complicates grape harvest operations with machinery, forcing manual labour. A total of 222 soil samples were collected in 74 points, and some physical (coarse fragments, effective volume, bulk density, texture, infiltration, etc.) and chemical (soil organic carbon - SOC, total nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium) parameters analysed. The highest values of SOC and TN were found in the forestry (4.64% and 0.198%) and abandoned soils (2.96% and 0.132%), whereas the highest values of TP appeared in the cereal, olive and vineyards (458.4, 458.0 and 440.3 mg / kg P). The highest content of TK appeared in the vineyards (1979.1 mg / kg K), especially in the grapevine strips (2188.3 mg / kg K), due to the fertilizer supply. In order to assess the water, soil and nutrient budgets, four buried sediment traps were installed near the bottom and before reaching the depositional-prone area. The upslope contributing areas of the traps are not nested. Monitoring the magnitude of runoff and sediment yield and the chemical composition of the collected samples allowed calculating the economic cost of water, soil and nutrient losses. The results of this study have implications for other rain-fed productive agro-ecosystems as well as where conservative practices may reduce the economic cost of farmland management.

Contributions of wheat and maize residues to soil organic carbon under long-term rotation in north China

PubMed Central

Wang, Jinzhou; Wang, Xiujun; Xu, Minggang; Feng, Gu; Zhang, Wenju; Yang, Xueyun; Huang, Shaomin

2015-01-01

Soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics in agro-ecosystem is largely influenced by cropping. However, quantifying the contributions of various crops has been lacking. Here we employed a stable isotopic approach to evaluate the contributions of wheat and maize residues to SOC at three long-term experimental sites in north China. Soil samples were collected from 0–20, 20–40, 40–60, 60–80 and 80–100 cm after 13 and 20 years of wheat-maize rotation, and SOC and its stable 13C composition were determined. Our data showed that the δ13C value of SOC varied, on average, from −22.1‰ in the 0–20 cm to −21.5‰ in the 80–100 cm. Carbon input through maize residues ranged from 35% to 68% whereas the contribution of maize residues to SOC (0–40 cm) ranged from 28% to 40%. Our analyses suggested that the retention coefficient was in the range of 8.0–13.6% for maize residues and 16.5–28.5% for wheat residues. The two-fold higher retention coefficient of wheat versus maize residues was due to the differences in the quality of residues and probably also in the temperature during the growing season. Our study highlighted the importance of crop management on carbon sequestration in agricultural lands. PMID:26100739

Grassland-Cropping Rotations: An Avenue for Agricultural Diversification to Reconcile High Production with Environmental Quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lemaire, Gilles; Gastal, François; Franzluebbers, Alan; Chabbi, Abad

2015-11-01

A need to increase agricultural production across the world to ensure continued food security appears to be at odds with the urgency to reduce the negative environmental impacts of intensive agriculture. Around the world, intensification has been associated with massive simplification and uniformity at all levels of organization, i.e., field, farm, landscape, and region. Therefore, we postulate that negative environmental impacts of modern agriculture are due more to production simplification than to inherent characteristics of agricultural productivity. Thus by enhancing diversity within agricultural systems, it should be possible to reconcile high quantity and quality of food production with environmental quality. Intensification of livestock and cropping systems separately within different specialized regions inevitably leads to unacceptable environmental impacts because of the overly uniform land use system in intensive cereal areas and excessive N-P loads in intensive animal areas. The capacity of grassland ecosystems to couple C and N cycles through microbial-soil-plant interactions as a way for mitigating the environmental impacts of intensive arable cropping system was analyzed in different management options: grazing, cutting, and ley duration, in order to minimize trade-offs between production and the environment. We suggest that integrated crop-livestock systems are an appropriate strategy to enhance diversity. Sod-based rotations can temporally and spatially capture the benefits of leys for minimizing environmental impacts, while still maintaining periods and areas of intensive cropping. Long-term experimental results illustrate the potential of such systems to sequester C in soil and to reduce and control N emissions to the atmosphere and hydrosphere.

Grassland-Cropping Rotations: An Avenue for Agricultural Diversification to Reconcile High Production with Environmental Quality.

PubMed

Lemaire, Gilles; Gastal, François; Franzluebbers, Alan; Chabbi, Abad

2015-11-01

A need to increase agricultural production across the world to ensure continued food security appears to be at odds with the urgency to reduce the negative environmental impacts of intensive agriculture. Around the world, intensification has been associated with massive simplification and uniformity at all levels of organization, i.e., field, farm, landscape, and region. Therefore, we postulate that negative environmental impacts of modern agriculture are due more to production simplification than to inherent characteristics of agricultural productivity. Thus by enhancing diversity within agricultural systems, it should be possible to reconcile high quantity and quality of food production with environmental quality. Intensification of livestock and cropping systems separately within different specialized regions inevitably leads to unacceptable environmental impacts because of the overly uniform land use system in intensive cereal areas and excessive N-P loads in intensive animal areas. The capacity of grassland ecosystems to couple C and N cycles through microbial-soil-plant interactions as a way for mitigating the environmental impacts of intensive arable cropping system was analyzed in different management options: grazing, cutting, and ley duration, in order to minimize trade-offs between production and the environment. We suggest that integrated crop-livestock systems are an appropriate strategy to enhance diversity. Sod-based rotations can temporally and spatially capture the benefits of leys for minimizing environmental impacts, while still maintaining periods and areas of intensive cropping. Long-term experimental results illustrate the potential of such systems to sequester C in soil and to reduce and control N emissions to the atmosphere and hydrosphere.

Effect of inorganic amendments for in situ stabilization of cadmium in contaminated soils and its phyto-availability to wheat and rice under rotation.

PubMed

Rehman, Muhammad Zia-ur; Rizwan, Muhammad; Ghafoor, Abdul; Naeem, Asif; Ali, Shafaqat; Sabir, Muhammad; Qayyum, Muhammad Farooq

2015-11-01

Cadmium (Cd) toxicity is a widespread problem in crops grown on contaminated soils, and little information is available on the role of inorganic amendments in Cd immobilization, uptake, and tolerance in crops especially under filed conditions. The effect of three amendments, monoammonium phosphate (MAP), gypsum, and elemental sulfur (S), on Cd immobilization in soil and uptake in wheat and rice plants, under rotation, were investigated under field conditions receiving raw city effluent since >20 years and contaminated with Cd. Three levels of each treatment, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.8% by weight, were applied at the start of the experiment, and wheat was sown in the field. After wheat harvesting, rice was sown in the same field without application of amendments. Both crops were harvested at physiological maturity, and data regarding grain yield, straw biomass, Cd concentrations, and uptake in grain and straw, and bioavailable Cd in soil and soil pH were recorded. Both MAP and gypsum application increased grain yield and biomass of wheat and rice, while S application did not increase the yield of both crops. MAP and gypsum amendments decreased gain and straw Cd concentrations and uptake in both crops, while S application increased Cd concentrations in these parts which were correlated with soil bioavailable Cd. We conclude that MAP and gypsum amendments could be used to decrease Cd uptake by plants receiving raw city effluents, and gypsum might be a better amendment for in situ immobilization of Cd due to its low cost and frequent availability.

Soil greenhouse gas emissions affected by irrigation, tillage, crop rotation, and nitrogen fertilization.

PubMed

Sainju, Upendra M; Stevens, William B; Caesar-Tonthat, Thecan; Liebig, Mark A

2012-01-01

Management practices, such as irrigation, tillage, cropping system, and N fertilization, may influence soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We quantified the effects of irrigation, tillage, crop rotation, and N fertilization on soil CO, NO, and CH emissions from March to November, 2008 to 2011 in a Lihen sandy loam in western North Dakota. Treatments were two irrigation practices (irrigated and nonirrigated) and five cropping systems (conventional-tilled malt barley [ L.] with N fertilizer [CT-N], conventional-tilled malt barley with no N fertilizer [CT-C], no-tilled malt barley-pea [ L.] with N fertilizer [NT-PN], no-tilled malt barley with N fertilizer [NT-N], and no-tilled malt barley with no N fertilizer [NT-C]). The GHG fluxes varied with date of sampling and peaked immediately after precipitation, irrigation, and/or N fertilization events during increased soil temperature. Both CO and NO fluxes were greater in CT-N under the irrigated condition, but CH uptake was greater in NT-PN under the nonirrigated condition than in other treatments. Although tillage and N fertilization increased CO and NO fluxes by 8 to 30%, N fertilization and monocropping reduced CH uptake by 39 to 40%. The NT-PN, regardless of irrigation, might mitigate GHG emissions by reducing CO and NO emissions and increasing CH uptake relative to other treatments. To account for global warming potential for such a practice, information on productions associated with CO emissions along with NO and CH fluxes is needed. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

Legacy Phosphorus Effect and Need to Re-calibrate Soil Test P Methods for Organic Crop Production.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dao, Thanh H.; Schomberg, Harry H.; Cavigelli, Michel A.

2015-04-01

Phosphorus (P) is a required nutrient for the normal development and growth of plants and supplemental P is needed in most cultivated soils. Large inputs of cover crop residues and nutrient-rich animal manure are added to supply needed nutrients to promote the optimal production of organic grain crops and forages. The effects of crop rotations and tillage management of the near-surface zone on labile phosphorus (P) forms were studied in soil under conventional and organic crop management systems in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. after 18 years due to the increased interest in these alternative systems. Soil nutrient surpluses likely caused by low grain yields resulted in large pools of exchangeable phosphate-P and equally large pools of enzyme-labile organic P (Po) in soils under organic management. In addition, the difference in the P loading rates between the conventional and organic treatments as guided by routine soil test recommendations suggested that overestimating plant P requirements contributed to soil P surpluses because routine soil testing procedures did not account for the presence and size of the soil enzyme-labile Po pool. The effect of large P additions is long-lasting as they continued to contribute to elevated soil total bioactive P concentrations 12 or more years later. Consequently, accurate estimates of crop P requirements, P turnover in soil, and real-time plant and soil sensing systems are critical considerations to optimally manage manure-derived nutrients in organic crop production.

Coppicing evaluation of short rotation coppice in the southeast of the U.S. to determine appropriate harvesting methods.

Treesearch

Rafael Santiago; Tom Gallagher; Matthew Smidt; Dana Mitchell

2016-01-01

Renewable fuels are being tested as an alternative for fossil fuels. For the Southeast U.S., the use of woody biomass has proven to be an excellent source of renewable energy in terms of cost benefit and availability. Short rotation woody crops (SRWC) are timber plantations with exclusive characteristics that can meet the intensive demand for wood due to their fast...

Phytoremediation assessment of Gomphrena globosa and Zinnia elegans grown in arsenic-contaminated hydroponic conditions as a safe and feasible alternative to be applied in arsenic-contaminated soils of the Bengal Delta.

PubMed

Signes-Pastor, A J; Munera-Picazo, S; Burló, F; Cano-Lamadrid, M; Carbonell-Barrachina, A A

2015-06-01

Several agricultural fields show high contents of arsenic because of irrigation with arsenic-contaminated groundwater. Vegetables accumulate arsenic in their edible parts when grown in contaminated soils. Polluted vegetables are one of the main sources of arsenic in the food chain, especially for people living in rural arsenic endemic villages of India and Bangladesh. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of floriculture in the crop rotation system of arsenic endemic areas of the Bengal Delta. The effects of different arsenic concentrations (0, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 mg As L(-1)) and types of flowering plant (Gomphrena globosa and Zinnia elegans) on plant growth and arsenic accumulation were studied under hydroponic conditions. Total arsenic was quantified using atomic absorption spectrometer with hydride generation (HG-AAS). Arsenic was mainly accumulated in the roots (72 %), followed by leaves (12 %), stems (10 %), and flowers (<1 %). The flowering plants studied did not show as high phytoremediation capacities as other wild species, such as ferns. However, they behaved as arsenic tolerant plants and grew and bloomed well, without showing any phytotoxic signs. This study proves that floriculture could be included within the crop rotation system in arsenic-contaminated agricultural soils, in order to improve food safety and also food security by increasing farmer's revenue.

Net Exchange Ecossistem in Subtropical Agriculture Area in Southern Brazil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roberti, D. R.; Diaz, M.; Webler, G.; Fiorin, J.; de Moraes, O. L. L.; Teichrieb, C.; Amado, T.

2015-12-01

Southern Brazil contribute to 38% of Brazilian grain production. In contrast with the rest of the country, the south has a wet, subtropical climate that permits two annual harvests (double cropping system). The soybean and/or maize (summer) and black oat and/or wheat (winter) succession is widely used by farmers in plateau areas. In river natural lowlands, the cultivation of flooded irrigated rice is common. Changes in the land use affect the carbon, water and energy balance, and crop management practices, such as fertilization, water management, harvest and crop residues have influence in carbon exchange between the crop field and the atmosphere. This study quantifies the net exchange ecosystem (NEE) between the atmosphere and the crop cultivations in this wide region of Brazil from 2010 to 2014. We use data from two micrometeorological sites: Cruz Alta, with crop rotation and Cachoeira do Sul, with rice paddy. The carbon flux was analyzed using the eddy covariance method and gap filling procedures. The annual integration of data carbon demonstrates that the agroecosystems in southern Brazil is a acting as an light atmospheric CO2 sink. However, the NEE emissions that occurred in the fallow periods contributed negatively for such annual accumulation. To reduce this loss of CO2, farmers could cultivate plants in fallow periods, because there are favorable weather conditions for growing plants year round. Additionally, other management practices can increase the influx of C, including the production of more dry matter with cover crops by improving management and the immediate harvesting of crop after physiological maturity to reduce the period between maturation and harvest.

Assessment of the Spatial and Temporal Variations of Water Quality for Agricultural Lands with Crop Rotation in China by Using a HYPE Model

PubMed Central

Yin, Yunxing; Jiang, Sanyuan; Pers, Charlotta; Yang, Xiaoying; Liu, Qun; Yuan, Jin; Yao, Mingxing; He, Yi; Luo, Xingzhang; Zheng, Zheng

2016-01-01

Many water quality models have been successfully used worldwide to predict nutrient losses from anthropogenically impacted catchments, but hydrological and nutrient simulations with limited data are difficult considering the transfer of model parameters and complication of model calibration and validation. This study aims: (i) to assess the performance capabilities of a new and relatively more advantageous model, namely, Hydrological Predictions for the Environment (HYPE), that simulates stream flow and nutrient load in agricultural areas by using a multi-site and multi-objective parameter calibration method and (ii) to investigate the temporal and spatial variations of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorous (TP) concentrations and loads with crop rotation by using the model for the first time. A parameter estimation tool (PEST) was used to calibrate parameters. Results show that the parameters related to the effective soil porosity were highly sensitive to hydrological modeling. N balance was largely controlled by soil denitrification processes. P balance was influenced by the sedimentation rate and production/decay of P in rivers and lakes. The model reproduced the temporal and spatial variations of discharge and TN/TP relatively well in both calibration (2006–2008) and validation (2009–2010) periods. Among the obtained data, the lowest Nash-Suttclife efficiency of discharge, daily TN load, and daily TP load were 0.74, 0.51, and 0.54, respectively. The seasonal variations of daily TN concentrations in the entire simulation period were insufficient, indicated that crop rotation changed the timing and amount of N output. Monthly TN and TP simulation yields revealed that nutrient outputs were abundant in summer in terms of the corresponding discharge. The area-weighted TN and TP load annual yields in five years showed that nutrient loads were extremely high along Hong and Ru rivers, especially in agricultural lands. PMID:26999184

Modeling Storm Water Runoff and Soil Interflow in a Managed Forest, Upper Coastal Plain of the Southeast US.

Treesearch

T.J. Callahan; J.D. Cook; Mark D. Coleman; Devendra M. Amatya; Carl C. Trettin

2004-01-01

The Forest Service-Savannah River is conducting a hectare-scale monitoring and modeling study on forest productivity in a Short Rotation Woody Crop plantation at the Savannah River Site, which is on Upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina. Detailed surveys, i.e., topography, soils, vegetation, and dainage network, of small (2-5 ha) plots have been completed in a 2 square...