ARS | Publication request: TILLAGE AND NUTRIENT EFFECTS ON SOIL WATER USE AND YIELD OF COTTON ON A CECIL SOIL

Submitted to: Agronomy Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: July 9, 1999
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: The Southern Piedmont suffers short-term summer droughts putting crops grown under conventional tillage (CT) with conventional fertilizer (CF) at risk. We conducted a study near Watkinsville, GA, on twelve 10 m X 30 m plots, in a 2 X 2 factorial arrangement of poultry litter (PL) and CF, with no-tillage (NT) and CT to quantify effects stillage and fertilizer on soil water use and yield of cotton. Soil moisture was measured in four plots (CTCF, CTPL,NTCF,NTPL) to 1.2 m depth, 2-3 times a week, in 1998. Net soil moisture change in the 0-0.6 m depth in NT plots was almost twice that in CT plots and about 2.4 time more in NTPL compared to CTCF plots. NT plots yielded 35% more lint than CT plots and NTPL 50% more than CTCF plots. Yields were similarly different for the two previous years. These results provide options for cotton producers to enhance soil water use and, therefore, yields.