ARS | Publication request: CROP RESPONSE TO NO-TILL AND PARAPLOW TREATMENTS IN LONG-TERM CONSERVATION TILLAGE PLOTS

Submitted to: Agronomy Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: July 15, 2000
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: Crop production problems associated with low organic matter, limited water holding capacity, and root restriction from high soil strength are common to sandy soils of hot and humid areas such as the southeastern Coastal Plain. Alleviation of these problems by strict no-till has been unsuccessful; functional conservation tillage required subsoil disruption. We investigated the possibility that no-till might be possible on a sandy Coastal Plain soil that had increased organic matter as a result of long-term (17 yrs) conservation tillage. Paired conventional tillage and conservation plots (2.7 ha, five replication, and two rotation sequences) were divided to obtain plots with 1) surface and subsoil tillages, 2) only surface tillage, 3) only subsoil tillage, and 4) no tillage. Surface and subsoil tillages were with disking and paratill, respectively. The cropping system was a two-year rotation of wheat-soybean-corn. Wheat yields were 3461, 2920, 3606, and 3137 kg/ha, respectively, for treatments 1 to 4. Soybean yield (2036 kg/ha) was not affected by tillage. Corn yields were 4172, 2862, 4116, and 3293 kg/ha, respectively, for treatments 1 to 4. The long-term conservation tillage diminished the need to subsoil. Moreover, the no-till production could likely be done with lower expenditure of fiscal and natural resources.