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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Morris, Minnesota » Soil Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #76437
Title: SOIL QUALITY: POST CRP CHANGES WITH TILLAGE AND CROPPING

Author
item Lindstrom, Michael
item SCHUMACHER, T - SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIV
item Reicosky, Donald
item BECK, D - SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIV

Submitted to: Soil Conservation and Water Quality Symposium Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/11/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has successfully reduced erosion on highly erodible lands by establishment of a permanent vegetative cover and development of a stable soil structure. The improvements in soil structure allow water to move rapidly into and through the soil profile. Water uptake by soils is one measure of soil quality. This study was conducted to determine what effect tillage systems will have on water movement into the soil after CRP lands have been returned to crop production in a typical winter wheat-fallow production area. Infiltration measurements were conducted on plots in a CRP field that had been established in 1988 and returned to crop production in 1994. Tillage systems applied ranged from the standard intense tillage system to kill the CRP vegetation to no-till conversion to cropland by killing the CRP vegetation with herbicides. No difference in water infiltration was observed with the tillage variable after three months. Differences were observed after a 12-month fallow period with the tilled systems exhibiting less infiltration than the no-till or CRP sod. The no-till and CRP sod had the same infiltration characteristics. These results show that beneficial soil properties developed during CRP will disappear rapidly with tillage, but can be maintained with no-till crop production. These results will serve as a basis for development of sustainable conservation management programs for soils that were in the CRP program.

Technical Abstract: The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has successfully reduced erosion on highly erodible lands by establishment of a permanent vegetative cover and development of a stable soil structure. This study was started to determine the effects of tillage systems on water infiltration after CRP lands are returned to crop production. CRP land enrolled in the program in 1988 was converted from CRP to cropland in 1994 and returned to a winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)-fallow rotation by varying levels of tillage intensities. Water infiltration measurements were conducted on selected treatments in 1994 after a fallow period of three months and in 1995 after a 12-month fallow period immediately after planting winter wheat. Water was applied at a rate of 63.5 mm hr**-1 for one hour using a sprinkling type infiltrometer for a dry run on antecedent soil moisture and then again the following day (wet run). No differences in water infiltration characteristics were observed in 1994 between the no-tilled, intensively tilled, or bare CRP (vegetation removed). Differences were observed during the wet runs in 1995 with the tilled treatments exhibiting less infiltration (36.8 and 41.9 mm) than the no-till or the vegetated CRP (62.2 and 63.5 mm). These results show a decrease in water infiltration characteristics, a component of soil quality, within a one year fallow period after conversion to cropland for the tilled treatments.